Short & Sweet Review: The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg (audio)

Title:The Preacher

Author:Camilla Lackberg

Series:Patrik Hedstrom (Fjallbacka), #2

Narrator:David Thorn

Published:June 2011, HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Length:15 hour 46 minutes

Source:Personal copy via Audible

In the fishing community
of Fjällbacka, life is remote, peaceful, and for some, tragically
short. Foul play was always suspected in the disappearance twenty years
ago of two young campers, but their bodies were never found. But now, a
young boy out playing has confirmed the grim truth. Their remains are
discovered alongside those of a fresh victim, sending the tiny town into
shock.

Local detective Patrik Hedström, expecting a baby with
his girlfriend Erica, can only imagine what it is like to lose a child.
When a second young girl goes missing, Hedström’s attention focuses on
the Hults, a feuding clan of misfits, religious fanatics and criminals.
The suspect list is long but time is short—which of this family’s dark
secrets will provide the vital clue?

***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 second book in Camilla Lackberg’s Fjallbacka/Patrik Hedstrom series and I am absolutely loving it – I just cannot get enough of this series!!! I think one of the good things about coming into a series late is that I don’t have to wait a whole year for the next book – I can almost go book to book if I want.

One think I noticed about this installment is that Patrik takes more of a central role than he did in the previous book and Erica takes more of a backseat…I’m not sure if that is going to be the case completely moving forward with the series or if that was only because she was so late in her pregnancy this time around – I guess only time will tell! But, it was interesting to see so much of Patrik and how he works. I really do like both characters and how he, in particular goes about his job. 

The book continues with it’s dark aspect to it, as well as the police procedural that I’ve come to enjoy. The case was interesting with it’s religious fanaticism and all that that entailed. The details that Camilla Lackberg brings to her writing is just amazing! It’s interesting, dark, twisted and creepy all at once.

I was happy – though maybe that isn’t the best word, given the nature of the story line – to see that Anna, Erica’s sister, was back in the picture. There is a lot going on there and to really understand Erica, we need to see that play out to the end, I think.

The end is quite a good one and makes me quite anxious to jump right into the next book…good thing I can do that quickly :) 

Audio thoughts:I am really enjoying listening to this series on audio. While each book is quite long, you get wrapped up in the story and don’t realize the time. I think David Thorn does a good job with the voices and the pacing.

Books in this series: 

1. The Ice Princess
2. The Preacher
3. The Stonecutter
4. The Stranger
5. The Hidden Child
6. The Drowning
7. The Lost Boy