The Forgotten Girls

I can see why this series of mysteries is a bestseller in Denmark. Louise Rick is a character readers can't help but like, and the trials and tribulations of her new job position highlight some of the things women have to deal with in a male-dominated work force like the police. Louise's personal life and the death of her fiance also play a part in the story.

Blaedel also uses the landscape and forests of Denmark to good effect. I often found all the trees to be rather claustrophobic. But the investigation itself grabbed almost every scrap of my concentration. I had allowed myself to forget how the developmentally disabled were often treated in the past. It is something none of us should forget. As good as the characters and the setting show more are in The Forgotten Girls, the investigation into the fate of Lisemette and her sister is engrossing, and its outcome is truly riveting... horrifying... and ultimately transformed by the actions of one elderly man. show less

This gets a whole-hearted "no" from me. A flat combination of unconvincing and unlikable characters, lumpen prose, and implausible plot. And hey, I've ploughed through a bunch of so-so crime novels before now just for the escapism they offered, but the off-putting attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities and the weird strain of internalised misogyny meant I couldn't even turn my brain off while reading The Forgotten Girls.

Second book I've read by Blaedel. I don't know. She writes a good story leading up to the discovery, then it's just too easy. This one, the woman keeps her trap shut then just lets it all out short of drawing a diagram for Louise.

The sexual assault of Louise just didn't need to happen. Come on, please? There are much better ways to include that twist in Louise's past. Or at least do the character the honor of not poorly writing the reason for it into one big ol' cliche of dialog.

Louise and Eik... I liked Eik, but he's a drunk. If any woman with a lick of sense first met a man by dragging him out of a bar, she wouldn't want to sleep with him. Maybe if this happened in a later book with build up and development, it would have less meh. show more But you know what? An alcoholic can easily be written out by either screwing up or bowing out for rehab. So, I'm wondering if Blaedel will continue with this character or give him a "where is he now" bit in chapter 2.

Blaedel knows how to move a plot in pieces and bring it all together. I enjoyed most of this book, but the points above just killed it for me. show less

This took entirely too long to read, but that’s the life of a wrestling mom during season.

I absolutely loved this book! The Forgotten Girls is the first of a trilogy within a series. But at no time did I feel lost or confused without reading the books that came before. Sara gives enough background on the protagonist, Louise Rick so I felt like I wasn’t missing anything vital.

I thought the mystery was solid and developed slowly. There was definitely some creep value, which I loved. The writing flowed very smoothly for a translated book. I really enjoyed the two main characters, detectives Louise (the lead officer on a newly created Missing Persons task force with the Danish police) and Eik, and I was completely engrossed from show more beginning to end.

I will definitely be reading the rest of the series. Sara Blaedel has found a forever fan. I highly recommend. show less

This took entirely too long to read, but that’s the life of a wrestling mom during season.

I absolutely loved this book! The Forgotten Girls is the first of a trilogy within a series. But at no time did I feel lost or confused without reading the books that came before. Sara gives enough background on the protagonist, Louise Rick so I felt like I wasn’t missing anything vital.

I thought the mystery was solid and developed slowly. There was definitely some creep value, which I loved. The writing flowed very smoothly for a translated book. I really enjoyed the two main characters, detectives Louise (the lead officer on a newly created Missing Persons task force with the Danish police) and Eik, and I was completely engrossed from show more beginning to end.

I will definitely be reading the rest of the series. Sara Blaedel has found a forever fan. I highly recommend. show less

What happened to those girls?

The Forgotten Girls by Sara Blaedel (Grand Central Publishing, $26).

In this new Louise Rick mystery from Danish novelist Sara Blaedel, the detective has agreed to head up a special unit investigating missing and unidentified persons. The first case involves a young woman who died after falling off a bluff in a park that Louise knows well from her youth.

Saddled with a new partner, Eik, who annoys the holy hell out of her—she collects him from a bar to take their first call—they arrive at the park and discover a pair of toddlers left alone on the lakeside. A search of the area finds a woman’s body, obviously murdered, and the detective assigned to this case is Louise’s ex, Mikkel.

Soon enough, Louise show more and Eik have identified their victim—one of a set of identical twins who were reported dead of illness at a long-closed institution for the retarded and mentally ill near the park. But the woman was alive until quite recently.

The question becomes as much about why she was reported dead so long ago when she obviously was not—and where is the twin from whom she was inseperable?—but it gets even more complicated when Louise and Eik’s case turns out to have a lot in common with Mikkel’s.

Like most Scandanavian mysteries, this is a bit on the grim and pessimistic side, but it’s also compelling, and as grumpy as Louise is, there’s still plenty to like about her. Put The Forgotten Girls on the “read me” list for mystery fans, particularly if they like those outdoorsy, negative, Northern Europeans.

Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com show less

A woman's body is found in the forest, but no one seems to know who she is. Louise Rick then discovers that the woman is already dead, or rather that she was a patient in a state mental institution and was declared dead 30 years ago. Now Louise and her colleague Eik must find out how a woman can be declared dead and then end up dead for real decades later.

Have you ever read something good, but at the same time revolting to read? You know the kind of engrossing book, but with a really really sick ending? This book is that kind of book. I started to read it yesterday, read it this night when my cat didn't want to sleep and kept me up and I finished it today. And, it was such a good book, a real page-turner.

Louise Rick is the new commander show more for the Missing Persons Department and I sometimes found her to have a bit of an attitude problem, but slowly pieces from her past reveled and that made it easier to understand her. Eik her new colleague annoyed Louise quite a lot in the beginning and I can understand that since she had to pick him up from a pub in the morning and he was a bit hungover not the best first impression, but they worked well together when she realized what a great cop he is. The case itself was interesting and as I mentioned quite disturbing. Besides the fact that they have the dead women mystery to figure out, a rapist is also attacking women in the woods where they found her. Louise also has to deal with memories from the past and her best friends problems with her upcoming wedding.

The book was really good and I want to read the previous six books in this series.

4.5 stars

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review show less