Chapters 4 and 5

[Melanie]

Do you normally like thrillers? Is this even a thriller or more a hard-boiled crime?

(disclaimer: I wrote this before I read the book, one does feel a bit silly now)

[Melanie]

This book is so terrible it's funny. What's not funny though is the portrayal of women, every woman seems to be dependent on the men in their life in some shape or form, and although on the surface it looks like Erica is not wired that way, she also has some weird stuff going on: Her friendship with her ex-boyfriend Dan and drawing Pernilla as "second best", her ex settled for her when he could not have her. The assault by her brother in law that she seemingly just accepts and the undertone of the "I provoked him with my behaviour when the estate agent went round the house". Ugh, ugh, ugh. You see that's why I like cozy mysteries: They don't pretend to be something they are not. You know the plot is going to be over the top, the characters are mostly lunatics and the writing is often abysmal. But this book is sold on the basis of being a hard hitting thriller, examining dark secrets in Swedish society... to me this is a cozy mystery dressed up pretending it's something else.

[Linda]

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be hard-boiled crime or what? I am so glad I got it from the library and could return it. I do give it praise for being atmospheric, but that's about it. I can barely remember the plot and the character development leaves a lot to be desired.

[Melanie]

Linda wrote: "I'm not sure if this is supposed to be hard-boiled crime or what? I am so glad I got it from the library and could return it. I do give it praise for being atmospheric, but that's about it. I can b..."

I am so with you!

[Susan]

In my comments about chapter 1-3, I stated that this book is giving me all the feels of a gritty crime thriller series for my reading pleasure. After reading chapter 4 and most of 5, I'm cringing at my initial assessment. This is awful. What happened to the underbelly and dark secrets of society? Instead I've got pages devoted to Erica preparing for a dinner date where Erica is feeling inept as a cook and fretting about her appearance and undergarment choice. The descriptions of each police officer at the case meeting was painful with its cardboard characterization as. If Camilla wants to write gritty crime thrillers then she needs to have a chat with Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. I do like Mel's characterization of the book as a cozy mystery dressed up pretending it's something else. And it is painfully dressed.

[Melanie]

Susan wrote: "In my comments about chapter 1-3, I stated that this book is giving me all the feels of a gritty crime thriller series for my reading pleasure. After reading chapter 4 and most of 5, I'm cringing a..."

I am so with you. Her weighing herself and the constant mentions of Weight Watchers? Also that weird conversation with Julia. And boy, I thought I drink a lot of coffee, but if I were to have a cup of coffee every time they do, I would not sleep for a month.

[Marcella]

Another observation I have is that all the characters seem to consist of just one character trait. You have the seemingly perfect victim with a dark secret, the sexist boss, the drunk suspect, the abusing brother in law. I was hoping for more character development, but instead we just get more and more characters, which are all introduced by their one particular trait. The last example where I just felt like: not again! was Erika's old teacher. Why couldn't the writer just describe him as a teacher enjoying his retirement? Nope, he had to have his own little trait aswell.. I'm thinking his OCD will have some meaning in the story later on, but why can't the characters be more than just their one trait? They aren't the spice girls!!

[Stacey]

This book hasn't repelled me as it seems to have others. I read a lot of classics and books with heavy topics, so I've found this be be nice, light, brain candy. I'm listening on Audible, and whereas I wish the narrator had a Swedish accent instead of British, and wished he wouldn't attempt to impersonate female voices, I'm finding it fine. I have 6 hours left out of 15, and if it doesn't start to drag, or take a dive it will get a solid 3 (average) stars from me.

[Candace]

Yes it really did annoy me with the characterizations!

I will say that Lackberg kept me engaged and on my toes. I wanted to keep reading to figure out who killed Alex. I mostly predicted the reason of her moving away and it involving a Lorentz but not who killed Alex or Anders. I was totally surprised about who Alex’s baby’s father was. I felt Erica’s detective work a little frustrating and unrealistic when she wasn’t sharing it with Patrick.

The Santa Claus figurine obsession kind of cracked me up. And I laughed out loud about the coffee comment Mel 😂

The only other author I’m familiar with from Sweden is Stieg Larsson. I really do enjoy the setting of the book.

[Keriann]

Ok I knew I would be the odd one out 😂 almost finished and really enjoying this book. I spoiled myself for the abuse thread as I read ahead on here oops so wasn’t a big twist, was shocked with who Alex’s baby’s father was, it has annoyed me a bit how irresistible she was to men because she was blonde and attractive! There has been lots of problems with this book but have still enjoyed reading it, didn’t expect the killer to be who it was but wasn’t shocked if that made sense especially as things started to become more clear! Patrick annoyed me a bit by telling Erica stuff about the investigation...isn’t it meant to be confidential?

[Melanie]

Keriann wrote: "Ok I knew I would be the odd one out 😂 almost finished and really enjoying this book. I spoiled myself for the abuse thread as I read ahead on here oops so wasn’t a big twist, was shocked with who ..."
I am glad you enjoyed it :)