Camilla Läckberg

Having read but not completed Helen Tursten's Detective Irene Huss series, I learned about another Swedish mystery series writer, Camilla Lackberg.

The Ice Princess reads like butter. Lackberg is a master of getting the complexities of all kinds of relationships right. And shows how we all struggle starting and maintaining our connections to others; never comes easy.

This first book in the series shows how keeping silent about heinous crimes is never a good idea and usually leads to more show more violence. Its also about how we rightly or wrongly go about protecting those we love.

Lots of action, great characters, good dialogue; understandable, exciting and sad.

Great read. show less

"Maybe, one day, we might be identifying Agatha Christie as 'the British Camilla Läckberg.'" -- The Washington Post

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I haven't read any Agatha Christie, was she a horrible writer as well? Or did The Washington Post just "phone in" the review / praise since someone at the Post clearly didn't read this book.

If I could write 10,000 synonyms for "whining" – whine, whiner, whined, complain, complaining, whinge, whinging, etc. – and multiplied that by 4-5 generations then that would show more be the ultimate summary of this book. (Or maybe I am just looking at it the wrong way around, maybe the writing IS genius because no other writer could pull off 500 pages of nonstop bitching.)

On top of the endless self-pitying, there is not one single likeable character in the entire book. This long, monotonous story was neither clever nor engaging, and I would call it downright formulaic; nothing I haven't read dozens of times before.

However, I did learn something. Now I know why so much crime fiction comes out of Scandinavia; if I had to live in a dark wasteland filled with empty, meaningless lives and mean, vengeful souls like Sweden, I would be murdering people left and right too. show less

THE GIRL IN THE WOODS is written by Camilla Lackberg and translated from the Swedish by Tiina Nunnally. It is #10 in her Patrik Hedstrom (Fjallbacka) series. [ *personal note: During the height of the Coronavirus Lockdown in 2020, I decided to read this series. Camilla Lackberg is a favorite author of mine and the genres of Scandanavian Noir and mystery and detective stories can’t be beat. I did possess (and had read) several of the earlier titles but wanted to fill in the gaps which show more proved to be complicated with several of the titles. This last title, THE GIRL IN THE WOODS, was not in ebook format and a paperback had to be special ordered. The paperback had been published by HarperCollins UK. Patience and detecting paid off!* ]

“When a four-year-old girl disappears in the woods outside Fjallbacka, people are horror-struck. Thirty years ago, a child went missing from the same spot and was later discovered, murdered.” book jacket
“A Missing Child — A Murder — A Community Torn Apart — Heart-Stopping and Heart Warming — Both Chilling and Thrilling” book jacket

I like this title and series very much. The main characters (Patrik Hedstrom & Erica Falck) are realistic, interesting, complex and likable, as are Patrik’s fellow police officers at Tanumshede Police Station.
Both towns - Tanumshede and Fjallbacka - are real locations on the west coast of Sweden.
Ms. Lackberg’s writing style involves many-layered plots with secrets (always many secrets) and often historical incidents from the past that have an effect on, or a relationship to, current events.
In this title, chilling and horrifying events from 1671 in the Bohuslan area serve as a backdrop to current (both fictional and real) events in the same area. The trial, torture and death of a young woman said to be a ‘witch’ is difficult to read, but relates to current prejudices towards refugees.
We are left with a bit of a cliffhanger on the last page concerning Erica’s sister, Anna, which I hope is resolved in Ms. Lackberg’s next installment in the series.
THE GIRL IN THE WOODS is tense, chilling and horrifying in parts, but has its feel-good moments, too. I would heartily recommend this title and this series. ***** show less

I picked this book up on a whim – the front cover had caught my attention and the first page made me curious. Never having read any of Camilla Lackberg’s writing before I was in for quite a ride! “The Drowning” is written in the perspective of multiple people and has a dual story line (e.g. one based on memories, flashbacks and another based on a present day murder mystery). The intertwining of characters and stories sets a fast pace and motivates the reader to plunge further into show more the novel’s depths. Day-to-day life and relationships become anything but monotonous. In fact, I think that Lackberg uses the coziness of everyday life to lull you into a false hope that the underlying horrors and tragedies that make this book a murder mystery don’t really exist. This is a book that will keep you coming back for more and will keep you guessing until the last page and then leave you stunned and shocked. show less