Review: The Lost Woman by Sara Blaedel

Title:The Lost Woman

Author:Sara Blaedel

Series:Louise Rick, #9, Missing Persons #3

Published:February 2017, Grand Central Publishing

Format:Arc E-copy, 320 pages

Source:Netgalley

A housewife is the target of a shocking, methodical killing.

Shot
with a hunting rifle through her kitchen window, the woman is dead
before she hits the ground. Though murdered in England, it turns out
that the woman, Sofie Parker, is a Danish citizen–one who’s been
missing for almost two decades–so Louise Rick is called on to the case.

Then the police discover that the woman, Sophie, had been
reported missing eighteen years ago by none other than Eik, Louise
Rick’s police colleague and lover. Impulsive as ever, Eik rushes to
England, and ends up in jail on suspicion of Sofie’s murder. Unsettled
by the connection, and sick with worry for Eik, it falls to Louise to
find the killer in what will become her most controversial case yet…

My thoughts:Sara Blaedel is one of my favorite crime writers and I was fortunate to meet her recently along with two other Nordic crime writers. Her Louise Rick series is one I look forward to reading and while this one is a bit different from the previous books, it’s still really good!

This latest installment is more character-driven and less procedural than the past books – while it still involves Louise working on a murder case, that takes a bit of a back seat to the character development that we get on Eik, Louise’s boyfriend. We learn a lot about his past and how he is involved in the current case that has Louise working with her former department – lots going on here!

Another turn with this book is a topic that Sara tackles with this book – that of assisted suicide. This is central to the case that Louise is investigating, but what is so evident in reading this book is that you can clearly see just how much research Sara put into the topic. While this is a fictional story, she tackles this topic sensitively, never once putting her opinion on the subject into the story. You can tell she thoroughly researched the topic and put that research to use in the writing. 

This is definitely more of a thought-provoking book than the previous ones, but still a fantastic installment to this series. And, if it’s your first introduction to Louise Rick – rest assured, you will be fine – there is enough back-story on the characters so you will not be lost. 

I love this series and love the writing. It’s clever and brilliant and smart. Sara Blaedel has created a dynamic series with complicated, engaging characters and I cannot get enough of them. I cannot wait to read the earlier books that have not been translated into English yet (see below) and I do hope we haven’t seen the last of Louise Rick…I need more of her!!! 

A Note on this series:

***This series was first published in Denmark. Grand Central Publishing has started publishing some of the later books here in the US, which have been grouped in a trilogy called ‘Missing Persons’ – sort of like a series within a series. I have heard that they will be re-releasing the earlier books starting next year.

Missing Persons (Available in US now): 

1. The Forgotten Girls
2. The Killing Forest 
3. The Lost Woman

Louise Rick Series (as Sara Blaedel wrote it):

1. Green Dust (???)
2. Call Me Princess/ Blue Blood
3. Only One Life
4. Farewell to Freedom
5. The Goddess of Vengeance (???)
6. Death Angel (???) 
7. The Forgotten Girls
8. The Killing Forest 
9. The Lost Woman    

*** For those titles with ???, I used a translator website to translate Danish title. Not sure if this will be what actual English title will be when book is re-released by Grand Central, but at least it’s a place-holder for now.  And you’ll notice book 2 has two titles – I actually have both books, both in English!