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Dicte Svendsen #4
Nærmeste pårørende
Dicte og hendes fotografkæreste, Bo, er på arbejde den dag hele to bombetrusler splintrer århusianernes dagligdag. Ved banegården har nogen fundet en herreløs kuffert, og Rullemarie rykker ind. Senere sker det samme et andet sted i byen. Det bliver en lang dag, og først om aftenen da artiklerne er skrevet og sendt, kan Dicte åbne sin post på redaktionen.
Et af brevene er uden afsender og indeholder en CD, som hun automatisk fodrer computeren med. Og fra det øjeblik filmen ruller over skærmen, er Dictes verden ikke længere den samme. Den viser nemlig et bestialsk drab.
Et af brevene er uden afsender og indeholder en CD, som hun automatisk fodrer computeren med. Og fra det øjeblik filmen ruller over skærmen, er Dictes verden ikke længere den samme. Den viser nemlig et bestialsk drab.
ebook
First published September 26, 2006
6 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Elsebeth Egholm
28 books77 followersBestselling Danish novelist Elsebeth Egholm began her career behind the keyboards of a piano. She was a student of music as a performer at The Royal Academy of Music and at the Department of Musicology at the University of Aarhus, before she changed instrument and enrolled at the Danish School of Journalism, also based in her hometown of Aarhus. She spent a few years working for a daily newspaper, but by 1992 she was living with future husband, the late British author Philip Nicholson, in the Maltese island of Gozo, working as a freelance writer.
Eventually she began making a name for herself as the author of a string of well crafted short stories published in women's magazines in both Denmark and the other Nordic countries. Her first novel had three long time friends mourning the death of a fourth and facing a mysterious stranger. ‘The Free Women's Club' was published in 1999 to unanimous acclaim. In ‘Scirocco' (2000) and ‘Opium' (2001) she moved into the darker corners of family and marriage, and combined a fullgrown plot with an engaging dose of international suspense.
Then, in 2002, she introduced full time journalist and part time sleuth Dicte Svendsen in ‘Hidden Errors', a novel about a dead baby found in a creek in the middle of big city Aarhus. By the second and third book in the series, ‘Own Risk' (2004) and ‘Personal Damage' (2005), both author and heroine were well known and highly treasured in her homeland. ‘Next of Kin' was published in 2006, dramatically outselling the previous novels, and Elsebeth Egholm found herself published, or about to be published, in Germany, Holland, Sweden and Norway. Afterwards, in 2008, the novel 'Life and Limb' reached the bookshelves followed by 'Against All Odds' i 2009. 'Three Dog Night' was published i 2011.
Currently Elsebeth Egholm divides her time between living in Aarhus, as does Dicte Svendsen, and on the Maltese island of Gozo.
Eventually she began making a name for herself as the author of a string of well crafted short stories published in women's magazines in both Denmark and the other Nordic countries. Her first novel had three long time friends mourning the death of a fourth and facing a mysterious stranger. ‘The Free Women's Club' was published in 1999 to unanimous acclaim. In ‘Scirocco' (2000) and ‘Opium' (2001) she moved into the darker corners of family and marriage, and combined a fullgrown plot with an engaging dose of international suspense.
Then, in 2002, she introduced full time journalist and part time sleuth Dicte Svendsen in ‘Hidden Errors', a novel about a dead baby found in a creek in the middle of big city Aarhus. By the second and third book in the series, ‘Own Risk' (2004) and ‘Personal Damage' (2005), both author and heroine were well known and highly treasured in her homeland. ‘Next of Kin' was published in 2006, dramatically outselling the previous novels, and Elsebeth Egholm found herself published, or about to be published, in Germany, Holland, Sweden and Norway. Afterwards, in 2008, the novel 'Life and Limb' reached the bookshelves followed by 'Against All Odds' i 2009. 'Three Dog Night' was published i 2011.
Currently Elsebeth Egholm divides her time between living in Aarhus, as does Dicte Svendsen, and on the Maltese island of Gozo.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 16, 2018
Next of Kin opens with Danish journalist, Dicte Svendsen, returning to the offices of the newspaper in Aarhus with live-in boyfriend photographer Bo, after a story of bomb threat proves a false alarm. There an envelope awaits her, containing a CD of a figure dressed in robes, severing the head of a man with a sabre-like sword. Sensing a scoop her editor pushes her to write an article for the following day’s edition along the lines of “terrorism arrives in Denmark”.
The CD is handed to Aarhus detective John Wagner, a family friend, but Dicte has made a copy which Bo examines, finding clues to where it was taken. A car ferry takes the pair across to the island of Samsø where they witness crime scene investigators, including Wagner, retrieving a body.
Superficial evidence suggests the action of an extreme Moslem group, but when the victim is linked to the murder of an elderly woman in Aarhus, it raises the possibility of a copycat killing by an ultra rightwing Danish faction. Was the CD sent to Dicte by someone from her past?
In general I enjoy Nordic noir, but this one I found hard going, perhaps the word I am searching for is “cluttered”. Aside from the boyfriend, her philandering ex-husband and the one-time lover from her mid-teens; her daughter, Rose who, with Pakistani boyfriend Aziz, is crossing the religious divide like a latter day Romeo and Juliet. Add the best friend Anne, moving to Greenland for a year with her musician partner, while her other friend, Ida Marie, married to detective John Wagner, expresses concern for the safety of her young son in a childcare centre.
Toss in a psychologist grief-stricken by the loss of his daughter, who is contacted by a man pulling together a thirty-five year reunion. Plus staff at the newspaper, other journalists hungry for a feed and Wagner’s police colleagues and there’s not so much red herrings as 40 characters too many and 50 pages too long for this little black duck. Did I mention links to Tolkien, cartoons of Mohammed published by Jyllands-Posten and the 2004 tsunami in Thailand ? I think I’ll move on.
The CD is handed to Aarhus detective John Wagner, a family friend, but Dicte has made a copy which Bo examines, finding clues to where it was taken. A car ferry takes the pair across to the island of Samsø where they witness crime scene investigators, including Wagner, retrieving a body.
Superficial evidence suggests the action of an extreme Moslem group, but when the victim is linked to the murder of an elderly woman in Aarhus, it raises the possibility of a copycat killing by an ultra rightwing Danish faction. Was the CD sent to Dicte by someone from her past?
In general I enjoy Nordic noir, but this one I found hard going, perhaps the word I am searching for is “cluttered”. Aside from the boyfriend, her philandering ex-husband and the one-time lover from her mid-teens; her daughter, Rose who, with Pakistani boyfriend Aziz, is crossing the religious divide like a latter day Romeo and Juliet. Add the best friend Anne, moving to Greenland for a year with her musician partner, while her other friend, Ida Marie, married to detective John Wagner, expresses concern for the safety of her young son in a childcare centre.
Toss in a psychologist grief-stricken by the loss of his daughter, who is contacted by a man pulling together a thirty-five year reunion. Plus staff at the newspaper, other journalists hungry for a feed and Wagner’s police colleagues and there’s not so much red herrings as 40 characters too many and 50 pages too long for this little black duck. Did I mention links to Tolkien, cartoons of Mohammed published by Jyllands-Posten and the 2004 tsunami in Thailand ? I think I’ll move on.
February 26, 2011
I really enjoyed this book! I have a thing for Scandinavian crime novels and with it's journalistic focus and complex issues, any fans of Steig Larsson's Millenium trilogy will enjoy this brilliant novel. It's the first of Egholm's to be published in Australia, and I hope it is successful (for Pier 9's sake most of all) to bring more of this fine author's books down under.
Our protagonist is Dicte Svendsen, seasoned journalist and mother of Rose. Set in Denmark post 9/11 and the London bombings, racial tensions are high and the society as a whole has become uncomfortable and suspicious of ethnic minorities. We learn quite early on that Dicte's daughter Rose has been involved with a Muslim man named Aziz, and the struggle that is their relationship is followed throughout the book. It provides a great perspective on how difficult relationships can be between two people of different ethnic and religious descent. But that's not what Next of Kin is all about.
Dicte receives a gruesome video of a man being beheaded by a figure dressed in black. Initially, the video heightens social tensions further, and a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria is released on the Danish society. Liaising with officials, Dicte tries to navigate the extremely stressful landscape of freedom of speech, and questions whether publishing the information she has been given is more giving in to the supposed terrorists demands, or whether it is the right of the general public to know what is happening. When another video arrives, the line between what's right and what's expected of her becomes blurred, and Dicte finds herself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Why are the terrorists coming to her? How is she involved? And why does she get the inkling that someone from her past is the link to the murders...
The novel touches on many big issues beyond nationalism and terrorism. There is the question of justice, and when you believe justice has failed you, is it wrong to take the law into your own hands? How can you forgive someone who has taken everything away from you? And how do you move on when you're only barely gripping to sanity?
Scandinavian authors are unique - there is a je ne sais quoi about their novels that anyone who has read them knows. You can't describe it. You only know that once you put one down, you absolutely have to pick up another. For anyone unfamiliar with Scandinavian writing, you will find the character names hard at first. It can be a struggle to keep up with all the characters at the best of times, but when you can't pronounce the names, it can be even worse. My advice to you is this: persevere. This finely crafted novel deserves that much, and you will be happy in the end that you did.
Our protagonist is Dicte Svendsen, seasoned journalist and mother of Rose. Set in Denmark post 9/11 and the London bombings, racial tensions are high and the society as a whole has become uncomfortable and suspicious of ethnic minorities. We learn quite early on that Dicte's daughter Rose has been involved with a Muslim man named Aziz, and the struggle that is their relationship is followed throughout the book. It provides a great perspective on how difficult relationships can be between two people of different ethnic and religious descent. But that's not what Next of Kin is all about.
Dicte receives a gruesome video of a man being beheaded by a figure dressed in black. Initially, the video heightens social tensions further, and a wave of anti-immigrant hysteria is released on the Danish society. Liaising with officials, Dicte tries to navigate the extremely stressful landscape of freedom of speech, and questions whether publishing the information she has been given is more giving in to the supposed terrorists demands, or whether it is the right of the general public to know what is happening. When another video arrives, the line between what's right and what's expected of her becomes blurred, and Dicte finds herself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Why are the terrorists coming to her? How is she involved? And why does she get the inkling that someone from her past is the link to the murders...
The novel touches on many big issues beyond nationalism and terrorism. There is the question of justice, and when you believe justice has failed you, is it wrong to take the law into your own hands? How can you forgive someone who has taken everything away from you? And how do you move on when you're only barely gripping to sanity?
Scandinavian authors are unique - there is a je ne sais quoi about their novels that anyone who has read them knows. You can't describe it. You only know that once you put one down, you absolutely have to pick up another. For anyone unfamiliar with Scandinavian writing, you will find the character names hard at first. It can be a struggle to keep up with all the characters at the best of times, but when you can't pronounce the names, it can be even worse. My advice to you is this: persevere. This finely crafted novel deserves that much, and you will be happy in the end that you did.
February 19, 2016
Une betise, je l'ai arrête a la page 140
Πληκτική βλακεία κι η αρχή μου'χε φανεί καλή. Το παράτησα κάπου στην σελίδα 140
Πληκτική βλακεία κι η αρχή μου'χε φανεί καλή. Το παράτησα κάπου στην σελίδα 140
April 8, 2025
Jeg er ikke lige så imponeret over denne bogs plot, som i seriens forudgående bøger. Når det er sagt, så er omdrejningspunktet for dette plot sorg, som sætter en ny og relevant facet på seriens gennemgående tema: Modsætningen liv og død. Egholm har i denne serie en slem tendens til at insistere på politisk korrekthed: Ingen af karaktererne har flossede kanter eller stilles over for større moralske valg, hvilket jeg savner - og forventer (også) af en krimi. Den politiske korrekthed er heller ikke ældet med ynde på indvandringsspørgsmålet, som også er et gennemgående tema for serien. Egholm indtager en glorificeret og bund-naiv position, som heldigvis er blevet efterladt i nullerne - men som er anstrengende at forholde sig til med nutidens briller.
May 2, 2019
De politie, de inlichtingendienst en de minister van Justitie maken de dienst uit. Een macabere moordzaak moet opgelost worden. De terreurangst neemt toe. De integratieproblemen nemen toe. Dus veel thema´s die behandelt worden. Veel personen en relaties die het voor de lezer niet gemakkelijk maken. Voor mij althans, te veel van het goede. De schrijver heft mij niet kunnen blijven boeien.
Het is wel spannend maar zeer onduidelijk.
Het boek is uitgegeven met een ander Nederlandse titel: Dichts bijzijnde familieleden.
Het is wel spannend maar zeer onduidelijk.
Het boek is uitgegeven met een ander Nederlandse titel: Dichts bijzijnde familieleden.
September 9, 2020
Polar classique sans plus
November 25, 2021
Goed boek! Aanrader!
April 22, 2023
Spændende som altid. Elsker Dicte. Bo og Wagner.
April 20, 2024
Surprisingly easy to jump into this series in the middle - easy read, quite enjoyable, even if the main character is frustrating.
December 20, 2008
This is another "Nordisk-krimi" book written by a female Danish writer named Elsebeth Egholm. Apparently, this genre is indeed the new trend after the success of the late Stieg Larsson.
Believe me, I had never heard of her before two weeks ago and if it wasn't because of the librarian's suggestion, I would never notice this book. She convinced me that it was good and that she was quite famous in the Danish literary world. I'd say I would give it a try.
My overall judgement? It's not bad. The subject she chose is highly actual and hardly surprising since the whole scene takes place in Denmark. What else that is so popular in Denmark but the integration problems and terrorism? Xenophobia, Islamophobia and all matters that are revolving around those particular words.
Nevermind the title (which actually translates to "closest contact" - in case of emergency) that tells no clue whatosever about the content, the book starts off with a female journalist named Benedicte Svendsen who is based in Aarhus, the second biggest city in Denmark. The choosing of a journalist as a main character is actually rather cliche and yet it's the safest option that can hardly go wrong since journalists naturally can snoop around in a criminal case without inducing the slightes suspicion.
Svendsen who lives her life in the boring side of journalism (since nothing hardly ever happened in Aarhus despite a fake suitcase bomb that actually brought excitement in the whole town) suddenly found a new passion for journalism after she got herself a video recording showing a man decapitated in the camera.
Naturally, all suspicions were channeled toward the Al-Qaeda connection, after all, beheading was the "popular" method that these terrorists did to execute their enemies / hostages. The man, who was identified later, turned out to be an ordinary Danish male and the execution as seen in the video actually happened in the little island of Samsø, which is located inside Denmark region.
At the same time, Svendsen's daughter Rose was deeply involved in the immigrants community (note: Immigrants in Denmark are often translated as people with Middle-Eastern / North Africa backgound) as she dated a second generation immigrant named Aziz whose police record was far from clean and empty. The boyfriend, as it happened to be described in the book, had killed a person from his own community before and became the number one enemy within the immigrant community in Denmark.
So, what is the real connection between the immigrant community, the Al-Qaeda style of execution and terrorism in Denmark? I'd say the writer worked double as hard to make the book sounds politically correct. She refused to touch too delicate integration problems that often dominate the 7 o'clock news here and was trying too hard in her effort to cast a positive light over the immigrant community in Denmark that it sounded too fake when it came out as prints in the book.
I personally think that everybody knows that there is an integration problem in Denmark especially with these young immigrant teenagers smashing windows, burning cars and inciting trouble in public places and I am truly tired to listen to the who's-to-blame debate. Let's see, the government did a bad job and I do admit that Denmark can be quite a racist country to begin with, but the young immigrants are not equally right to act like that either. They must know that it's wrong to begin anything with violence and that will never bring them anywhere. So, what to do? Nobody at the moment has an answer for that question, not here in Denmark and not in other European countries which face the same problem - and until then I think books with similar subjects will keep popping out in the Danish literary world.
Believe me, I had never heard of her before two weeks ago and if it wasn't because of the librarian's suggestion, I would never notice this book. She convinced me that it was good and that she was quite famous in the Danish literary world. I'd say I would give it a try.
My overall judgement? It's not bad. The subject she chose is highly actual and hardly surprising since the whole scene takes place in Denmark. What else that is so popular in Denmark but the integration problems and terrorism? Xenophobia, Islamophobia and all matters that are revolving around those particular words.
Nevermind the title (which actually translates to "closest contact" - in case of emergency) that tells no clue whatosever about the content, the book starts off with a female journalist named Benedicte Svendsen who is based in Aarhus, the second biggest city in Denmark. The choosing of a journalist as a main character is actually rather cliche and yet it's the safest option that can hardly go wrong since journalists naturally can snoop around in a criminal case without inducing the slightes suspicion.
Svendsen who lives her life in the boring side of journalism (since nothing hardly ever happened in Aarhus despite a fake suitcase bomb that actually brought excitement in the whole town) suddenly found a new passion for journalism after she got herself a video recording showing a man decapitated in the camera.
Naturally, all suspicions were channeled toward the Al-Qaeda connection, after all, beheading was the "popular" method that these terrorists did to execute their enemies / hostages. The man, who was identified later, turned out to be an ordinary Danish male and the execution as seen in the video actually happened in the little island of Samsø, which is located inside Denmark region.
At the same time, Svendsen's daughter Rose was deeply involved in the immigrants community (note: Immigrants in Denmark are often translated as people with Middle-Eastern / North Africa backgound) as she dated a second generation immigrant named Aziz whose police record was far from clean and empty. The boyfriend, as it happened to be described in the book, had killed a person from his own community before and became the number one enemy within the immigrant community in Denmark.
So, what is the real connection between the immigrant community, the Al-Qaeda style of execution and terrorism in Denmark? I'd say the writer worked double as hard to make the book sounds politically correct. She refused to touch too delicate integration problems that often dominate the 7 o'clock news here and was trying too hard in her effort to cast a positive light over the immigrant community in Denmark that it sounded too fake when it came out as prints in the book.
I personally think that everybody knows that there is an integration problem in Denmark especially with these young immigrant teenagers smashing windows, burning cars and inciting trouble in public places and I am truly tired to listen to the who's-to-blame debate. Let's see, the government did a bad job and I do admit that Denmark can be quite a racist country to begin with, but the young immigrants are not equally right to act like that either. They must know that it's wrong to begin anything with violence and that will never bring them anywhere. So, what to do? Nobody at the moment has an answer for that question, not here in Denmark and not in other European countries which face the same problem - and until then I think books with similar subjects will keep popping out in the Danish literary world.
April 11, 2013
Naar aanleiding van verhalen van de Deense schrijfster Elsebeth Egholm is er een DVD- serie verschenen met de titel “Those who kill”. Deze serie was spannend en ik wilde wel een boek van deze schrijfster lezen.
Dicte Svendsen is een journaliste bij de krant in Århus, de tweede stad van Denemarken. Zij ontvangt per post een film, anoniem verzonden en aan haar geadresseerd. De film laat een onthoofding zien. De daders, gehuld in oosters aandoende kledij, eisen dat de doodstraf terug wordt ingevoerd in Denemarken. Er wordt meteen vanuit gegaan, dat moslims deze terreurdaad hebben uitgevoerd. Dicte kopieert de DVD en geeft het origineel aan de politie. Rechercheur John Wagner voert het onderzoek uit. Dicte zit soms in een impasse, omdat ze een goed verhaal kan schrijven voor de krant en de politie haar vraagt nog te wachten. Nadat er een tweede DVD wordt gestuurd en er verhalen van andere kranten verschijnen, wil ze haar verhaal wel doen, ondanks haar belofte aan de politie.
Ook in Denemarken is er angst voor terreur en zijn er integratieproblemen, net zoals in ons land. Dicte denkt, dat de vriendschap van haar dochter Roos met een Pakistaanse jongen Aziz veel te maken heeft met dit incident. Hij wordt gezien als verrader, nadat hij een opleiding is gaan volgen aan de politie- academie. Zij kunnen niet eens gewoon met elkaar omgaan.
Naaste familie is spannend vanaf de eerste bladzijde. Het speelt zich af in Århus, waar wij een keer een bezoek hebben gebracht tijdens een vakantie, wat ik wel leuk vond. De ontknoping is heel anders dan je verwacht: vier sterren zeker waard!
Dicte Svendsen is een journaliste bij de krant in Århus, de tweede stad van Denemarken. Zij ontvangt per post een film, anoniem verzonden en aan haar geadresseerd. De film laat een onthoofding zien. De daders, gehuld in oosters aandoende kledij, eisen dat de doodstraf terug wordt ingevoerd in Denemarken. Er wordt meteen vanuit gegaan, dat moslims deze terreurdaad hebben uitgevoerd. Dicte kopieert de DVD en geeft het origineel aan de politie. Rechercheur John Wagner voert het onderzoek uit. Dicte zit soms in een impasse, omdat ze een goed verhaal kan schrijven voor de krant en de politie haar vraagt nog te wachten. Nadat er een tweede DVD wordt gestuurd en er verhalen van andere kranten verschijnen, wil ze haar verhaal wel doen, ondanks haar belofte aan de politie.
Ook in Denemarken is er angst voor terreur en zijn er integratieproblemen, net zoals in ons land. Dicte denkt, dat de vriendschap van haar dochter Roos met een Pakistaanse jongen Aziz veel te maken heeft met dit incident. Hij wordt gezien als verrader, nadat hij een opleiding is gaan volgen aan de politie- academie. Zij kunnen niet eens gewoon met elkaar omgaan.
Naaste familie is spannend vanaf de eerste bladzijde. Het speelt zich af in Århus, waar wij een keer een bezoek hebben gebracht tijdens een vakantie, wat ik wel leuk vond. De ontknoping is heel anders dan je verwacht: vier sterren zeker waard!
February 27, 2013
Nærmeste Pårørende har ikke en lige så stor handling som de to andre bøger i serien, men den er stadig ligeså spændende.
Dicte kommer ikke ud i en lige så livsfarlig situation, hvilket jeg syntes klæder handlingen.
Nærmeste Pårørendes handlingen er et større puslespil ind de to andre bøger, hvilket jeg syntes gør den rigtig spændende. Det der også gør den spændende er at Dicte bliver nød til at grave i sin fortid for at hun kan finde svarene på gåden, men der spiller også en smule tilfældigheder ind.
En rigtig god og spændende krimi, som kræver at man har læst de to forgående bøger.
Dicte kommer ikke ud i en lige så livsfarlig situation, hvilket jeg syntes klæder handlingen.
Nærmeste Pårørendes handlingen er et større puslespil ind de to andre bøger, hvilket jeg syntes gør den rigtig spændende. Det der også gør den spændende er at Dicte bliver nød til at grave i sin fortid for at hun kan finde svarene på gåden, men der spiller også en smule tilfældigheder ind.
En rigtig god og spændende krimi, som kræver at man har læst de to forgående bøger.
August 15, 2015
Even though it's not a recent book, it asks pertinent questions about the world today. The storyline about the relationship ofthe main protagonist feels really authentic too. I'm sorry they didn't use everything for the making of Dicte, the series. Interesting to learn something about Aarhus as well.
April 6, 2016
An effective melding of socio-politic issues such as immigration and terrorism with a complex andunpredictable murder mystery. A great addition to the collection of norther european writers - this time from Denmark. If you liked the strong female characters in Danish TV series such as The Eagle and The Killing, you'll like this.
April 9, 2014
Started well, and I like Scandinavian mysteries ,but disappointed as melodramatically padded in second half. Incredible motivations and over use of terrorism threat. Main female journalist character Dicte Svendsen and policeman Wagner had potential, but minor characters tend to blur.
July 17, 2011
Will read more - 3.5
July 28, 2014
Good murder mystery with a great female journalist as the lead character
April 23, 2012
If you haven't read "Nærmeste pårørende", don't.
January 21, 2015
My first time reading Elsbeth Egholm, and must say I enjoyed this book.
Read
January 1, 2015lost in translation
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews