Title: The Night Women
Author: Sara Blaedel
Series: Louise Rick, #4 / The Camilla Trilogy #1
Published: January 2018, Grand Central Publishing
Format: ARC Paperback, 432 pages
Source: Publisher
Summary:
#1 internationally
bestselling author Sara Blaedel delivers an electrifying, page-turning
new novel in which detective Louise Rick confronts a case that will
change her life forever.
THE NIGHT WOMEN
A
journey to a new life or a prison of despair and death? A shocking
murder on Copenhagen’s idyllic streets and an abandoned child reveal a
perverse criminal underworld that crosses international borders.
A
young woman’s body is found on the street with her throat slit, and the
media is clamoring for the grisly details. Detective Louise Rick is
investigating the gruesome murder when her friend Camilla Lind calls.
Louise assumes it is because Camilla, a crime reporter, wants to be the
first to hear of any juicy new developments. Instead, her distraught
friend reveals that her ten year-old son found an abandoned baby on his
way to school.
As Louise digs deeper into the murder and the
mysterious foundling, every clue uncovered points to organized human
trafficking from Eastern Europe, run by ruthless gangsters who won’t
hesitate to kill anyone who gets in their way…
This gripping,
heartwrenching, extraordinary new suspense novel from Sara Blaedel will
keep you turning pages as fast as you can straight through to the
electrifying finale.
My thoughts: I have long been a fan of Denmark’s Queen of Crime Sara Blaedel’s books since picking up The Forgotten Girls, the first of her books to be translated in English. The only problem is that that book was actually #7 in Sara’s Louise Rick series…and since then books 8 and 9 have also been translated in English and I have read and loved them as well. But, what about the earlier books – the beginning of the series? Well…fear not! We are finally getting those…but of course, not from the beginning – oh no! We are now gettting books 4-6…why publishers decide to do this, I have no idea, but whatever…at least they are giving us these ones. And they are so good!!! So, if you are new to Sara’s books…you can start with these new ones or you can start with the later ones and go back…the choice is up to you, but if you like crime fiction…you really need to give her books a go!
And one more word about these new books, this one in particular. Some of the earlier books have been translated into English…they are available in England and they have made their way over to the states. The thing to know is that this first one…THE NIGHT WOMEN was formerly published as FAREWELL TO FREEDOM. So, if you happened to read this one, or have seen it on a bookshelf somewhere – these are one and the same book.
I devoured this book…I love Sara’s writing and found that while I have read the later books, I could easily transport myself to an earlier version of both Louise and Camilla. This gives us a good backstory to both of them – and I felt like I was constantly thinking about all I knew now and how those pieces would eventually come together.
This book is dark and gritty at times…it explores the underbelly of Copenhagen’s crime – human trafficking and organized crime. It will pull you in and leave you wanting more. I loved the way Sara was able to take the two crimes – the murder that Louise was called to and the abandoned baby that Camilla’s son finds and weave them together – you aren’t quite sure how they may be linked or why, but Louise and Camilla stop at nothing until they have all the answers and believe me, the ending is nothing you may guess at.
This is an intense read, totally engrossing and fast-paced. At the same time, there is quite a bit of character development and back story happening – which I loved, especially if you, like me, have already read the later books in this series. This is one of the reasons why I love reading series – I get so attached to the characters and I like following their development. While I am doing it a bit backward here, it’s kind of fun seeing how it all came about!
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 2 trilogies ‘The Missing Persons Trilogy’ and ‘The Camilla Trilogy.’
The Missing Persons Trilogy (Available in US now):
The Camilla Trilogy (Available in the US now – as of 1.2.18):
- The Night Women
- The Running Girl
- The Stolen Angel
Louise Rick Series (as Sara Blaedel published it):
- Green Dust (???)
- Call Me Princess/ Blue Blood
- Only One Life
- The Night Women (formerly published as Farewell to Freedom)
- The Running Girl
- The Stolen Angel
- The Forgotten Girls
- The Killing Forest
- The Lost Woman
*** For the title with ???, I used a translator website to translate Danish title. Not sure if this is the actual English title 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!
I hate it when the foreign books come out here in reverse order or something. I'm trying to let go of my 'must read in order' quirk, but it's hard. I have wanted to read this author's books, but I may wait a bit more and see if the first ones get published here. Ha!
I knew the author's name sounded familiar and I think it's because I've already added several of her books to my TBR thanks to your reviews. After reading this one I'm not sure what's taken me so long to give it a try. It sounds like the translation is well done which is always a big concern even though the publishing order makes no sense. Publishing from first book to last doesn't seem that complicated! However, I'm glad it isn't a problem to start in the middle.
I've been seeing this trio of books and want to read them. I, too, wish they would publish in order.