The suspicious death of a university student at the Åre ski resort exposes secrets and lies among friends in a novel of chilling suspense by the acclaimed author of Hidden in Memories.
On a Friday in Åre, six university students arrive for a week of skiing and partying. By Sunday morning only five are alive. The body of their friend Filippa is found in the brutally cold outdoors, showing no signs of assault. It’s as if the barefoot young woman just curled up in a snowdrift to die.
It appears to be a tragic misfortune. And Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog, both at turning points in their personal lives, aren’t anxious to get involved. But Hanna can’t ignore her gut instinct. This is no accident. This is another murder in Åre. Filippa’s best friend, Olivia, has her suspicions too. But who among her tight-knit clique was the last to see Filippa alive?
As, one by one, the friends are pitted against each other, another crime rocks the resort. For Hanna and Daniel, it’s a race against time to separate the truth from the lies, before someone else dies.
Viveca Sten made her author debut with crime novel Still Waters. It soon became a huge hit with both critics and readers and today the author has sold almost 3 million copies of her books worldwide.
In May 2014, her seventh novel, The Price of Power, was published in Sweden. It was hugely successful and Viveca cemented her place as one of the country’s most popular authors. Her Sandhamn Murder Series continues to top the best seller charts, not to mention the whopping success of the TV mini-series that is based on Viveca’s novels. An estimated 30 million people around the globe have been watching the adventures of Nora and Thomas unfold on the TV screen.
Today, Viveca lives in Stockholm with her husband and three children. During the summer months she leaves for Sandhamn to write and spend the holidays with her family. This year she has also been working on a cookbook that features stories from the Stockholm archipelago .
I totally grabbed this thinking it was Camilla Sten, but it's actually her mother's book. Oops! Still a good story but no horror elements. It's a decent mystery though. This is a part of a series called The Are Murders series and follows vases handled by Det Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog.
Six students take a trip in Are for a ski week. There is a ton of noise, partying, drinking and questionable behaviors that lead to a confrontation from a local. The following morning one of the students is found dead. Was it an unfortunate accident that stemmed from bad choices or was it murder?
The story is pretty tense and the friendships are put through the ringer. I was fooled by the perpetrator. I really loved the setting. I also enjoyed the two detectives but felt like I was missing quite a bit of context and should have started the series from the beginning.
I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.
I'm just a sucker for these Scandinavian mysteries. The cold and weather is just as much a character as anyone else and permeates everything that happens. This story revolves around a group of young people who spend time in a cabin, but one is found dead in the snow and it's suspicious. The young people think they can keep their secrets, which never works out, and we get to follow the detectives and their lives. The narration is good and makes everything easy to follow. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this
Another good mystery to this series! I didn’t enjoy the plot as much as the other books in the series. However, I did like the narrator for the book, she did a great job capturing the emotions of the characters. I definitely recommend this series to anybody and love the main characters.
Thank you NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for the audiobook ARC.
I loveee a good twisty thriller, and this delivered. I haven’t read any of the other books in the series, but after reading this one I definitely want to go back and give the others a try. Don’t be afraid of the translation from Swedish, this read like it was originally written in English and was definitely entertaining.
I was first introduced to The Are Murder series with 2025s “Hidden in Memories”. I immediately became a fan of Viveca Sten’s writing style. She creates dark procedural mysteries that have you hanging on to every word. “Hidden in Lies”, the 4th book in the series does not fall short in any way.
When a group of college students go on holiday on a skiing trip (a lot of partying and a little bit of skiing), things don’t go as planned. Well, not everyone’s plans. One of them, a 19-year-old young lady by the name of Filippa, is found dead outside. Did someone break in and kill her? Did one of the group? Did one of the locals? Fortunately for us, DI Ahlander and DI Lindskog are here to investigate, and we are along for the journey.
These books are not gruesome, but they are dark. This series also tackles some uncomfortable topics and provide a few uncomfortable scenes in the book. In this novel, there is a scene where someone is taken advantage of while they are sleeping, and another scene with highly inappropriate activity to shock a neighbor.
As with the previous entry in this series, there is a lot of character depth and personal stories involving the detectives on this case.
I thoroughly enjoy the audiobooks to this series. Laura Jennings is an excellent narrator.
I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.
Sten writes another great book in the Are Murders series. Now that we know the characters it’s so easy to root for them, not only to solve the crime(s), but also in their personal lives. Six university students, four men and two women, rent a cabin for a weekend of skiing and drinking. One of the girls is found dead in the snow. It could have been an accident, but it’s Hanna and Daniel’s job to figure it out. All the characters are suspicious, and it’s not even clear whether it was foul play or if it was just an accident. Laura Jennings reprises the voices that she’s used for these characters in previous volumes and comes up with new ones for the cast of suspects. She makes them all distinctive, so it’s never a question of who’s saying what. The plot is solid and fast-paced, flowing nicely and with short chapters that kept me riveted. But it’s the main characters that made me care. Anton’s side story had me gasping and cheering and completely invested. Hanna and Daniel are also evolving and growing. I’m usually more interested in the procedural aspect of these novels, but Sten finds a nice balance between the plot and the emotional core. Consider me a fan of this series. I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Brilliance Audio.
This is the 4th book in this series, and probably my 7th or 8th read by this author, who can always be relied upon to create an interesting mystery in a beautiful-sounding place. Although I found the plot of this particular book to be a little predictable (I think because of my familiarity with the author's work), it was a good addition to this series, and the big picture stories of the main characters also moved forward a bit.
One nitpicky little note on the writing: Because I listened to this as an audiobook, I got a little hung up on the similar-sounding character names of two of the suspects, as well as the sister and the love interest of one of the investigators. There were already a lot of characters to keep straight because the murder takes place among a group of 6 friends, and there are several other side characters or suspects, so I wished the author had given more thought to the naming!
As for the narration, I found it to be pretty good as usual for this series, and aside from the name confusion, it was an easy listen.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing for the opportunity to listen to this ALC and are my honest feedback!
Hidden in Lies tells the story of a young woman's murder at an upscale ski resort in the Swedish Alps. Detective Inspectors Hanna Ahlander and Daniel Lindskog work together to solve the murder — and several other mysteries — while navigating the ups and downs of their personal lives.
Sten's writing perfectly captures the isolation and chill of a snowy alpine resort, making the cold setting feel as much a part of the story as the characters themselves.
This is the fourth book in Viveca Sten's ÅRE Murders series, and the first one I had read — but I cannot stress enough how seamlessly it works as a standalone. I never felt like I was dropping into the middle of an ongoing story, which can be a real pitfall with detective series. The character development of both inspectors is thorough and detailed, and I feel like I genuinely know and like Hanna and Daniel. I can't wait to see what comes next.
I wanted this novel to be longer!! I loved learning about these young people whose glamorous getaway suddenly turns violent and watching the detectives set aside their personal lives to fully immerse themselves in the case.
The title is very well chosen for this mystery about 6 college friends who set out to enjoy a week of skiing during their school break. The atmosphere moves from carefree and typical of young college students (world-wide, it would seem) to their varied responses to one tragedy after another. Police detectives, Hanna, Daniel, and Anton enter to try to solve the many mysteries, while navigating dilemmas in their own relationships. I love Viveca Sten’s books, especially since I knew so little of life in Sweden before I read the first Sandhamm Murders book. It’s an education in a different world than mine, learning about life in the skiing center of Are and in the archipelago that is part of Stockholm. This book also demonstrates the difference in police procedures in Sweden from those popularized in various books and TV series about policing in the USA. I also must mention the translator, Marlaine Delargy, who has managed to maintain the nuances of the original language while smoothly transitioning to English. It is much appreciated!
This book is part of a series and fairly new to me, I read and enjoyed the previous book. A group of students go to the holiday home of one of them for a week of letting their hair down and skiing. This has a tragic start when one of the girls is found dead in the snow in below freezing temperatures. Could this be a tragic accident or something more sinister?
Hannah, Daniel and Anton are back as the investigating team and we find out more about their back stories and loves.
The group of students were mostly unlikable and I couldn't warm to any of them apart from perhaps Emil. The neighbours were awful too as was Anton's dad so there is a bit of a theme.
There are enough twists to hold interest with some red herrings to keep the reader guessing.
The narration was excellent. I preferred the previous book but I think that was mainly due to the characters in that.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the DRC
This aptly named mystery novel finds the Åre-area detectives working to unravel the truth about a dead body in the snow. Everyone is lying to them. And, because they are human, they are lying to themselves and to the important people in their lives -- not about the murder, but about their private lives. The story is well-paced, the audiobook narration is excellent, and the plot is strong. One suggestion is to consider the character names when translating from Swedish. It took me a while to stop confusing Emir and Emile when listening to the audiobook. The series has a good mix of detectives and their stories vs. the murder case. I look forward to more in this series. My thanks to the author, publisher, @BrillianceAudio, and #NetGalley for early access to the audiobook of #TheAreMurders for review purposes. Publication date: 5 May 2026.
Full disclosure: This is part of a series!!! I had no idea when I was approved to read this book via netgalley lol. With that being said though, besides some small relationship type plots it was easy to read this book on its own without having read the other three.
When a young women dies in a remote ski town Hanna and her colleges are soon knee deep in an investigation. The friends are hiding information from the police, the neighbors dislike neigh loath the family and the teens who came to party at the ski town, and each detective is dealing with their own personal trials. I was rooting for Hanna and Daniel to solve the case, and to finally wake up and realize that they like each other as more than work partners. The case had it's highs and lows along with a lot of twists and turns. You didn't know who to trust or who to point the finger at until the bitter end.
The set up is great. Four students on a ski vacation to celebrate the end of term. They know each other but don’t KNOW each. Lots of drinking drugs etc and one ends up dead. We only know what’s going on in the heads of the two girls so the boys are all a mystery. Who could it be? This is interspersed with too much personal background on the detectives - Hanna, Anton and Daniel, at the expense of understanding the victims and possible perpetrators. Also there is a very big avenue to investigate that is so obvious and completely overlooked that it should be embarrassing to all 3 detectives and their entire team. I’m afraid this is my last book in this series but I wish the author well.
A group of young (19 and 20 years old) college students travel together to stay at a home belonging to one of their families and enjoy a winter break skiing week. But the murder of one of them sets the "friends" against each other.
Alongside solving the crime, some of the issues brought forward in previous books in the Are series are furthered and explained. I will read the #5 in this series to find out what's happening with these characters I've come to care about.
I've read and loved the stories of Viveca Sten in this series and in her first series. However this one was not up to the standard I've come to expect from her. In her Author's Note I gained some understanding of why this one hit me as a "3."
Thank you Netgalley for the advance audiobook copy of Hidden in Lies by Viveca Sten in exchange for an honest review. I have become such a huge fan of both Viveca and Camila Sten, that anytime I see a novel by either author and I have to request it and I still by it upon release date. This is the fourth book in the series and it begins with six friends, two women and four men, staying at a ski cabin. After a night of partying and getting drunk, they wake up to one of the women gone missing. An investigation ensues when Filippa turns dead, outside and naked in the snow. Is this an accidental tragedy or murder? I really liked this book and recommend reading it to find out.
Fourth installment in the Swedish character-driven police procedural series. The mystery elements are fine on their own, but I really enjoy the burgeoning relationship between DIs Daniel and Hanna. Very slow burn ala Mulder and Scully, which is my favorite trope. (No, this is NOT a romantic suspense novel.) Sten's writing has drawn criticism from some readers, who complain that it is overly simplistic, with short, declarative sentences in present tense. But for audio, this is perfect for keeping up with what is happening. With some mysteries, I lose the thread when things get too complicated. I'm looking forward to the second season of this, which is coming to Netflix in 2026.
Really enjoyed the latest entry in this series! The best yet in my opinion. I have read most of the Sandhamm mysteries, but got bored with them a few books back, so I'm excited that this series is so promising.
This series is fresh and new, and set in the snowy mountains of Sweden near the border of Norway. In this book, six college students head up for a week of skiing and partying until one of them is killed. Who did it isn't so easy to figure out. Well written, a great skiing sequence, and complicated relationships add to the plot. Not a dull moment!
Obviously there is another book to come in the series, and I look forward to reading it!
This was my first Viveca Sten book and I'm a bit mad at myself that I haven't read the first 3 books yet! I love the main characters - Hanna and Daniel, detective partners who are tasked with solving a murder, while also dealing with situations in their personal lives. While this book can be a standalone, Sten made the back story easy to follow. I enjoyed the writing style, the premise, the mystery and the drama. 4.25 stars
Thank you to the author, Brilliance Publishing and NetGalley for this ALC!
I always get attached to the characters in this series, and this one kept that same interest. Their life choices can be surprising, but they still feel understandable in a way that makes them easy to stay invested in.
The story builds in layers, showing different sides of situations through multiple perspectives and slowly changing how things are understood as more is revealed.
Even though the ending didn’t fully match what I would have preferred, the experience stayed engaging from start to finish and was still very enjoyable.
I really enjoy this Scandinavian series. The setting is wonderfully described and fully contributes to the plot. The characters do develop in a thoughtful manner from one book to the next. This series doesn’t ask the reader to think deeply but it plays out nicely with a story line that works nicely and has a bit of grit to it. I did feel that this one got a tad long at points with the investigation but overall it was very enjoyable and the outcome worked. Fun book to read and I’m looking forward to the next one.
I usually rate all of her books 5*s but the subplot of Hanna and Daniel secretly wanting to be together is just too obvious and detracts from the story line. Daniel made a choice that blew up in his face(Ida)and Hanna moved on and found happiness with a billionaire. Ms Sten now wants to fall back on an old worn out saw of unrequited love finally bearing fruit. If that happens, that will be the book that gets 1 star, because you can't give a zero, and the last of her books that I read.
Hidden in Lies by Viveca Sten Narration, Laura Jennings Translator, Marlaine Delargy I have read several books in this series as well as the previous series by this author. I like these books but I do get annoyed with the main characters and their personal problems. The murder in this one had a solution that was a bit out of left field but the ending was exciting. Narration was excellent. Thanks to NetGalley
I loooove this series!! This book did not disappoint! Hannah has a new love, Daniel is getting used to being a single father, and Anton is working up courage to share his orientation with his family. Meanwhile, they have to solve the murder of a college student on break. Another well written piece that keeps you engaged throughout. The ending makes you eager for the next book! Awesome narration!
I received *Hidden in Lies* through a *Goodreads giveaway* and really enjoyed it. The story kept me engaged with its intriguing mystery, strong atmosphere, and well-developed characters. While the pacing slowed in a few places, it was an entertaining and satisfying read overall. I'm glad I had the chance to discover this series, and I'm now interested in going back and reading the rest of the books.
Great mystery about 6 friends who go on a vacation from school together. One of them turns up dead the next morning and all of them are suspects.
We also get more on Hannah's relationship and Daniel's struggles to co-parent with his ex-wife. Anton is also struggling in his relationship because he hasn't come out yet and his partner does not know that.
I did not guess the murderer until almost when it was revealed. Very enjoyable.
Thank you to NetGalley and Brilliance Publishing (Brilliance Audio) for this copy of Viveca Sten’s Hidden in Lies audiobook narrated by Laura Jennings. The story was intriguing, keeping me engaged as I tried to figure out the guilty party(ies), and the narration was very good. This is a good mystery.
I really enjoy this author and have read several of her books, The book was equally as good as the others I read. This time there is an investigation of a death of a young girl was it an accident or murder. Good character development and a few twists along the way. A little disappointed that the author felt there had to be a gay character in the story. It seems that every new book seems to push that lifestyle.
I have been reading and enjoying this series. In most of the books, the plot is well thought out, the characters are wonderful and I personally love the setting. The dance between the two main characters is fun to observe.
In this particular book, the whodunnit came completely out of left field. And ultimately I was disappointed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I enjoyed this fast-paced police procedural, catching up with the characters featured in the first three books in this series. In this one, six young friends go to a house in the mountains to ski and party, and one of them ends up dead. This one didn't suck me in quite as much as the previous books, but was still quite entertaining.