Title:The Stranger
Author:Camilla Lackberg
Series:Patrik Hedstrom /Fjallbacka, #4
Narrator:Simon Vance
Published:April 2013, HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books
Length:11 hours 24 minutes
Source:Library
A string of
suspicious deaths points to a potential serial killer who has turned his
eye toward Fjällbacka and her dark forests, where two children vanished
decades before.A local woman is killed in a tragic car
crash, but it isn’t a clear-cut drunk driving case. The victim’s blood
contains high alcohol levels, yet she rarely drank a drop. Meanwhile, a
new television series begins shooting in Fjällbacka, and as cameras
shadow the stars’ every move, tempers start to flare. When a drunken
party ends with an unpopular contestant’s murder, all eyes turn to the
cast and crew. Could there be a murderer among them? The ratings spike
as the country tunes in to a real life murder mystery.Detective
Patrik Hedstrom finds himself increasingly unable to focus on the
strange circumstances of the first case, but what if that holds the key
to a series of other unsolved cases across Sweden? Under the unforgiving
media spotlight, Patrik tackles his most challenging investigation yet.
***Short & Sweet Reviews are
short, quick reviews. These will mainly be used for series books where I
have already done full reviews on some of the earlier books or for
books that I feel will suffice with a quick review. These will not be
used for review requests or blog tours.
My thoughts:This is the 4th book in Camilla Lackberg’s Fjallbacka/Patrik Hedstrom series and I have to admit, it wasn’t until the second half of this book that I really got into it…the first half just really wasn’t doing it for me. I don’t know if it was the change in narrator – see below – or the story line itself, but something was off. And then, the second half, things picked up and I found myself more engaged.
I do love the twists and turns that this series takes and there certainly were plenty within this book. The sidestories keep things moving along between the wedding plans for Erica and Patrik, the aftermath of Anna’s fiasco with her husband’s murder, and even the new love interest for Melberg.
While this installment wasn’t my favorite so far, I am loving the series overall and cannot wait to pick up the next one.
Audio thoughts:So this is the first book where Simon Vance takes over the narration…and while he does a good job, he’s not David Thorn, who I had come to really enjoy as the narrator of this series. And while this may not be the popular opinion…I wish David Thorn would have continued with the narration – I had really come to like his voices…so to me, it was quite jarring to hear different voices this time around. I think it will take me some time to get used to the new voices.
That being said, Simon Vance is an excellent narrator and he did a great job with this book. His characterization and pacing were all fine.
Books in this series:
- The Ice Princess
- The Preacher
- The Stonecutter
- The Stranger
- The Hidden Child
- The Drowning
- The Lost Boy
