Bad Intentions

[sawyl]

The last, for the time being at least, of Karin Fossum's Konrad Sejer novels in the form of Bad Intentions.

When Jon Moreno drowns himself while on weekend release from a psychiatric hospital, his friends Axel and Reilly feel obliged to lie to the police about the circumstances even though the details aren't particularly incriminating. The lie seems trivial and pointless, drawing the attention of the police rather than deflecting it. But as the narrative unfolds, the reasons both for the lie and for Jon's suicide, start to become clear: the three men shared a guilty secret, affecting each of them in a different way.

Although the book features both Konrad Sejer and Jacob Skarre, the primary focus is the relationship dynamics of the three friends at the core of the mystery. Axel, controlling and conscience-free, is a classic psychopath who relies on charm and charisma to bulldoze his way through life. A highly paid advertising copywriter, he is obsessed with his car and his status and his job, and willing to do — or to twist others into doing — almost anything to protect his position. Reilly, in contrast, is thoughtful and studious — he spends much of the book obsessively reading the Koran — who dulls his nagging conscience with large amounts of drugs and is in the process of losing his job as a hospital porter. Of the three Jon is by far the most troubled. Hospitalised with acute anxiety, suffering from serious feelings of guilt and struggling to throw off Axel's influence, his character is gradually revealed through a series of diary extracts and through the reflections of his mother, his girlfriend, and his doctor.

Enjoyable despite its short length and relatively familiar plot, Bad Intentions features enough twists and nice character moments to make it worth reading — I particularly like the way some of the minor characters are able to see straight through Axel's psychopathic charm.