I really like the Nina Borg series, even though they are dark and sometimes depressing. She goes through so much heartache trying to help people. A perfect example of the old saying "no good deed goes unpunished". Her life would be so much easier if she would pay more attention to her family (and herself), but I guess that's just not the way she's wired. Once she knows about someone else's need, she can't hold back from trying to help.

In this book, she almost gets killed by an apologetic killer. It's hard to imagine why someone would want to hurt her; it seems that even her attacker doesn't want to do it, but he does a pretty good job of hurting her, but fortunately not a very good job of killing her.

As usual, we have multiple seemingly unrelated stories going on at the same time, which of course come together in the end. Both stories are tense and interesting.

Even when we figure out who it is that tried to kill her, it's hard to imagine why. It seems like the killer himself is trying to figure this out, but unfortunately, he's pretty dense and easily controlled. I felt really sorry for him for a while, but by the end, I think I felt sorrier for his seemingly sociopathic friend who at least seemed to think he had a good reason for his actions.
( )

Nina Borg is viciously attacked in a parking garage, and nobody is sure whether it is a random or planned act, especially as she has put herself in harm's way so many times in the past. Her boyfriend, Søren Kirkegard, is called and comes to Viborg to support her. The book goes back and forth to her visit to the Philippines with her ex-husband and children, when she deserted them to treat victims of a building collapse. The two stories come together well in the end, but I found the switching between the storylines to be distracting. ( )

Not horrible, but... not a really worthwhile read. You can pretty much figure out the entire story in the first ten pages even though the entire thing is fairly disjointed and tenuous. None of the characters are particularly enjoyable, and one way or another all failing at life. I can’t think of any part of the story that I actually liked. Oh, and if you didn’t figure out the story in the first ten pages, and then piece it together in real time as you read the book, they do summarize it in the last few pages lest somehow you totally lost interest by that point and the plot. ( )

1.5 stars, rounded up.

This is the fourth book in the Nina Borg series, and each one is more far-fetched than the previous. In this one, the antagonist in the title is neither considerate nor a killer.

The plot, such as it is, is unbelievable. Red Cross nurse Nina Borg, in Manila with her husband, who is on a working vacation, helps with the disaster of an apartment building explosion. Terrorism? Who knows? But the building owner, a paranoid Filipino playboy, decides that Nina, now back home in Denmark several months later, knows something about the explosion and needs to be eliminated. As I said, far-fetched.

There were two factors that kept me listening to this one. The first was learning more about Nina's history and how it is revealing itself in how she reacts to certain situations. That was the one part that made this interesting; it definitely wasn't the story. The second was that more than half the book was set in the Philippines. I lived there for four years in the late 80s, my wife is Filipino, and I love that country and its people. The culture is amazing, strange as it is to most Americans, and even though the narration was bad (more about that below), it was a pleasant surprise to "return" to Manila.

As for the narration, it was simply bad. Katherine Kellgren chooses the worst accents for the characters, and they sound nothing like the should. Nina's mother sounds like she's from England, Vadim (a Filipino) sounds like he's from Russia, and Vincent (another Filipino) sounds like he's from India. Her narration really took away from the story, and I'll be hard-pressed to listen to another book by her. ( )

I've enjoyed this series from its inception. Nina Borg is a Red Cross nurse with serious flaws-- the origin of which become crystal clear in The Considerate Killer. Anyone in need always comes before her husband and children, and her husband is understandably sick of it. In this fourth book, however, Nina is the one who needs help. She has suffered serious injuries that may affect her for the rest of her life.

There are various points of view throughout the book which help to clarify the story. We hear from Nina, from Søren who comes to her aid, and from three young men that Nina met while in the Philippines. In part The Considerate Killer is the character study of a weak young man and the depths to which his weakness takes him. Although I did enjoy the sections taking place in the Philippines, I did miss the focus being on Nina because she is such a strong, vivid character.

Since the "who" part of the mystery is answered very early on, it's the "why" that becomes the primary question. That... and the question readers have asked themselves many times: Has Nina finally learned to stop trying to save the world?

Nina is the heart and soul of this series. Seldom do readers get to know a character who so wholeheartedly-- and blindly-- throws herself into the role of White Knight, constantly battling to do right, unceasing in her fight to give a voice to the powerless. Yes, the stories are excellent, but Nina is the reason I recommend this series-- and to fully understand her, I suggest you begin at the beginning with The Boy in the Suitcase. ( )