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| The Exception | 
 enlarge | List Price: $15.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 19 reviews)
Sales Rank: 109222
Category: Book
Author: Christian Jungersen
Publisher: Anchor
Studio: Anchor
Manufacturer: Anchor
Label: Anchor
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: Reprint
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 512
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 1400096650
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781400096657
ASIN: 1400096650
Publication Date: July 8, 2008
Release Date: July 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
An internationally bestselling thriller, The Exception dissects the nature of evil and the paranoia that drives ordinary people to commit unthinkable acts.
Four women work together for a small nonprofit in Copenhagen that disseminates information on genocide. When two of them receive death threats, they immediately believe that they are being stalked by Mirko Zigic, the Serbian torturer and war criminal they recently profiled in their articles. Yet as tensions mount among the women, their suspicions turn away from Zigic and toward each other. The threats increase, and soon the office becomes a battlefield in which each of the women's move is suspect.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 14 more reviews...
 One of the Best Ever November 11, 2008
When I first finished reading this book, I thought to myself that this was one of the best books I've ever read. Then I said, wait, I've thought this many times before about other books. Let's just give it some time. Well, it's been a couple of months since I finished reading it and I still have to agree with my original impression. Definately one of the best. It's a real eye-opener to the fact that evil lurks within us all and causes one to be more self-aware. And it's such a great read. Once you get going it is very hard to put it down. I bought many more copies of the book and sent to friends and family.
 Lacks focus November 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Exception" is expectionally long and lacks focus. Reading about the way Iben and Malene pick on Anne-lise, one wonders whether they had failed to grow out of their school-girl bullying days.But the purpose of education is to ensure that the young live in harmony with others of their ilk as social beings. We may be 'civilized' because of the fear of the Policeman around the corner, but that is what makes people practice the common courtsies of harmonious living as a group or as a nation.If Jungersen wanted to show that cruelty lurks in all of us, he should have pointed out at the same time that the established peace of societies and nations become possible only by the individual suppressing his natural instincts and overiding them for the saftey provided by being a member of an integrated gruop.His examination of the impulse to cruelty and the massive expression of this impulse in genocide is quite interesting. But when a group indulges in genocide, there is always the desire or covetousness of the individuals comprising the group for gains for themself- gains in terms of wealth or sex. If the individual is not assured of such personal gains he will not be a participant in the genocidal actions. Jungersen should have brought this out. The end of the novel is intriguing. When we had concluded that Malene's confession on her computer had cleared the enigma as to who sent the threatening E-mails and killed Rasmus, Dote, the inspector, throws in a doubt. She points out to Iben that while Malene's other letters on the computer had been saved several times because she was a nervous writer this confession had been revised only once.So it is clear that somebody had entered Malene's apartmant after the police had taken possesion of it and writen up the confession. When asked by Dote Iben denies having a key to Malene's apartmrnt and knowing the pass-word to her computer. But was untruthful as regards both. We are left wondering whether it was Iben who was at the bottom of the whole thing. In that case Malene would emerge as a noble friend.
 builds up to climax January 16, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The story starts off with a bang at the beginning of the book, which I like. Then, the tension slowly increases - almost like a film. There are some slow spots, but the ending is worth it. The psychology throughout the book adds a nice touch and contributes to the tension.
Human chameleons November 18, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Highly recommended! The Exception is a novel of ideas, embedded inside a mystery. The mystery part works reasonably well, while the ideas will stay with you long after you've finished reading the book. Just how adaptable are we humans? The novel makes the case that most of us will adjust to fit our environment. If we work in an office snake pit, we'll become vipers. If we work in a professional, supportive environment, we'll tend to be exemplary co-workers. In a violent totalitarian state, most of us will join right in. It really makes one wonder about the effects of hate-filled right wing talk radio in our society today.... This book is a must read.
astounding November 3, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I bought The Exception on a whim after seeing a positive review of it in the New Yorker this past summer, and it turned out to be possibly the best contemporary novel I've read in the last couple of years; I read the last 200 pp in a day. The prose is clean, spare, taut, the characters well drawn. The use of the Danish Center for Information on Genocide is fantastic--the novel is presented as a thriller, and it is in a way, but really it's a close examination of office politics through a masterful use of multiple points of view. I realize that description doesn't sound all that thrilling in itself, and I actually wasn't sure Jungersen would be able to adequately connect the meditations on the horrors of genocide (represented in the book through a number of DCIG articles, which appear in their entirety) with the petty gossip, backbiting, and bullying that occurs in a contained social space like an office, but the results are positively chilling and thoroughly thought-provoking. With the threatening e-mails, it's technically a whodunit, but really, whodunit is not the point. Really, it's about the darkest corners of human nature, and it's unflinching. Highly recommended.
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