From worldwide bestseller Camilla Läckberg: a new novel from a reclusive Fjallbacka resident has enraptured the community—but what secrets and tragedies are lurking behind the pages and threatening to come to life?
Christian Thydell’s dream has come true. His debut novel, The Mermaid, has been published to rave reviews. So why is he as distant and unhappy as ever?
When crime writer Erica Falck, … Erica Falck, who helped Christian discover and develop his talents, learns he has been receiving anonymous threats, she investigates not just the messages but also the young author mysterious past. Then, one of Christian’s closet friends, Magnus, goes missing.
Erica’s husband, Detective Patrik Hedström, has his worst suspicions confirmed as the mind-games aimed at Christian become a disturbing reality. Christian’s group of friends—a “gang of four” from childhood—is a tangled web of relationships, love triangles, and family secrets that Erica and Patrik must unravel in order to discover what really happened to Magnus and who is still threatening Christian.
But, with the victims themselves concealing evidence, the investigation is going nowhere. Is their silence driven by fear or guilt? What is the secret they would rather die to protect than live to see revealed?
more
5 stars
Magnus Kjellner has been missing for several months. His wife Cia visits the police station every Wednesday to ask Detective Patrik Hedstrom if there is any progress. On the last visist, he tells Cia that he thinks Magnus is deceased.
Meanwhile Patrick’s wife Erica Falck is very far along in her pregnancy with twins. Their other child, Maja is acting up and whiny.
Christian Thydell has just published his first novel called The Mermaid. It is a tortured story, but also has hope. He is a friend and protégé of Erica’s, so of course she feels pride. Christian is also a friend of Magnus’. When Erica finds out that Christian has been receiving threatening letters, she secretly appropriates one and takes it to Patrick. But Christian isn’t the only one getting the letters. Unbeknownst to Christian some of his friends are also getting the letters. When the seriously ill wife of one of Magnus’ friends named Kenneth dies under mysterious circumstances and another letter is left in her hand, the case ratchets up.
Three months have passed and a dog walker finds a body under the ice. It is Magnus and he has been stabbed.
Erica tries to get more information from Christian, but he isn’t talking. He seems to disappear into his own mind. He and his wife are not getting along at all. And he’s not the only one. Another friend, Erik, has also been getting the letters. He solves his anxiety by seducing women other than his wife, and she knows all about it. Their relationship is deteriorating as well. The four friends are literally falling apart.
Time passes and two members of the four are now dead, words are written on a wall in red paint, another of the four is in the hospital and still no one is talking. Erica takes a trip to Christian’s former home and discovers a child’s drawings and gets a clue that sends her to Sanna, Christian’s wife.
The pieces slowly come together. Patrik and Erica get together and search Christian’s boathouse. Ah ha! The identity of the killer, who they have determined is a woman, is a stunner. I certainly didn’t see that one coming.
This novel is very well written and plotted as are all of Camille Lackberg’s books. The main characters are engaging and I liked the relationships between Ericka and Patrik, as well as Anna, Ericka’s sister, and her husband Dan. The team gets along very well, except for their boss, Mellberg, who is a little bit of a know-it-all and Martin’s restlessness. The action keeps moving and the reader is drawn into Christian’s and everyone else’s stories. Very good novel! Bring on the next one, Ms. Lackberg!
I enjoy this entire series.
I read it while listening to the audiobook My first read of this author.I will be reading the rest of her books now
Lackberg’s backstories are the draw for me. Don’t get me wrong; she writes a good mystery, and the action scenes are visceral enough, but the bits and pieces about the why that are teased out of the witnesses and neighbors and old records and newspapers and whatever, eventually fall into place and you get a very satisfying aha. In this book we even get a moral dilemma: did the victims deserve what they got, and should we feel sympathy for the killer?
Her books r all fabulous. Can’t put any of them down once u start.