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Fjällbacka #3
Le Tailleur de pierre
Un pêcheur de Fjällbacka retrouve dans son casier à homard le corps d'une petite fille noyée. Bientôt on constate que Sara, sept ans, a de l'eau douce savonneuse dans les poumons. Quelqu'un l'a donc tuée avant de la jeter à la mer. Mais qui peut vouloir du mal à une enfant ?
Alors qu'Erica vient de mettre leur bébé au monde, Patrick Hedström, bouleversé par son nouveau rôle de père, mène l'enquête sur cette horrible affaire. Car sous ses apparences tranquilles, Fjällbacka dissimule de sordides relations humaines - querelles de voisinage, conflits familiaux, pratiques pédophiles - dont les origines remontent aux années 1920. Quant aux coupables, ils pourraient même avoir quitté la ville depuis longtemps, sans avoir jamais cessé de la haïr...
Alors qu'Erica vient de mettre leur bébé au monde, Patrick Hedström, bouleversé par son nouveau rôle de père, mène l'enquête sur cette horrible affaire. Car sous ses apparences tranquilles, Fjällbacka dissimule de sordides relations humaines - querelles de voisinage, conflits familiaux, pratiques pédophiles - dont les origines remontent aux années 1920. Quant aux coupables, ils pourraient même avoir quitté la ville depuis longtemps, sans avoir jamais cessé de la haïr...
593 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
939 people are currently reading
9790 people want to read
About the author
Camilla Läckberg
125 books10.3k followersBefore she became one of Sweden’s most popular crime writers, Camilla Läckberg (b. 1974) worked as a marketing director and product manager for several years. Her first two crime novels, Isprinsessan (The Ice Princess) and Predikanten (The Preacher), received rave reviews from the Swedish press and quickly found a large readership. But her big breakthrough came when Stenhuggaren (The Stonecutter) was nominated for The Crime Novel of the Year award in 2005, and also when Olycksfågeln (The Stranger) and Tyskungen (The Hidden Child) were made lead titles in Bonnier’s Book Club.
Camilla’s books have gained even more popularity after being adapted into a TV-series, produced by SVT (Swedish Television).
In April 2017 her tenth book in the Fjällbacka-series, Häxan, was released – claimed to be her best novel so far! In 2019 Camilla received a diamond book for Häxan, since it has sold in over 300 000 copies in Sweden!
And in the spring of 2019 heralds the global launch of The Golden Cage, the first of two dark and suspenseful novels by Camilla Läckberg. After ten internationally bestselling novels and over 26 million copies sold, Läckberg’s next adventure will be a psychological suspense duology.
The Golden Cage was the most sold book in Sweden 2019.
Camilla’s books have gained even more popularity after being adapted into a TV-series, produced by SVT (Swedish Television).
In April 2017 her tenth book in the Fjällbacka-series, Häxan, was released – claimed to be her best novel so far! In 2019 Camilla received a diamond book for Häxan, since it has sold in over 300 000 copies in Sweden!
And in the spring of 2019 heralds the global launch of The Golden Cage, the first of two dark and suspenseful novels by Camilla Läckberg. After ten internationally bestselling novels and over 26 million copies sold, Läckberg’s next adventure will be a psychological suspense duology.
The Golden Cage was the most sold book in Sweden 2019.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 2,441 reviews
September 30, 2014
The Stonecutter turned out to be such a tiresome read for me. It feels like the author tried to cover so many grounds in her book till she losed focus and failed to emphasis more on the thing that suppose to matter most: the mystery and the routes to solve it.
The main thing that can be found in The Stonecutter is the neverending emotional outburst mostly from the female characters. To read about their endless self-pity where they blame others for difficulties that they have to face is utterly exhausting. And to have this train of thoughts repeated number of times in the book is simply too much for me.
But what pained me most is the way Läckberg consistently created characters that have a brain the size of a pea and then built some absurd subplots involving them that don't seem to add anything to the story. It irks me that she put this seemingly ridiculous storyline upfront while neglecting to be precise and in detail about the proper investigation procedures that involved in solving the crime. How this book could be mentioned as at par with the other Scandinavian mysteries is really beyond me.
In the nutshell, I found The Stonecutter to be excruciatingly dull, slow and exhausting read. It is an ordinary whodunit book that have zero suspenseful chapters and by the end, I don't think I really care who actually the perp is anymore. This is definitely one of the worst books that I've ever read, enough said.
The main thing that can be found in The Stonecutter is the neverending emotional outburst mostly from the female characters. To read about their endless self-pity where they blame others for difficulties that they have to face is utterly exhausting. And to have this train of thoughts repeated number of times in the book is simply too much for me.
But what pained me most is the way Läckberg consistently created characters that have a brain the size of a pea and then built some absurd subplots involving them that don't seem to add anything to the story. It irks me that she put this seemingly ridiculous storyline upfront while neglecting to be precise and in detail about the proper investigation procedures that involved in solving the crime. How this book could be mentioned as at par with the other Scandinavian mysteries is really beyond me.
In the nutshell, I found The Stonecutter to be excruciatingly dull, slow and exhausting read. It is an ordinary whodunit book that have zero suspenseful chapters and by the end, I don't think I really care who actually the perp is anymore. This is definitely one of the worst books that I've ever read, enough said.
June 17, 2011
The first thjing I noticed about this book was the sticker placed on the cover, presumabl;y by the booksellers, saying "If you like Jo Nesbo you'll love this." And the books by Jo Nesbo have stickers saying "The next Stieg L:arsson". I'm not sure what these cvomparisons are supposed to achieve, except that Jo Nesbo's writing has recently come to look like a rather ineffectual attempt to imitate Stieg Larsson. But Lackberg has so far not tried to imitate either. Other than being crime fiction, and thus in the same broad genre, Lackberg is Lackberg, and there is little resemblance to Nesbo.
But the claim made me think of the differences between male and female crime writers, and this one is obviously written from a feminine perspective. For the first hundred pages or so I thought the protagonist was post-natal depression. And it got me thinking about differences between male and female crime writers.
One of the most notable ones is that the detective heroes of the male writers tend to be heavy drinkers, if not actual alcoholics, and are divorced or about to be. Alan Banks, Kurt Wasllander, Harry Hole and several other fictional detectives invented by male writers seem to fall into this category. Even Morse, though though unmarried, was unlucky in love, and tended to booze a lot. But the fictional detectives of female crime writers, though they may have faults, seem to be able to stay off the booze and avoid divorce -- Rex Wexford, Lindley, Adam Dalgleish and, in this book, Patrik Hedstrom.
In this book the murder of a child baffles the police, and when it is followed by apparently similar non-fatal attacks on young children the police find that find most of their suspects appear to have alibis for one or more of the attacks. In addition, many of the families involved in the investigation have secrets that they want to keep hidden. There is a kind of parallel story set in the past, which show that the roots of the crimes lie in an earlier generation, and in the upbringing of chiuldren in the past. Some of the police officers involved in the investigation have difficulties in bringing up their own children.
So the book turns out to be more than a simple whodunit, but is also an exploration of the ways in which dysfunctional families can produce criminals.If you love this book, you might not necessarily like Jo Nesbo.
But the claim made me think of the differences between male and female crime writers, and this one is obviously written from a feminine perspective. For the first hundred pages or so I thought the protagonist was post-natal depression. And it got me thinking about differences between male and female crime writers.
One of the most notable ones is that the detective heroes of the male writers tend to be heavy drinkers, if not actual alcoholics, and are divorced or about to be. Alan Banks, Kurt Wasllander, Harry Hole and several other fictional detectives invented by male writers seem to fall into this category. Even Morse, though though unmarried, was unlucky in love, and tended to booze a lot. But the fictional detectives of female crime writers, though they may have faults, seem to be able to stay off the booze and avoid divorce -- Rex Wexford, Lindley, Adam Dalgleish and, in this book, Patrik Hedstrom.
In this book the murder of a child baffles the police, and when it is followed by apparently similar non-fatal attacks on young children the police find that find most of their suspects appear to have alibis for one or more of the attacks. In addition, many of the families involved in the investigation have secrets that they want to keep hidden. There is a kind of parallel story set in the past, which show that the roots of the crimes lie in an earlier generation, and in the upbringing of chiuldren in the past. Some of the police officers involved in the investigation have difficulties in bringing up their own children.
So the book turns out to be more than a simple whodunit, but is also an exploration of the ways in which dysfunctional families can produce criminals.If you love this book, you might not necessarily like Jo Nesbo.
June 9, 2016
Another gripping instalment in this excellent series. As usual there are murders and attempted murders aplenty plus an interesting back story, which eventually ties up with the main events and helps to explain why it all occurred.
This is definitely a series to read in order because the character development is huge and different personalities and relationships are constantly changing. There are also several long running stories which pop up from time to time but are not resolved in just one book. This book actually ended in a cliff hanger regarding one of these stories. Which of course means I now have to search out the next one!
This is definitely a series to read in order because the character development is huge and different personalities and relationships are constantly changing. There are also several long running stories which pop up from time to time but are not resolved in just one book. This book actually ended in a cliff hanger regarding one of these stories. Which of course means I now have to search out the next one!
July 19, 2012
I got me somethin' to say about mystery books.
Over the past several years I've been reading more and more in the way of mysteries, and there are a few things I've noticed along the way. Although there are plenty of mysteries written and published in France, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Russia, and cetera, here in the United States we primarily see those that are written here, England, and the Scandinavian nations and it is those last three styles that I want to talk about. I say styles, because there is definitely a particular underlying general style that each of these three cultures seem to produce.
In the American mystery novel, the reader is thrown right into the soup immediately - shots fired, people dying right off the bat, then the protagonists and antagonists (who may or may not have been introduced yet) work their way through the novel while offering varying levels of characterization along the way. (McBain, Stout, Chandler, Hammett, Charyn, Burke and many more) American mysteries sometimes appear to have a focus on action, but this is really just a vehicle for the exploration of emotional situations that typically use a lot of dialog. This is the center of the American mystery style in my opinion (and almost any other American genre style) - emotional situation. What would happen if this type of person saw that type of person do this or say that to this other type of person. What would they do and are they right in doing it? In the end, in many American novels, the ideas of right and wrong get boiled down to a gray sludge that the reader does not even notice themselves relating to because the characters are usually so dynamic (and often likable) that right or wrong - moral or immoral - lose importance or value in their presence.
What I've noticed about mysteries written by English authors is the focus on character development. Before the actual "mystery meat" of the tale even BEGINS to be explored, there has already been a good chunk of the novel devoted to nailing down the characters and their relationships with each other and their environment. P.D. James and Agatha Christie are the first of a great many English mystery writers who pop into mind when I think about this tendency. The English mysteries tend not to dwell so much on the gory details over and over and over again, but more on the intelligent placement and discovery of the "clue" and the almost always unspoken assumption that the good guys are, in fact, good, and that they will prevail.
Scandinavian mysteries are an in depth mixture of both worlds, with extremely detailed characters and character interactivity combined with gritty (and usually topical) crimes to be solved. The thing about the Scandinavian style though is that these writers are extremely interested in not simply questions of good guys and bad guys but actual right and wrong. The characters are not only emotionally developed, but also psychologically (and often spiritually) developed. These characters are operating in a world that has been intricately crafted so as to bring their depths - motivations, quirks, magnetism, repulsiveness - into the light for the reader to sink their teeth into. The psychological approach to delving into the character add greatly to the believability of the world of the tale, sinking the reader into the story as though they were actually there with the cop, or the street kid, or the single mother, or the doctor worrying about the time he's Not spending with his wife and new child, or the degenerate. One quirk I have to also bring up regarding Scandinavian mysteries is the nonchalant disregard for the actual law of the land in place of what is deemed morally right. I noticed this tendency long ago when I used to read the old sagas (like Gisli's or Egil's or Njal's) - there is a feeling of obvious common-sense respect where it comes to what is simple and true in regard to humans and their fallibility to being Human, and as the characters recognize these different things in themselves and each other, the story gradually resolves its various plot-points hand-in-hand with them.
In any case, whether you dig what I'm getting at or not, The Stonecutter is an excellent read.
Over the past several years I've been reading more and more in the way of mysteries, and there are a few things I've noticed along the way. Although there are plenty of mysteries written and published in France, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Russia, and cetera, here in the United States we primarily see those that are written here, England, and the Scandinavian nations and it is those last three styles that I want to talk about. I say styles, because there is definitely a particular underlying general style that each of these three cultures seem to produce.
In the American mystery novel, the reader is thrown right into the soup immediately - shots fired, people dying right off the bat, then the protagonists and antagonists (who may or may not have been introduced yet) work their way through the novel while offering varying levels of characterization along the way. (McBain, Stout, Chandler, Hammett, Charyn, Burke and many more) American mysteries sometimes appear to have a focus on action, but this is really just a vehicle for the exploration of emotional situations that typically use a lot of dialog. This is the center of the American mystery style in my opinion (and almost any other American genre style) - emotional situation. What would happen if this type of person saw that type of person do this or say that to this other type of person. What would they do and are they right in doing it? In the end, in many American novels, the ideas of right and wrong get boiled down to a gray sludge that the reader does not even notice themselves relating to because the characters are usually so dynamic (and often likable) that right or wrong - moral or immoral - lose importance or value in their presence.
What I've noticed about mysteries written by English authors is the focus on character development. Before the actual "mystery meat" of the tale even BEGINS to be explored, there has already been a good chunk of the novel devoted to nailing down the characters and their relationships with each other and their environment. P.D. James and Agatha Christie are the first of a great many English mystery writers who pop into mind when I think about this tendency. The English mysteries tend not to dwell so much on the gory details over and over and over again, but more on the intelligent placement and discovery of the "clue" and the almost always unspoken assumption that the good guys are, in fact, good, and that they will prevail.
Scandinavian mysteries are an in depth mixture of both worlds, with extremely detailed characters and character interactivity combined with gritty (and usually topical) crimes to be solved. The thing about the Scandinavian style though is that these writers are extremely interested in not simply questions of good guys and bad guys but actual right and wrong. The characters are not only emotionally developed, but also psychologically (and often spiritually) developed. These characters are operating in a world that has been intricately crafted so as to bring their depths - motivations, quirks, magnetism, repulsiveness - into the light for the reader to sink their teeth into. The psychological approach to delving into the character add greatly to the believability of the world of the tale, sinking the reader into the story as though they were actually there with the cop, or the street kid, or the single mother, or the doctor worrying about the time he's Not spending with his wife and new child, or the degenerate. One quirk I have to also bring up regarding Scandinavian mysteries is the nonchalant disregard for the actual law of the land in place of what is deemed morally right. I noticed this tendency long ago when I used to read the old sagas (like Gisli's or Egil's or Njal's) - there is a feeling of obvious common-sense respect where it comes to what is simple and true in regard to humans and their fallibility to being Human, and as the characters recognize these different things in themselves and each other, the story gradually resolves its various plot-points hand-in-hand with them.
In any case, whether you dig what I'm getting at or not, The Stonecutter is an excellent read.
April 23, 2018
I just loooooove Lackberg's style... I've bought the whole Hedstrom series and I can't wait to start reading The stranger...
Absolutely beutiful story... So many twists and turns... Right when you think you have figured everything out another secret is revealed and turns your world upside down... I'm officially a fan of NORDIC CRIME!!!!
Absolutely beutiful story... So many twists and turns... Right when you think you have figured everything out another secret is revealed and turns your world upside down... I'm officially a fan of NORDIC CRIME!!!!
November 27, 2012
So I'm reading this book randomly taken from the "New Books" shelf at the library and about a quarter of the way through, I thought "I haven't read anything this badly written since ....what was it? Oh, right, that other Swedish book...." and I checked the Author profile, and yes, she was the person who wrote the last book I read that was this badly written. From that point, I just skimmed.
As with "The Ice Princess", most everyone outside the main detective is a one dimensional character. I'm guessing the author has a really miserable mother or mother-in-law, because the older women characters are particularly Grimm's Fairy Tale Evil Stepmother. Each character has been assigned one character trait - ex: the Lazy Colleague, who we know is lazy, because he's always playing video games at work. That's it - everyone gets just one attribute, just like in a Grimm's Fairy Tale.
Another reviewer referred to it as "duct-taped together", and I think she meant it as a compliment. I would agree with the description, but I do not mean it as a compliment. Each chapter begins with part of a story from the past of an purely-evil rich girl (a Lackberg favorite trope), and I figured out pretty early on where she was going with that one. One of the sub-plot attempted murders was pretty much telegraphed. Didn't really care about the main murder.
If you're a fan of good writing, complex characters, and a solid mystery, this book is not for you.
As with "The Ice Princess", most everyone outside the main detective is a one dimensional character. I'm guessing the author has a really miserable mother or mother-in-law, because the older women characters are particularly Grimm's Fairy Tale Evil Stepmother. Each character has been assigned one character trait - ex: the Lazy Colleague, who we know is lazy, because he's always playing video games at work. That's it - everyone gets just one attribute, just like in a Grimm's Fairy Tale.
Another reviewer referred to it as "duct-taped together", and I think she meant it as a compliment. I would agree with the description, but I do not mean it as a compliment. Each chapter begins with part of a story from the past of an purely-evil rich girl (a Lackberg favorite trope), and I figured out pretty early on where she was going with that one. One of the sub-plot attempted murders was pretty much telegraphed. Didn't really care about the main murder.
If you're a fan of good writing, complex characters, and a solid mystery, this book is not for you.
July 3, 2016
Το τελευταίο βιβλίο της σειράς που διαβάζω εγώ και το τρίτο στην κανονική σειρά των βιβλίων, τα «Οικογενειακά μυστικά», με τον τίτλο «Ο Λιθοξόος» που κυκλοφόρησε στα σουηδικά είναι αυτό ακριβώς που περιγράφει: οικογενειακά μυστικά καλά κρυμμένα που έρχονται στο φως της δημοσιότητας μετά από τραγικά συμβάντα.
Οι ήρωές μας βρίσκονται στα εξής σημεία της ζωής τους: η Ερίκα με τον Πάτρικ μόλις έχουν αποκτήσει την κόρη τους, η Άννα ζει ακόμα με το Λούκας, ο Μάρτιν έχει μόλις γνωρίσει την Πία και μετακομίζουν μαζί, ο Μέλμπεργκ έμαθε ότι έχει ένα γιο (όχι ότι αυτός θα μας απασχολήσει βέβαια και πολύ στα επόμενα βιβλία) και ο Ερνστ παίρνει πόδι από το τμήμα (μαθαίνουμε και για ποιο λόγο) και ανακοινώνεται ότι θα έρθει γυναίκα – αστυνομικός για την «εξίσωση των φύλων». Τονίζω ξανά ότι τα βιβλία μπορούν να διαβαστούν ανεξάρτητα, με μόνη εξέλιξη τις οικογενειακές σχέσεις των ηρώων, για τις οποίες όμως μην αγχώνεστε, η Ερίκα και ο Πάτρικ παραμένουν αγαπημένοι, ενώ διαφορές παρουσιάζει η ζωή της Άννας, της αδερφής της Ερίκα, αλλά αυτή δεν παίζει σημαντικ�� ρόλο στην εξέλιξη των ιστοριών. Εγώ προσωπικά τα διάβασα ανάκατα, ανάλογα με τη διαθεσιμότητα της δανειστικής βιβλιοθήκης και νομίζω ότι απόλαυσα το πίσω-μπρος στις ζωές των ηρώων μας.
Νομίζω ότι δεν ήταν ένα από τα καλύτερα βιβλία της σειράς και εξηγώ τους λόγους:
- Φλυαρία. Ακατάσχετη φλυαρία. Οι 608 σελίδες θα μπορούσαν να είναι σίγουρα 100 λιγότερες, όπου θα μπορούσαν να λείπουν περιγραφές για τις πρησμένες θηλές της Ερίκα κατά το διαρκή θηλασμό, η γκρίνια της για την αναγκαστική συμβίωσή της με ένα νεογέννητο, οι σκέψεις του Μέλμπεργκ όταν ξυπνάει και ξύνει τα … απ’αυτά του, μια παράπλευρη ιστορία για ένα μωρό που ήθελε απλά να μας πει για μια περιπέτεια, αλλά ανέλυσε όλη την ιστορία της σύλληψης και γέννησής του και πολλά άλλα συναισθήματα ηρώων που θα μπορούσαμε και να μην ξέρουμε. Το καλό είναι ότι στα επόμενα βιβλία η συγγραφέας το έχει περιορίσει σημαντικά.
- Αυτή η αλλαγή ονομάτων με μια απλή αίτηση και η επανεμφάνιση στη Φιελμπάκα ατόμων που είχαν ζήσει εκεί, αλλά με μια αλλαγή στα κιλά ή στα μαλλιά είναι αρκετή για να μην σε γνωρίζει κανένας από τους 1000 κατοίκους είναι ισοδύναμη με το Σούπερμαν που έβαζε τα γυαλιά και δεν αναγνώριζαν οι συνάδελφοί του που νωρίτερα του έπαιρναν συνέντευξη ως υπερήρωα! Επίσης η ιστορία της αναδρομής στο παρελθόν δεν με έπεισε όπως τελικά εξελίχθηκε…
Παρ’ όλα αυτά, δεν μπορούσα να αφήσω το βιβλίο, γιατί με τον τρόπο που ήταν γραμμένο η αγωνία έφτανε στο αποκορύφωμα. Επίσης, ήταν ένα χαλαρό ανάγνωσμα με δυνατές συγκινήσεις και δυο ήρωες – την Ερίκα και τον Πάτρικ – που είναι αξιαγάπητοι. Επίσης μου άρεσε πολύ ότι δεν μπόρεσα να καταλάβω ποιος ήταν ο δολοφόνος, ιδίως εκεί που το πράγμα μπλέχτηκε με πολλούς υπόπτους.
Συμπερασματικά, και λόγω εποχής, είναι το ιδανικό βιβλίο παραλίας και χαλάρωσης για οποιαδήποτε στιγμή. Θα το χαρείτε, θα αγαπήσετε τους ήρωες, αλλά εντάξει, δεν θα αλλάξει κιόλας η ζωή σας!
Οι ήρωές μας βρίσκονται στα εξής σημεία της ζωής τους: η Ερίκα με τον Πάτρικ μόλις έχουν αποκτήσει την κόρη τους, η Άννα ζει ακόμα με το Λούκας, ο Μάρτιν έχει μόλις γνωρίσει την Πία και μετακομίζουν μαζί, ο Μέλμπεργκ έμαθε ότι έχει ένα γιο (όχι ότι αυτός θα μας απασχολήσει βέβαια και πολύ στα επόμενα βιβλία) και ο Ερνστ παίρνει πόδι από το τμήμα (μαθαίνουμε και για ποιο λόγο) και ανακοινώνεται ότι θα έρθει γυναίκα – αστυνομικός για την «εξίσωση των φύλων». Τονίζω ξανά ότι τα βιβλία μπορούν να διαβαστούν ανεξάρτητα, με μόνη εξέλιξη τις οικογενειακές σχέσεις των ηρώων, για τις οποίες όμως μην αγχώνεστε, η Ερίκα και ο Πάτρικ παραμένουν αγαπημένοι, ενώ διαφορές παρουσιάζει η ζωή της Άννας, της αδερφής της Ερίκα, αλλά αυτή δεν παίζει σημαντικ�� ρόλο στην εξέλιξη των ιστοριών. Εγώ προσωπικά τα διάβασα ανάκατα, ανάλογα με τη διαθεσιμότητα της δανειστικής βιβλιοθήκης και νομίζω ότι απόλαυσα το πίσω-μπρος στις ζωές των ηρώων μας.
Νομίζω ότι δεν ήταν ένα από τα καλύτερα βιβλία της σειράς και εξηγώ τους λόγους:
- Φλυαρία. Ακατάσχετη φλυαρία. Οι 608 σελίδες θα μπορούσαν να είναι σίγουρα 100 λιγότερες, όπου θα μπορούσαν να λείπουν περιγραφές για τις πρησμένες θηλές της Ερίκα κατά το διαρκή θηλασμό, η γκρίνια της για την αναγκαστική συμβίωσή της με ένα νεογέννητο, οι σκέψεις του Μέλμπεργκ όταν ξυπνάει και ξύνει τα … απ’αυτά του, μια παράπλευρη ιστορία για ένα μωρό που ήθελε απλά να μας πει για μια περιπέτεια, αλλά ανέλυσε όλη την ιστορία της σύλληψης και γέννησής του και πολλά άλλα συναισθήματα ηρώων που θα μπορούσαμε και να μην ξέρουμε. Το καλό είναι ότι στα επόμενα βιβλία η συγγραφέας το έχει περιορίσει σημαντικά.
- Αυτή η αλλαγή ονομάτων με μια απλή αίτηση και η επανεμφάνιση στη Φιελμπάκα ατόμων που είχαν ζήσει εκεί, αλλά με μια αλλαγή στα κιλά ή στα μαλλιά είναι αρκετή για να μην σε γνωρίζει κανένας από τους 1000 κατοίκους είναι ισοδύναμη με το Σούπερμαν που έβαζε τα γυαλιά και δεν αναγνώριζαν οι συνάδελφοί του που νωρίτερα του έπαιρναν συνέντευξη ως υπερήρωα! Επίσης η ιστορία της αναδρομής στο παρελθόν δεν με έπεισε όπως τελικά εξελίχθηκε…
Παρ’ όλα αυτά, δεν μπορούσα να αφήσω το βιβλίο, γιατί με τον τρόπο που ήταν γραμμένο η αγωνία έφτανε στο αποκορύφωμα. Επίσης, ήταν ένα χαλαρό ανάγνωσμα με δυνατές συγκινήσεις και δυο ήρωες – την Ερίκα και τον Πάτρικ – που είναι αξιαγάπητοι. Επίσης μου άρεσε πολύ ότι δεν μπόρεσα να καταλάβω ποιος ήταν ο δολοφόνος, ιδίως εκεί που το πράγμα μπλέχτηκε με πολλούς υπόπτους.
Συμπερασματικά, και λόγω εποχής, είναι το ιδανικό βιβλίο παραλίας και χαλάρωσης για οποιαδήποτε στιγμή. Θα το χαρείτε, θα αγαπήσετε τους ήρωες, αλλά εντάξει, δεν θα αλλάξει κιόλας η ζωή σας!
July 15, 2011
I think this is one of the rare crime books I've read that my focus wasn't on who the killer was.The depth of the characters and the thorough psychological analysis gave a singural feeling to this book.In my opinion it portays greatly how important the family is in the growing process of a human and how much it can destroy a person.The story that was about the past although few pages each time succeded in making you realise the burden that 3 generations carried.I wasn't sure about the killer until the very end.The plot of the book was totally believable in my opinion due to the great work the author did with the characters.5 starsssss.
December 8, 2016
My copy of this novel bears what must be the most vacuous, inane review quote of all time, and from the Washington Post, no less: "One day, we might be identifying Agatha Christie as 'the British Camilla Lackberg.'"
Either someone was given a massive bribe or they were knocking back too much of the hard stuff. Lackberg's work is nothing like Christie's; it's quite simply in a different subgenre. And, although I'm no great Christie fan, she had more plotting ingenuity in her little finger than I've yet seen from Lackberg.
I much disliked Lackberg's first novel, The Ice Princess , and so really have no clue why I picked up this, the third, especially since it's (just) over 500 flipping pages long. Nor, having picked it up, why I should have actually read it.
Patrik and Erica are now living together, and Erica is having a hard time of it looking after their months-old daughter. The blurb writer presumably didn't get this far into the book, because the blurb talks of the pair as "Lackberg's beloved crime-solving duo"; Erica's role is to stay at home loathing motherhood while cop husband Patrik does all the detectiving.
What he's detectiving about is the murder of a little girl, Sara, found grotesquely entangled in a lobster pot off the shore of a small Swedish fishing village. Told in parallel with the police investigation is the tale of the vile, spoilt, rich daughter Agnes who, decades ago, decided to spend a few months boffing studly stonecutter Anders and then, just when she'd decided to end the affair, found she was pregnant; forced to marry Anders and then thrown on her ear out of the family mansion, Agnes thereafter gained satisfaction only out of poisoning the lives of others.
Fairly early on I worked out the vast majority of the plot -- not because I'm a smartypants but because it's pretty bloody obvious. Not only did I spot Sara's killer but I figured the truth of another murder and an attempted murder in the present, plus some earlier murders. (I didn't foretell the pedophile subplot, but that has nothing to do with the main plot.)
One of the annoying things about The Ice Princess is continued here. A staple of good mystery-fiction plotting is that the reader is presented with the same evidence as the sleuth; the joy is to try to put the evidence together faster than the sleuth can so as to crack the case. No one evidently sent Lackberg the memo on this. Her technique -- which she obviously regards as very, very cute -- is to tell us that the sleuth has been presented with a new and important piece of evidence but to keep that evidence from us, often for several chapters. It's an entirely infantile plotting method. (Much of the characterization is likewise infantile.)
Among many examples here, a subsidiary character gets a letter that gives him news that blows his mind, and for something over a hundred pages (I didn't count, but my guess is it was over two hundred) we're kept in whatever the stupefied version is of high suspense as to what the contents of this letter might be; in the final reveal, we find it has nothing to do with the plot. Lackberg could have built up a tad of suspense here, by telling us the contents of the letter and then making us wonder how the two people involved might react to the new relationship between them; but, no, she chose the option of cheaply earned false suspense.
There are several other examples that are more closely contingent upon the main plot. I chose this one for fear of giving too much away.
There's also the matter of plotting by stupidity. As anyone will tell you, exactly the wrong way to construct a plot is to base it on people acting stupidly. Here's it's the cops who act stupidly, and repeatedly so:
page 144: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered, that the dead girl's grandfather was there at a crucial moment and would have heard a significant argument.
page 174: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered later, that they couldn't locate the dead girl's father on the morning the body was discovered. "How could they have missed that?" thinks one of the cops. How indeed?
page 200: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered, that it might be a good idea to send a technical crew into the bathroom of the dead girl's home -- after all, although found in the sea she was almost immediately shown to have been drowned in a bathtub.
page 226: Oops, despite the reminder on page 200, the cops still forgot that it might be a good idea to send a technical crew into the bathroom of the dead girl's home.
page 317: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered, that it might be a good idea to send a technical crew into the bathroom of the house of a particular other suspect.
Believe it or not, I missed noting a couple of other examples of this plotting daftness -- primarily because I was reading in bed and there wasn't a pencil near to hand: no way was I going to palpitate my way out into the cold to go find one.
The book has several more plot strands than I've indicated, including one that lays the foundations for the next volume in the series, a volume that alas I shan't be reading. Despite the steadfast mediocrity of it all, that multiplicity of strands did I confess keep me turning the pages, on the one hand to confirm that, yes, I'd been right in my deductions of much of the plot, and on the other, just as with the couple of Jacqueline Susann novels I read back in the day, because, muggins that I am, I kept assuming the book just had to get better.
Huh! I'm almost tempted to go dig out an Agatha Christie to cleanse my palate.
Either someone was given a massive bribe or they were knocking back too much of the hard stuff. Lackberg's work is nothing like Christie's; it's quite simply in a different subgenre. And, although I'm no great Christie fan, she had more plotting ingenuity in her little finger than I've yet seen from Lackberg.
I much disliked Lackberg's first novel, The Ice Princess , and so really have no clue why I picked up this, the third, especially since it's (just) over 500 flipping pages long. Nor, having picked it up, why I should have actually read it.
Patrik and Erica are now living together, and Erica is having a hard time of it looking after their months-old daughter. The blurb writer presumably didn't get this far into the book, because the blurb talks of the pair as "Lackberg's beloved crime-solving duo"; Erica's role is to stay at home loathing motherhood while cop husband Patrik does all the detectiving.
What he's detectiving about is the murder of a little girl, Sara, found grotesquely entangled in a lobster pot off the shore of a small Swedish fishing village. Told in parallel with the police investigation is the tale of the vile, spoilt, rich daughter Agnes who, decades ago, decided to spend a few months boffing studly stonecutter Anders and then, just when she'd decided to end the affair, found she was pregnant; forced to marry Anders and then thrown on her ear out of the family mansion, Agnes thereafter gained satisfaction only out of poisoning the lives of others.
Fairly early on I worked out the vast majority of the plot -- not because I'm a smartypants but because it's pretty bloody obvious. Not only did I spot Sara's killer but I figured the truth of another murder and an attempted murder in the present, plus some earlier murders. (I didn't foretell the pedophile subplot, but that has nothing to do with the main plot.)
One of the annoying things about The Ice Princess is continued here. A staple of good mystery-fiction plotting is that the reader is presented with the same evidence as the sleuth; the joy is to try to put the evidence together faster than the sleuth can so as to crack the case. No one evidently sent Lackberg the memo on this. Her technique -- which she obviously regards as very, very cute -- is to tell us that the sleuth has been presented with a new and important piece of evidence but to keep that evidence from us, often for several chapters. It's an entirely infantile plotting method. (Much of the characterization is likewise infantile.)
Among many examples here, a subsidiary character gets a letter that gives him news that blows his mind, and for something over a hundred pages (I didn't count, but my guess is it was over two hundred) we're kept in whatever the stupefied version is of high suspense as to what the contents of this letter might be; in the final reveal, we find it has nothing to do with the plot. Lackberg could have built up a tad of suspense here, by telling us the contents of the letter and then making us wonder how the two people involved might react to the new relationship between them; but, no, she chose the option of cheaply earned false suspense.
There are several other examples that are more closely contingent upon the main plot. I chose this one for fear of giving too much away.
There's also the matter of plotting by stupidity. As anyone will tell you, exactly the wrong way to construct a plot is to base it on people acting stupidly. Here's it's the cops who act stupidly, and repeatedly so:
page 144: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered, that the dead girl's grandfather was there at a crucial moment and would have heard a significant argument.
page 174: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered later, that they couldn't locate the dead girl's father on the morning the body was discovered. "How could they have missed that?" thinks one of the cops. How indeed?
page 200: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered, that it might be a good idea to send a technical crew into the bathroom of the dead girl's home -- after all, although found in the sea she was almost immediately shown to have been drowned in a bathtub.
page 226: Oops, despite the reminder on page 200, the cops still forgot that it might be a good idea to send a technical crew into the bathroom of the dead girl's home.
page 317: Oops, the cops forgot, but then remembered, that it might be a good idea to send a technical crew into the bathroom of the house of a particular other suspect.
Believe it or not, I missed noting a couple of other examples of this plotting daftness -- primarily because I was reading in bed and there wasn't a pencil near to hand: no way was I going to palpitate my way out into the cold to go find one.
The book has several more plot strands than I've indicated, including one that lays the foundations for the next volume in the series, a volume that alas I shan't be reading. Despite the steadfast mediocrity of it all, that multiplicity of strands did I confess keep me turning the pages, on the one hand to confirm that, yes, I'd been right in my deductions of much of the plot, and on the other, just as with the couple of Jacqueline Susann novels I read back in the day, because, muggins that I am, I kept assuming the book just had to get better.
Huh! I'm almost tempted to go dig out an Agatha Christie to cleanse my palate.
September 27, 2017
Συμπληρωματικό μοτίβο στο κυρίως θέμα όπου ειναινη συληψη του δολοφόνου είναι το ψυχολογικό δράμα που ζουν οι γονείς του νεκρού παιδιού κάτι που στο μυθιστόρημα του Κινγκ Νεκροταφιο ζώων ήταν κυρίως θέμα το οποίο μέσα από αντιστοιξεις γινότανε και δευτερεύον.Εκεί φαίνεται η διαφορά μεταξύ ενός Τιτάνα συγγραφέα και ενός απλά καλού όπως είναι η Καμήλα.Δεν υπάρχουν ούτε τα εντυπωσιακά ευρήματα του Κινγκ Αλλά ούτε και ο συγγραφικό του οίστρος με εξοχές περιγραφές και χρήση του λόγου.Τώρα το κυρίως θέμα της Καμήλα κολλάει γρήγορα και αυτό είναι καλό.Δύο μπάτσοι ρωτάνε τους γείτονές και μέσα απ αυτο το οδιπορικο γενιουνται οι ύποπτοι και στο κεφάλι του αναγνώστη.Εκεί η Καμήλα παίζει με τον αναγνώστη και τον οδηγεί όπου θέλει αυτή μεσα απο ανατροπες και γρηγορη εξελιξη.Σιγά το πράγμα δηλαδή.Πρόκειται για μια τηλεταινία με παντελή ελειψη ατμόσφαιρας με εσωτερικά κυρίως πλάνα το οποίο διατίθεται μόνο σε όσους τους αρέσει να λύνουν σταυρόλεξα .Δηλαδή να ανακαλύπτουν ποιος είναι πίσω από τον φόνο.Αλλά δουλειά δεν είχαμε να βρούμε τον δολοφόνο μας μάρανε.Καμία ψυχολογική διακύμανση και φιλοσοφικές προεκτάσεις.Α υπάρχει κι ένα τριτευων θεμα και έχει να κάνει με το ποσό σκατενια είναι οι κλειστές κοινωνίες .Λες και δεν το ξέραμε.Την Καμήλα περιμέναμε.Κάποιες στιγμές φλύαρο .Τα κεφάλαια με την Έριξα και την πεθερά της υπάρχουν για να ελαφρύνουν την κατάσταση και να δώσουν μια κωμική πλευρά.Ήταν αχρείαστα κατά την άποψη μου.Το βιβλίο προσφέρεται μόνο για αυτούς που τους αρέσει να περνάει η ώρα.
June 3, 2017
Αν και οι συνεχόμενες εναλλαγές της ιστορίας με κράτησαν αρκετά, δεν με κέρδισε τόσο η ίδια η ιστορία της οικογένειας του κοριτσιού που σκοτώθηκε. Παρόλα αυτά, η ιδέα των βαθιών συνεπειών των ανθρώπινων δράσεων στον ψυχισμό των παιδιών δόθηκε ωραία μες στο βιβλίο, με αποτέλεσμα η βαθμολογία μου να είναι τελικά 3.5/5.
December 20, 2020
This is the 3rd book in the Patrik Hedström series and sees he and Erika struggling with their newborn daughter Maja.
In this book the body of a child is found, presumed an accidental drowning until a forensic report indicates that child was drowned in a bath, despite being found in the sea.
The book the interweaves a story from the past into the current events and slowly information begins to fall into place.
Although a very well told book, it will not be for everyone. There are elements of child abuse, paedophilia, domestic violence and elder abuse.
This is also not really a standalone book, as you need to know the characters for a lot of the story to make sense.
In this book the body of a child is found, presumed an accidental drowning until a forensic report indicates that child was drowned in a bath, despite being found in the sea.
The book the interweaves a story from the past into the current events and slowly information begins to fall into place.
Although a very well told book, it will not be for everyone. There are elements of child abuse, paedophilia, domestic violence and elder abuse.
This is also not really a standalone book, as you need to know the characters for a lot of the story to make sense.
February 19, 2021
3/5 🌟
Me ha decepcionado un poco. Si es verdad que esta bien y el final es lo que me ha gustado. Pero el resto del libro se me ha hecho algo pesado. Hay muchos personajes que si que son importantes y sus historias son necesarias para que se entienda todo mejor, pero es que algunas se me han hecho muy largas y pesadas, y en este caso la historia detrás del asesinato sin más.
Aunque como he dicho antes el final lo arregla y me ha dejado con ganas de que va a pasar en el siguiente libro.
Me ha decepcionado un poco. Si es verdad que esta bien y el final es lo que me ha gustado. Pero el resto del libro se me ha hecho algo pesado. Hay muchos personajes que si que son importantes y sus historias son necesarias para que se entienda todo mejor, pero es que algunas se me han hecho muy largas y pesadas, y en este caso la historia detrás del asesinato sin más.
Aunque como he dicho antes el final lo arregla y me ha dejado con ganas de que va a pasar en el siguiente libro.
April 30, 2020
Una trama costruita in maniera magistrale.
Un passato che a piccoli passi va verso il presente fino al punto d'incontro dove tutto diventa lapalissiano agli occhi del lettore. Della serie "Fjallbacka" della Lackberg è quello che più di tutti mi ha coinvolta. Una delle rare volte in cui leggo un giallo e non sono concentrata solo sullo scoprire l'assassino perché, l'analisi psicologica approfondita dei vari personaggi e il ritmo incalzante del romanzo, me lo hanno fatto amare in toto. Al 70% avevo già subdorato chi era l'assassino, perché, stavolta, con gli indizi è stata molto generosa, ma questo non mi ha distolta dalla lettura.
Quel passato che pian pianino andava incontro al presente, sebbene fossero due o tre pagine, ogni 50 del presente, erano così intense, così crude, da far capire al lettore quanto una famiglia sia importante nel processo di crescita di un essere umano e, quanto, i modelli familiari sbagliati possano incidere sulla stabilità psicologica di una persona.
"I mostri vivono nel buio"
Mi dispiace che Erica in questo volume non sia stata parte attiva dell'indagine, ma ho amato comunque la sua parte umana; il post parto e l'allattamento li ho rivissuti insieme a lei tanto erano reali. La Lackberg è ormai per me una garanzia.
Un passato che a piccoli passi va verso il presente fino al punto d'incontro dove tutto diventa lapalissiano agli occhi del lettore. Della serie "Fjallbacka" della Lackberg è quello che più di tutti mi ha coinvolta. Una delle rare volte in cui leggo un giallo e non sono concentrata solo sullo scoprire l'assassino perché, l'analisi psicologica approfondita dei vari personaggi e il ritmo incalzante del romanzo, me lo hanno fatto amare in toto. Al 70% avevo già subdorato chi era l'assassino, perché, stavolta, con gli indizi è stata molto generosa, ma questo non mi ha distolta dalla lettura.
Quel passato che pian pianino andava incontro al presente, sebbene fossero due o tre pagine, ogni 50 del presente, erano così intense, così crude, da far capire al lettore quanto una famiglia sia importante nel processo di crescita di un essere umano e, quanto, i modelli familiari sbagliati possano incidere sulla stabilità psicologica di una persona.
"I mostri vivono nel buio"
Mi dispiace che Erica in questo volume non sia stata parte attiva dell'indagine, ma ho amato comunque la sua parte umana; il post parto e l'allattamento li ho rivissuti insieme a lei tanto erano reali. La Lackberg è ormai per me una garanzia.
August 5, 2017
The Stonecutter is the thrilling third book in the Fjällbacka series. The death in this book is quite tragic. A child is found drowned, and it's a child that Erica and Patrick know since the mother of the dead child as a newborn baby in the same age as Erica's. But, it all gets a lot worse when it's discovered that the child was murdered. But, who would kill a child?
The Stonecutter has two parallel stories, the one in the present and then we also move back in time to the beginning of the 20th-century and to a young man, a stonecutter who gets involved with a girl that's far above his league. But, what has this past story to do with the present story?
The Stonecutter is an excellent novel. I love reading books with dual storylines. And I was curious to see what the connection would be between the two stories. The book is chilling to read, the death of a child is always awful to read about and the family of the dead girl acted very strangely. Sure, they grieved the girl, but they all acted so oddly now and then. But, there is also a neighbor feud going on...
The Stonecutter has two parallel stories, the one in the present and then we also move back in time to the beginning of the 20th-century and to a young man, a stonecutter who gets involved with a girl that's far above his league. But, what has this past story to do with the present story?
The Stonecutter is an excellent novel. I love reading books with dual storylines. And I was curious to see what the connection would be between the two stories. The book is chilling to read, the death of a child is always awful to read about and the family of the dead girl acted very strangely. Sure, they grieved the girl, but they all acted so oddly now and then. But, there is also a neighbor feud going on...
December 19, 2022
Opnieuw een heel goed geschreven deel in de Fjällbacka reeks!
https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2022...
https://elinevandm.wordpress.com/2022...
May 27, 2025
Безобразно слабо написана книга, добре поне че не съм дал пари за да изпитам тази мъка...
През цялото време ми беше скучно и едвам я дочетох.
Приключих с Лекберг!
През цялото време ми беше скучно и едвам я дочетох.
Приключих с Лекберг!
August 8, 2013
Camilla cria sempre tramas acessíveis mas complexas e com várias teias para resolver. São sempre livros agradáveis para se ler e passar boas horas embrenhados na história.
Adorei o primeiro volume desta série ("A princesa de gelo") e já não gostei tanto do segundo ("Gritos do passado"), no entanto, não deixa de ser uma boa leitura e deixa transparecer a mestria das palavras que tem Camilla.
Neste terceiro volume. . . arrisco a dizer que é o meu favorito. Desde o início que me prendeu e me manteve cativa até ao fim.
Aborda temas algo difíceis, como a pedofilia, como os maus tratos a crianças, mas, são tratados com sensibilidade e respeito.
Tudo começa com o aparecimento de um corpo de uma menina de 7 anos a um lagosteiro. . . e está dado o mote para uma busca incansável pela verdade.
Patrick Hedstrom é uma personagem completa. Temos a oportunidade de o conhecer tanto profissionalmente como pessoalmente e o que é giro nesta série, é que vamos acompanhando a evolução desse mesmo crescimento interior a par da descoberta de quem fez o quê e o porquê no crime.
A história, como é habitual, vai tendo sempre desenvolvimentos, mas chega a parte do fim e é leitura compulsiva. Ao príncipio são acontecimentos que não aparentam ter ligação, mas mais tarde, tudo tem uma explicação. . .
Neste livro, temos também desde o início capítulos virados para o passado e vamos conhecendo uma história que nada tem a ver com a corrente. . . ou assim pensamos. . .
Segui atentamente tanto a história do passado como a corrente e devo dizer que. . . desconfiei de pessoas perto da que realmente era responsável. Cheguei a desconfiar inclusivé de uma que foi, afinal, uma vítima. . . e é assim que Camilla me conquista e é assim que estou desejosa de deitar a mão ao quarto volume da série: "Ave de mau agoiro".
Adorei o primeiro volume desta série ("A princesa de gelo") e já não gostei tanto do segundo ("Gritos do passado"), no entanto, não deixa de ser uma boa leitura e deixa transparecer a mestria das palavras que tem Camilla.
Neste terceiro volume. . . arrisco a dizer que é o meu favorito. Desde o início que me prendeu e me manteve cativa até ao fim.
Aborda temas algo difíceis, como a pedofilia, como os maus tratos a crianças, mas, são tratados com sensibilidade e respeito.
Tudo começa com o aparecimento de um corpo de uma menina de 7 anos a um lagosteiro. . . e está dado o mote para uma busca incansável pela verdade.
Patrick Hedstrom é uma personagem completa. Temos a oportunidade de o conhecer tanto profissionalmente como pessoalmente e o que é giro nesta série, é que vamos acompanhando a evolução desse mesmo crescimento interior a par da descoberta de quem fez o quê e o porquê no crime.
A história, como é habitual, vai tendo sempre desenvolvimentos, mas chega a parte do fim e é leitura compulsiva. Ao príncipio são acontecimentos que não aparentam ter ligação, mas mais tarde, tudo tem uma explicação. . .
Neste livro, temos também desde o início capítulos virados para o passado e vamos conhecendo uma história que nada tem a ver com a corrente. . . ou assim pensamos. . .
Segui atentamente tanto a história do passado como a corrente e devo dizer que. . . desconfiei de pessoas perto da que realmente era responsável. Cheguei a desconfiar inclusivé de uma que foi, afinal, uma vítima. . . e é assim que Camilla me conquista e é assim que estou desejosa de deitar a mão ao quarto volume da série: "Ave de mau agoiro".
April 21, 2017
Βιβλίο θητείας #3
Readathon 2017 [3/13]: Ένα βιβλίο με μέσο μεταφοράς στο εξώφυλλο
Πρώτη ανάγνωση δουλειάς της Läckberg και δηλώνω ικανοποιημένος. Ο φόνος ενός μικρού κοριτσιού γίνεται η αφορμή για να βγάλει στη φόρα τα κακώς κείμενα της σουηδικής κοινωνίας στην επαρχία: παιδεραστία, ενδοοικογενειακή βία, διάφορες μορφές κακοποίησης παρελαύνουν στις σελίδες του βιβλίου από την αρχή μέχρι και το τέλος. Το ένα μυστικό οδηγεί σαν άλλο ντόμινο στην αποκάλυψη ενός άλλου και μέσω αυτών και μιας παράλληλης αφήγησης σε παρελθοντικό χρόνο, η συγγραφέας καταφέρνει να δημιουργήσει μια αστυνομική ιστορία με -αργό- σασπένς και να δείξει με ποικίλους τρόπους μέχρι που μπορεί να φτάσει κανείς για την "οικογένεια" του.
Αν δεν το τράβαγε λίγο σε κάποια σημεία θα είχε μισό αστεράκι παραπάνω, ωστόσο το διάβασα μονορούφι και θα την ξανατιμήσω.
★★★½
Readathon 2017 [3/13]: Ένα βιβλίο με μέσο μεταφοράς στο εξώφυλλο
Πρώτη ανάγνωση δουλειάς της Läckberg και δηλώνω ικανοποιημένος. Ο φόνος ενός μικρού κοριτσιού γίνεται η αφορμή για να βγάλει στη φόρα τα κακώς κείμενα της σουηδικής κοινωνίας στην επαρχία: παιδεραστία, ενδοοικογενειακή βία, διάφορες μορφές κακοποίησης παρελαύνουν στις σελίδες του βιβλίου από την αρχή μέχρι και το τέλος. Το ένα μυστικό οδηγεί σαν άλλο ντόμινο στην αποκάλυψη ενός άλλου και μέσω αυτών και μιας παράλληλης αφήγησης σε παρελθοντικό χρόνο, η συγγραφέας καταφέρνει να δημιουργήσει μια αστυνομική ιστορία με -αργό- σασπένς και να δείξει με ποικίλους τρόπους μέχρι που μπορεί να φτάσει κανείς για την "οικογένεια" του.
Αν δεν το τράβαγε λίγο σε κάποια σημεία θα είχε μισό αστεράκι παραπάνω, ωστόσο το διάβασα μονορούφι και θα την ξανατιμήσω.
★★★½
September 26, 2016
I am enthralled with this series. That's all I have to say. "The Stonecutter" was the best of the three I've read so far...I am starting the next one now. I can't remember being this wrapped up in a series since I discovered Mitch Rapp or Jack Reacher....and I the Patrik Hedstrom novels are much better written. The crazy families in these novels will stick with me for a long time.
November 22, 2020
Ωραία ιστορία, σίγουρα καλύτερο από το προηγούμενο της σειράς. Η γραφή της εξακολουθεί να έχει κάμποσες αδυναμίες (και επειδή έχω διαβάσει και το τελευταίο της ξέρω ότι αυτό δε φτιάχνει παρακάτω), αλλά απολαμβάνω την πλοκή στα βιβλία της, οπότε χαλάλι. Μια αστυνομική ιστορία άλλωστε είναι πρώτα απ' όλα αυτό: ιστορία.
March 30, 2024
Este tercer libro me ha gustado más que el anterior y me alegra, pues tenía ahí una espinita clavada porque esperaba haberlo disfrutado tanto como "La Princesa de Hielo". Me ha gustado la trama de principio a fin. Me descolocó un poco que estuviera dividida en dos etapas temporales, una en el presente y la otra a inicios del siglo XX. No sospeché para nada la relación que tenían ni con qué personaje del presente estaría relacionada hasta bien avanzada la lectura. Justo después de descubrirlo comenzaron a encajar todas las piezas y pude comprobar lo retorcidas que podían llegar a ser algunas de ellas.
Por otro lado, siempre que hay involucrado un niño en una investigación criminal lo paso mal. No me gusta. Pero nuestro protagonista, el inspector de Policía Patrik Hedström, lleva la investigación tan bien que "casi" se me olvida la parte dramática de la historia. Y al menos hasta ahora, siempre lo ha dado todo para que al final termine prevaleciendo la justicia.
Erica, ha cobrado algo más de protagonismo en este libro. Y la verdad, se agradece, pues la eché de menos en el libro anterior. Espero verla pronto de nuevo colaborando en las investigaciones como hizo en el primer libro. ¡Esa es la chispa que me falta!
¿Y como punto negativo? Vuelve a repetirse mi queja sobre la estructura del libro. El salto de un personaje a otro sin previo aviso, la casi ausencia de capítulos... No me termina de convencer. Esto provoca que no termine de disfrutar de la lectura al 100%.
Aún así, tengo muchas ganas de seguir con la saga 😊.
Por otro lado, siempre que hay involucrado un niño en una investigación criminal lo paso mal. No me gusta. Pero nuestro protagonista, el inspector de Policía Patrik Hedström, lleva la investigación tan bien que "casi" se me olvida la parte dramática de la historia. Y al menos hasta ahora, siempre lo ha dado todo para que al final termine prevaleciendo la justicia.
Erica, ha cobrado algo más de protagonismo en este libro. Y la verdad, se agradece, pues la eché de menos en el libro anterior. Espero verla pronto de nuevo colaborando en las investigaciones como hizo en el primer libro. ¡Esa es la chispa que me falta!
¿Y como punto negativo? Vuelve a repetirse mi queja sobre la estructura del libro. El salto de un personaje a otro sin previo aviso, la casi ausencia de capítulos... No me termina de convencer. Esto provoca que no termine de disfrutar de la lectura al 100%.
Aún así, tengo muchas ganas de seguir con la saga 😊.
November 8, 2015
Well, the reason why I stopped reading this series was the overload of unnecessary content in book 2. Said this, The Stonecutter is not only better than its predecessor, but also a good example of well-executed crime fiction.
September 6, 2021
#leiturasemtemposdeférias
July 12, 2023
Una bella indagine!
Avvincente.
Avvincente.
May 13, 2012
Well, I've done it. I finished the 3rd Lackberg Swedish murder mystery. This author really is something. I like her mind and like how she duct tapes together a story....When I first started this one, I thought I might not like it because it dealt with the death of a 7 year old girl. I don't like much of anything where a child comes to harm. But I understood why she did this, as our Protagonist Police Detective's woman just birthed a daughter....so of course this gave him the extra impetus needed to solve this mystery. One thing Lackberg does so very well is take is through generations of stories. I often wonder, I we could each see how family A, effected family B, effected family C through the generations, and then likewise see where our family legends, neurosis and myths came from...would we understand it all 'better'? It sure makes for fascinating and intriguing reading. I wait with baited breath for her next release.
December 16, 2017
O melhor que li até agora! Envolvente, intrigante, cheio de suspense e twists! O final foi fabulástico. Camilla Läckberg começa a tornar-se uma das minhas escritoras de eleição!
November 13, 2022
4.5 stars
Lackberg how I love her stories: slowly giving us little pieces of the puzzle, connecting past and present in two gripping storylines, bringing it all together at the end. No, no real surprise there at the end but I love the way she leads us to the resolution instead of dumping all kinds of surprises on the readers at the very end. The characters were interesting too, and I'm really growing attached to the main characters. Looking forward to the next instalment!
Characters 9
Atmosphere 9
Writing Style 9
Setup 10
Plot 9
Intrigue 10
Logic 9
Enjoyment 9
Narration 6
Lackberg how I love her stories: slowly giving us little pieces of the puzzle, connecting past and present in two gripping storylines, bringing it all together at the end. No, no real surprise there at the end but I love the way she leads us to the resolution instead of dumping all kinds of surprises on the readers at the very end. The characters were interesting too, and I'm really growing attached to the main characters. Looking forward to the next instalment!
Characters 9
Atmosphere 9
Writing Style 9
Setup 10
Plot 9
Intrigue 10
Logic 9
Enjoyment 9
Narration 6
December 8, 2013
When a young girl is found dead in a fisherman's net, everybody assumes it was an accidental drowning. But after further examination to the body, it is determined that Sara, the dead girl, didn't drown by accident; she was in fact murdered. And Patrick Hedström, who is the father of a baby girl, is back leading the investigation. And once again he has to deal with deeply disturbed people and unearth the terrible secrets the Fjällbacka's families try to hide.
To be honest, I thought I would have a hard time rating this book. Is it possible to go through an almost entire story without knowing whether one is having a pleasant read or not? Truth be told, I was having that problem. Mainly because the pace is a bit slow and I was having difficulties keeping track of all the characters that kept popping up all the time, from different places. And, worse, with some of them it felt like they had been parachuted into the story. They just appear there, out of nowhere, and we are told about something, or some event, of their lives. It's completely out of context and we have to keep on reading to know more about them, or how they fit in the plot. Cliffhangers within chapters seem to be Lackberg's speciality, but amazingly that was not what bothered me most while reading The Stonecutter (I guess I'm getting used to the style). Indeed, the dumping of so many characters was quite overwhelming and I felt frustrated by it.
Besides the little cliffhangers, Camilla Lackberg like to tease her readers. Information is laid down slowly; it is as if the author is giving us pieces of a complex puzzle: she gives them one by one, starting with the more general ones. Sometimes she even gives one that does not fit anywhere, leaving the reader wondering. We have to wait until the very end, because that's when she gives the important pieces; then things start making sense.
As I've written above, this was frustrating and overwhelming, but, and I have to be honest here, maybe it had to be this way. Maybe otherwise it wouldn't have worked out. The plot slowly builds up and the climax is reaching by the end. And frustrating as it could have been, The Stonecutter is a very good story. It is a disturbing one, and is filled with people who has serious mental problems. Some people is this story could easily have featured any episode of 'Criminal Minds'.
The present story, with the ongoing murder investigation and some disturbing, albeit harmless, attacks on some babies, is interspersed with events from the past. Those tell the story of hateful Agnes, a rich, spoiled, and (obviously) insane girl, who won't let anyone abandon her without feeling her wrath. Her story starts in the early 1920s, and we slowly read how her deeds affect everyone around her. Agnes's story has a connection to the events that are taking place in the present time, but, like everything else in this book, that connection is not evident for some time.
So, in the end, I liked this story. It's dark and complex, and quite unpredictable. At least, I didn't see it coming, which was a pleasant thing.
We are given some insight of Erica's life as a mother of a small baby, and, for me, those weren't nice. Patrik acted dumb sometimes, and I usually had an eye-rolling session whenever an Erica and Patrik part came about.
Erica's sister, Anna, also features, although not that much. She has made a terrible decision regarding her married life, and now she is regretting every bit of it. In the end of the book, we are told something about Anna that I thought quite surprising. Especially when we think about Anna's weak character. This happens in the very last page of the book, so now I'll have to wait until I read the next book to know more. I have to say I'm very curious.
So far, this has been my favourite book by Camilla Lackberg. The story is so worth a reading, I can excuse the annoying things I found with it.
To be honest, I thought I would have a hard time rating this book. Is it possible to go through an almost entire story without knowing whether one is having a pleasant read or not? Truth be told, I was having that problem. Mainly because the pace is a bit slow and I was having difficulties keeping track of all the characters that kept popping up all the time, from different places. And, worse, with some of them it felt like they had been parachuted into the story. They just appear there, out of nowhere, and we are told about something, or some event, of their lives. It's completely out of context and we have to keep on reading to know more about them, or how they fit in the plot. Cliffhangers within chapters seem to be Lackberg's speciality, but amazingly that was not what bothered me most while reading The Stonecutter (I guess I'm getting used to the style). Indeed, the dumping of so many characters was quite overwhelming and I felt frustrated by it.
Besides the little cliffhangers, Camilla Lackberg like to tease her readers. Information is laid down slowly; it is as if the author is giving us pieces of a complex puzzle: she gives them one by one, starting with the more general ones. Sometimes she even gives one that does not fit anywhere, leaving the reader wondering. We have to wait until the very end, because that's when she gives the important pieces; then things start making sense.
As I've written above, this was frustrating and overwhelming, but, and I have to be honest here, maybe it had to be this way. Maybe otherwise it wouldn't have worked out. The plot slowly builds up and the climax is reaching by the end. And frustrating as it could have been, The Stonecutter is a very good story. It is a disturbing one, and is filled with people who has serious mental problems. Some people is this story could easily have featured any episode of 'Criminal Minds'.
The present story, with the ongoing murder investigation and some disturbing, albeit harmless, attacks on some babies, is interspersed with events from the past. Those tell the story of hateful Agnes, a rich, spoiled, and (obviously) insane girl, who won't let anyone abandon her without feeling her wrath. Her story starts in the early 1920s, and we slowly read how her deeds affect everyone around her. Agnes's story has a connection to the events that are taking place in the present time, but, like everything else in this book, that connection is not evident for some time.
So, in the end, I liked this story. It's dark and complex, and quite unpredictable. At least, I didn't see it coming, which was a pleasant thing.
We are given some insight of Erica's life as a mother of a small baby, and, for me, those weren't nice. Patrik acted dumb sometimes, and I usually had an eye-rolling session whenever an Erica and Patrik part came about.
Erica's sister, Anna, also features, although not that much. She has made a terrible decision regarding her married life, and now she is regretting every bit of it. In the end of the book, we are told something about Anna that I thought quite surprising. Especially when we think about Anna's weak character. This happens in the very last page of the book, so now I'll have to wait until I read the next book to know more. I have to say I'm very curious.
So far, this has been my favourite book by Camilla Lackberg. The story is so worth a reading, I can excuse the annoying things I found with it.
April 13, 2016
Είχα καιρό να διαβάσω Lackberg, τόσον καιρό που η μνήμη της χάνεται στο χρόνο… είναι το τρίτο της βιβλίο που διαβάζω και για καλή μου τύχη είναι και το τρίτο της σειράς με πρωταγωνιστές την Ερίκα και τον Πάτρικ… Έχω την 'πετριά' να τα διαβάζω με τη σειρά αφού η Lackberg δεν γράφει αμιγώς αστυνομικό… βάζει μέσα διάφορα στοιχεία της σουηδικής κοινωνίας, ανακατεύει και όλα τα σκαμπανεβάσματα της σχέσης του ζευγαριού, ε! δεν μου πάει να διαβάζω ένα βιβλίο που η ηρωίδα περνάει επιλόχειο κατάθλιψη και στο επόμενο να την βλέπω να ψάχνει σέξι εσώρουχα για το πρώτο της ραντεβού με τον Πάτρικ… προτιμώ τη λογική σειρά, κι ας είμαι όφις παράλογος…
Το βιβλίο ξεκινάει με το πτώμα ενός μικρού κοριτσιού το οποίον βρίσκει ένας ψαράς αστακών… (ναι αστακών, καλά διαβάσατε) κι ενώ όλοι στην αρχή πιστεύουν το προφανές πως το κορίτσι πνίγηκε, ο ιατροδικαστής ανακαλύπτει στάχτη και γλυκό νερό στα πνευμόνια της… Πόρισμα: δολοφονία… Κι αρχίζει το πανηγύρι της εξεύρεσης του δολοφόνου… Οι ύποπτοι αρκετοί, πολλά μυστικά, πόρτες που κλείνουν και στόματα που δεν ανοίγουν, ψεύτικες αλληλοκατηγορίες… Όλοι ένοχοι κι όλοι αθώοι, όπως συμβαίνει και στις ‘καλύτερες οικογένειες’ καθώς και στις ‘ηθικές μικρές κοινωνίες’, όπως αυτές της Φιελμπάκα…
Δεν θα σταθώ στο αστυνομικό μέρος του βιβλίου γιατί η Λάκμπεργκ σε γενικές γραμμές καλά το χειρίζεται το light (αν και είναι light αστυνομικόν κι εμένα τα light αναψυκτικά, τυριά και ζαμπόν δεν μου πολυαρέσουν – προτιμώ τη βαρβατίλα), αλλά στο κοινωνικό – αισθηματικόν κουτσομπολιό (άντε οι μη μου άπτου, πείτε το και κοινωνική κριτική)… Πιο πολύ σαν η κουτσομπόλα της γειτονιάς αισθάνθηκα που κοιτάζει μέσα από την κλειδαρότρυπα... κι όχι μία κλειδαρότρυπα... κλειδαρότρυπες να φαν' κι οι κότες...
Η συγγραφέας σφάζει με το βαμβάκι (το μαχαίρι στο κόκκαλο δεν τόλμησε να το βάλει) τα κακώς κείμενα της καλοκουρδισμένης σουηδικής κοινωνίας: ενδοοικογενειακή βία, παιδεραστία, φανατική θρησκοληψία, προκατάληψη στη διαφορετικότητα… Και χώνει και ολίγον ΔΕΠ και ΔΕΠ-Υ και σύνδρομο Άσπεργκερ (οι νέοι εκπαιδευτικοί πρέπει να έχουν πάρει μια μυρωδιά απ’όλα τούτα…)
Υπάρχει και μια ιστορία στο παρελθόν, με βασική ηρωίδα την Άγκνες, που όπως καταλαβαίνετε έχει άμεση ή έμμεση σχέση με το έγκλημα της σημερινής εποχής, όπου όμως στην αρχή όσο κι αν προσπαθείς να βρεις τη σχέση, δεν μπορείς να την καταλάβεις. Προς το τέλος, έρχεται το ‘κερασάκι στην τούρτα’ και το αντιλαμβάνεσαι αλλά για μένα η ξαφνική δίχως λόγο εμφάνιση αυτού του ‘κερασακίου’ ήταν μία πολύ εύκολη λύση για τη συγγραφέα που δεν τη ζόρισε καθόλου… Το σωστό αστυνομικόν πουλάκι μου, πρέπει εξ αρχής να σου δίνει ενδείξεις κι εσύ να βάζεις το μυαλουδάκι σου (όσοι έχουν τέλος πάντων) να δουλέψει... κι όχι τσουπ! Μπες κι εσύ βρε υποψήφιε δολοφόνε στο κάδρο...
Σε κάποια σημεία, γέμισαν στάχτη το στόμα, τα ρουθούνια και τα μάτια μου… Ευτυχώς, η γλώσσα μου είναι διχαλωτή και δεν την κατάπια…
Τέλος, η Λάκμπεργκ έχει μπει πλέον για τα καλά στο εμπορικό παιχνίδι (ποια λογοτεχνία και ποια εσωτερική ανάγκη έκφρασης;;;) και το τέλος του βιβλίου είναι η αρχή του επόμενου… Κι όμως, θα πέσω ευχαρίστως στην παγίδα και θα το διαβάσω …
6/10
Υ.Γ. Με ενόχλησε που σ’αυτό το βιβλίο η Ερίκα ήταν τόσο κολλημένη με το βύζαγμα του μωρού και το άλλαγμα της πάνας και δεν βοήθησε καθόλου στην ανακάλυψη του μυστηρίου… μα να μην ρίξει ούτε μια ιδέα... τσ... τσ... τσ...τσ...
http://www.skorofido.blogspot.gr/2016...
Το βιβλίο ξεκινάει με το πτώμα ενός μικρού κοριτσιού το οποίον βρίσκει ένας ψαράς αστακών… (ναι αστακών, καλά διαβάσατε) κι ενώ όλοι στην αρχή πιστεύουν το προφανές πως το κορίτσι πνίγηκε, ο ιατροδικαστής ανακαλύπτει στάχτη και γλυκό νερό στα πνευμόνια της… Πόρισμα: δολοφονία… Κι αρχίζει το πανηγύρι της εξεύρεσης του δολοφόνου… Οι ύποπτοι αρκετοί, πολλά μυστικά, πόρτες που κλείνουν και στόματα που δεν ανοίγουν, ψεύτικες αλληλοκατηγορίες… Όλοι ένοχοι κι όλοι αθώοι, όπως συμβαίνει και στις ‘καλύτερες οικογένειες’ καθώς και στις ‘ηθικές μικρές κοινωνίες’, όπως αυτές της Φιελμπάκα…
Δεν θα σταθώ στο αστυνομικό μέρος του βιβλίου γιατί η Λάκμπεργκ σε γενικές γραμμές καλά το χειρίζεται το light (αν και είναι light αστυνομικόν κι εμένα τα light αναψυκτικά, τυριά και ζαμπόν δεν μου πολυαρέσουν – προτιμώ τη βαρβατίλα), αλλά στο κοινωνικό – αισθηματικόν κουτσομπολιό (άντε οι μη μου άπτου, πείτε το και κοινωνική κριτική)… Πιο πολύ σαν η κουτσομπόλα της γειτονιάς αισθάνθηκα που κοιτάζει μέσα από την κλειδαρότρυπα... κι όχι μία κλειδαρότρυπα... κλειδαρότρυπες να φαν' κι οι κότες...
Η συγγραφέας σφάζει με το βαμβάκι (το μαχαίρι στο κόκκαλο δεν τόλμησε να το βάλει) τα κακώς κείμενα της καλοκουρδισμένης σουηδικής κοινωνίας: ενδοοικογενειακή βία, παιδεραστία, φανατική θρησκοληψία, προκατάληψη στη διαφορετικότητα… Και χώνει και ολίγον ΔΕΠ και ΔΕΠ-Υ και σύνδρομο Άσπεργκερ (οι νέοι εκπαιδευτικοί πρέπει να έχουν πάρει μια μυρωδιά απ’όλα τούτα…)
Υπάρχει και μια ιστορία στο παρελθόν, με βασική ηρωίδα την Άγκνες, που όπως καταλαβαίνετε έχει άμεση ή έμμεση σχέση με το έγκλημα της σημερινής εποχής, όπου όμως στην αρχή όσο κι αν προσπαθείς να βρεις τη σχέση, δεν μπορείς να την καταλάβεις. Προς το τέλος, έρχεται το ‘κερασάκι στην τούρτα’ και το αντιλαμβάνεσαι αλλά για μένα η ξαφνική δίχως λόγο εμφάνιση αυτού του ‘κερασακίου’ ήταν μία πολύ εύκολη λύση για τη συγγραφέα που δεν τη ζόρισε καθόλου… Το σωστό αστυνομικόν πουλάκι μου, πρέπει εξ αρχής να σου δίνει ενδείξεις κι εσύ να βάζεις το μυαλουδάκι σου (όσοι έχουν τέλος πάντων) να δουλέψει... κι όχι τσουπ! Μπες κι εσύ βρε υποψήφιε δολοφόνε στο κάδρο...
Σε κάποια σημεία, γέμισαν στάχτη το στόμα, τα ρουθούνια και τα μάτια μου… Ευτυχώς, η γλώσσα μου είναι διχαλωτή και δεν την κατάπια…
Τέλος, η Λάκμπεργκ έχει μπει πλέον για τα καλά στο εμπορικό παιχνίδι (ποια λογοτεχνία και ποια εσωτερική ανάγκη έκφρασης;;;) και το τέλος του βιβλίου είναι η αρχή του επόμενου… Κι όμως, θα πέσω ευχαρίστως στην παγίδα και θα το διαβάσω …
6/10
Υ.Γ. Με ενόχλησε που σ’αυτό το βιβλίο η Ερίκα ήταν τόσο κολλημένη με το βύζαγμα του μωρού και το άλλαγμα της πάνας και δεν βοήθησε καθόλου στην ανακάλυψη του μυστηρίου… μα να μην ρίξει ούτε μια ιδέα... τσ... τσ... τσ...τσ...
http://www.skorofido.blogspot.gr/2016...
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