Lycke is a Swedish crime novel and the first in the series about a journalist called Ellen Tamm. Ellen Tamm has some personal problem, the greatest one is that she is a bit obsessed with death. And, working as a crime reporter is probably not the best thing for her. She also lost someone close to her when she was young. In this book, does she get obsessed with a missing child case. And, throughout the book we learn that little Lycke is a child that was pretty much unloved by everyone., But why would anyone take her, and where is she?

Lycke is quite a tragic book, it highlights the fact that not everyone is suited to have children and that grown-ups just sometimes doesn't see what is going one. I was quite made about how Lycke's parents and step-mom just didn't seem to care about her, even when she went missing. Yes, they were worried, but still, it was like they hardly knew anything about her. Only her nanny seemed to care about her.

Lycke is an easy book to read, to especially thrilling, to be honest, but nevertheless, it's a page-turner. But, I have it down to the way it was written rather than the story and its characters. I have read better books about missing children. This book never really got under my skin. It was OK, but it never really surprised me.

There is a sequel to this book called Liv, and it will be interesting to read it and see if the storyline in that book is better! ( )

Lycke is a Swedish crime novel and the first in the series about a journalist called Ellen Tamm. Ellen Tamm has some personal problem, the greatest one is that she is a bit obsessed with death. And, working as a crime reporter is probably not the best thing for her. She also lost someone close to her when she was young. In this book, does she get obsessed with a missing child case. And, throughout the book we learn that little Lycke is a child that was pretty much unloved by everyone., But why would anyone take her, and where is she?

Lycke is quite a tragic book, it highlights the fact that not everyone is suited to have children and that grown-ups just sometimes doesn't see what is going one. I was quite made about how Lycke's parents and step-mom just didn't seem to care about her, even when she went missing. Yes, they were worried, but still, it was like they hardly knew anything about her. Only her nanny seemed to care about her.

Lycke is an easy book to read, to especially thrilling, to be honest, but nevertheless, it's a page-turner. But, I have it down to the way it was written rather than the story and its characters. I have read better books about missing children. This book never really got under my skin. It was OK, but it never really surprised me.

There is a sequel to this book called Liv, and it will be interesting to read it and see if the storyline in that book is better! ( )

Ellen's mother thinks she should never have taken on this assignment. It will remind her too much of the tragedy in her own life when she was the same age as the missing child. Ellen is the crime reporter for a TV station and a missing child is not really a crime story - not, that is, until a body is found or an abduction suspected.

For Ellen though finding the child becomes personal. She feels that the police are not taking the situation seriously enough. She has her own paid source within the police but even he at times gets it wrong. Ellen works extraordinary hours, trying to come up with new angles to follow up.

As Ellen interviews the mother, the father, the stepmother and the nanny, she gets uncomfortable vibes. This is not a child who experienced a lot of love. But she is only 8 years old, from a middle class family, and already she has been the object of a custody battle.

As the investigation continues Ellen herself becomes to object of hate email, and a vendetta by viewers commenting on her presentations. Her own past is thrown in her face. ( )

It's a good book. The plot is thought out quite well. A number of the characters look like the perpetrator at various points, with the true person only being definitely identified at the end.
It didn't always flow that well at times to me, though. It's a translated work, so maybe that has something to do with it. It could have been edited more thoroughly, at least. I stumbled a number of times where an entire word had been missed out.
I also often found it hard to match the way Ellen spoke with how she was acting. She would be shouting, or some such thing, but it would feel out of place with the text leading up to it.
Overall it's pretty good, not the best I've read, but a lot better than a lot of books out there.
I received my copy through Goodreads First Reads. ( )