I purchased this book for my own personal collection.
Publisher: Harper Collins UK
Published: April 10, 2014
Summary:
Easter, 1974. A family vanishes without a trace from the island of Valö outside of Fjällbacka. The dinner table has been exquisitely set, but everyone except the one year-old daughter Ebba is gone. Are they victims of a crime or have they voluntarily disappeared?
Years later Ebba returns to the island and the old summer camp where her father ruled a boarding school with an iron hand. She and her husband Tobias have recently lost their three year-old son, and in an attempt to overcome their grief they have decided to renovate the house and open a B&B.
Erica Falck’s interest is piqued – she has researched the tragic and mysterious history of the family, and looks forward to meeting Ebba.
But the couple have barely settled in before they are subjected to an attempt of arson. And when they begin to remove the floor boards in the dining room, they find dried blood underneath…
My thoughts
This is the 8th book in Camilla Lackberg’s Fjallbacka/Patrik Hedstrom series, and it’s been a while since I’ve read this series. I had been listening to the books in this series but had not been able to get this one on audio so was waiting to see if it would eventually be released here in the states but finally just gave in and read the print book.
I forgot how much I enjoy this series, despite how dark it can get. While it’s not as dark as some of the other NordicNoir series I read are, it still has its moments and of course, being that it is set in Scandinavian, Sweden to be exact, it is completely atmospheric, which I love. This one was particularly sad in some respects, but I found myself completely captivated by the different plot lines – and yes, as usual, there are quite a few different ones happening.
I love how once again we have the two different timelines in use. The flashbacks really added to the overall mystery of what was going on and it just kept me flipping those pages wondering where it was all heading. And of course, there are the characters. We are always introduced to such dynamic, complex characters in these books, not to mention all the ones that are normally part of the series. Even though it’s been a while since I read the previous book in this series, I felt like no time had passed as I got back into the swing of things with Patrick and his team, Erica and all the rest.
Another intricately plotted, complex story with continued character development. I cannot wait to continue with this series and am so mad I waited so long to pick this one up!
Books in this series:
- The Ice Princess
- The Preacher
- The Stonecutter
- The Stranger
- The Hidden Child
- The Drowning
- The Lost Boy
- Buried Angels
- The Ice Child
- The Girl in the Woods
