Title:The Killing Forest
Author:Sara Blaedel
Series:Louise Rick, #2
Published:February 2016, Grand Central Publishing
Format:ARC E-copy, 320 pages
Source:Netgalley
Sara Blaedel, author of the #1 international bestseller The Forgotten Girls–which was roundly praised as “gripping” with “uncompromising realism” (Washington Post) and “tautly suspenseful” (BookPage)–returns with the thrilling next book in her series featuring police investigator Louise Rick.
Following
an extended leave, Louise Rick returns to work at the Special Search
Agency, an elite unit of the National Police Department. She’s assigned a
case involving a fifteen-year-old who vanished a week earlier. When
Louise realizes that the missing teenager is the son of a butcher from
Hvalsoe, she seizes the opportunity to combine the search for the teen
with her personal investigation of her boyfriend’s long-ago death . . .
Louise’s investigation takes her on a journey back through time. She
reconnects with figures from her past, including Kim, the principal
investigator at the Holbaek Police Department, her former in-laws,
fanatic ancient religion believers, and her longtime close friend,
journalist Camilla Lind. As she moves through the small town’s cramped
network of deadly connections, Louise unearths toxic truths left
unspoken and dangerous secrets.
My thoughts:This is the next book in Sara Blaedel’s Louise Rick series and I was so excited to get my hands on it. I really liked the previous book in the series, The Forgotten Girls, and have been desperately waiting for this next book.
If you know anything about my reading habits, you know I have to read series in order and in this case, it really does make sense. The previous book sets up a big part of the personal story line that Louise is struggling with in this book – and in fact sets in motion her drive for finding out what really happened the night her boyfriend died so long ago. Luckily this personal investigation is able to be paired with the case she is working on – that of a missing teenager.
As for this case…it’s a bit creepy and a little suspect. It seems as if his family isn’t all that concerned that the boy is missing. Between this and the old Nordic religion, Asatro, this book will have you intrigued for sure – sacrificial woods, an ancient religious cult, and a series of murders – how could it not?
What I love about this book, and about the series so far, is that the characters are well-developed and believable. They are all flawed, real, down-to earth people that could easily be someone you might know or even be friends with – that makes them so much more relatable, even if they aren’t likeable all the time! I also love that the books are fast-paced. Even when Sara is taking the time to set things up – like in this book when we are learning about the Asatro – I never felt bogged down in detail.
Sara Blaedel is very quickly becoming one of my favorite crime fiction authors…and I really do hope her books continue to be translated in English. This latest one was really good, despite the creepiness of the case, and Louise Rick is such a great main character that I can’t wait to catch up with her again. But trust me when I say, read The Forgotten Girls first – there is a lot of background story that is referred to in this book!!!
Books in this series:
- The Forgotten Girls
- The Killing Forest
This does sound good and I already have The Forgotten Girls on my TBR so I'm adding this as well. Thanks for the heads up about the setup in the first book. So often mysteries really don't need to be read in order so I might have just picked up which ever one I saw first.
Both are really good, but you really do want to read them in order…it will make sense, believe me! Let me know how you like them after you read them!!!
Ooh, sounds so good! I didn't read the first book, so now I'm going to add it to my look-for list, so I can read them in order. Thanks for a good review!
Oh yes…do read them in order…you will be glad you did! And they are really good:) Let me know what you think once you read them!