The Ice Princess

Oh I should have known better than to pick up a book at my parents' house when I had packed a stack of library books to read (and return before they were due)...J was having a bath and I had left my book in the basement, so to entertain myself, I pulled a book off the bookcase at the top of the stairs and got myself hooked. I read The Ice Princess quickly...I really liked it. Camilla Läckberg is a Swedish crime write and this is the first book in a series about Erica Falck and Patrik Hedström. My mom sent me home with this book and the next two. I'm on the lookout for book four and five because they have number six but haven't been able to track down the other two...

This book is a translation and I think it was well translated. Some of the nuances surprised me as sometimes translations miss those or mistranslate themm because they are so subtle, although, the translator for this book is the same man who translated the Stieg Larsson books and the Henning Mankell books. I like how the various story lines are woven together - and how some of the story lines that appear to have nothing in common actually intersect.

Erica Falck, an author, is one of the first on the scene when an elderly man discovers Erica's childhood friend dead and frozen into the bathtub. While at first it appears that Alex committed suicide, it soon comes out that she was murdered. Erica ends up getting involved in the investigation, first purely by circumstance and then out of interest as she writes a book about the victim.

I knew who murdered Alex right away. And then it was someone else and then it was someone else and then...well, you get the picture. I was right on one of my guesses though, but I loved that the book twisted and turned and kept me guessing. I appreciate the multiple threads - some related to the crime, some not - as they kept the story interesting.

I can't wait to read the new one, The Preacher