Läckberg’s excellent third novel set in the west coast village of Fjällbacka, like its predecessors The Ice Princess and The Preacher, strips conventional veneers from her achingly complex characters. Alternating parallel narratives embroil readers first in the present-day murder by drowning of little Sara Klinga, then in the rise and fall many decades earlier of Agnes Stjernkvist, a venomous schemer who lusts after honest stonecutter Anders Andersson. Investigating Sara’s death is series lead Det. Patrik Hedström, now an exhausted new father, whose partner, Erica, is suffering through a desperate postpartum depression. Läckberg gradually tightens the disparate narrative strands noose-like around her numerous remorselessly dissected characters, her signature reversal revealing shocking and poignant truths about the residents of Fjällbacka, where she herself was born. With at least nine more novels waiting for English translation and the Swedish TV series Fjällbacka Murders in the works, Läckberg has rapidly become one of the most profitable native authors in Sweden’s history. Agent: Joakim Hansson, Nordin Literary Agency. (May)
"This richly textured mystery about a spate of murders in a fishing village suggests that Lackberg may be the heir to Agatha Christie."
The Washington Post: "50 Notable Works of Fiction" - Maureen Corrigan
And, speaking of Dame Agatha, here’s a young Swedish writer who’s being hailed as “the Swedish Agatha Christie.” Purists out there will snort in derision, but Camilla Lackberg is very, very good. Her domestic novels are outselling those of her late countryman Stieg Larsson, and if she keeps producing mysteries as richly textured and downright breathtaking as her latest, The Stonecutter, who knows? Maybe, one day, we might be identifying Agatha Christie as “the British Camilla Lackberg.” The Stonecutter is one of those mysteries that ruin a vacation. Take it to the beach and your eyes will be so locked on its pages, you’ll never even know there’s an ocean in front of you.
Maureen Corrigan - The Washington Post
The hottest crime genre of the moment is Nordic noir and Camilla Läckberg is one of the reasons. Darker, bleaker, and far more sinister than similar American fare.
Fire and ice! Masterful suspense as compelling as secrets lying far beneath the dark sea. Läckberg is the perfect crime novelist who combines her gift for intriguingly complicated plots and a keen understanding of the ‘grotesques’ who live among us. Erotic and terrifying.
Something's rotten in Fjallbacka, Sweden: Seven-year-old Sara Klinga's drowning turns out to be a murder, and mysterious woes soon befall other children. An eerie subplot about a local stonecutter's family secrets provides clues in this dark novel of revenge, estrangement and loveless marriages. It will keep you guessing.
Excellent. The end, when it comes, shocks like a dip in Swedish seawater.
The hottest crime genre of the moment is Nordic noir and Camilla Läckberg is one of the reasons. Darker, bleaker, and far more sinister than similar American fare.
[David Thorn] managed to maintain the continuity of the narration through-out and it was an easy listen.”
“Listening to the audio book was great fun. . . . I highly recommend . . . especially for fans of Nordic crime novels.”
Thorn is a master of building and lessening suspense by altering pacing and inflections, allowing characters’ inner dialogues to clearly contrast with their spoken words. As the plot draws to a conclusion, Thorn outdoes himself voicing the murderer’s reactions to being caught, convicted, and imprisoned. Another winner from Läckberg.”Booklist
Chaos Is A Friend of Mine Blog
Narrator David Thorn makes the Swedish names accessible in a way print does not. His tongue glides over the unfamiliar pronunciations, leaving the listener engaged in the story, which stretches back to the 1920s. Even the red herrings take you somewhere you need to go. . . . This is a must purchase.”Library Journal
The Stonecutter is one of those rare books that you will be unable to read fast enough, yet you also will want to savor slowly so you can delay the ending.”Bookreporter
The extreme darkness of the human spirit—a quality that marks Läckberg’s novel and the work of many other Swedish crime writers—is expertly portrayed in this audio edition by narrator David Thorn, who previously read earlier installments in the author’s . . . series.”Publishers Weekly
Narrator David Thorn distinguishes the bevy of characters and deftly pronounces their unfamiliar names.”AudioFile
One of those mysteries that ruin a vacation. Take it to the beach and your eyes will be so locked on its pages, you’ll never know there’s an ocean in front of you. . . . Richly textured and downright breathtaking.”Washington Post
And,The Stonecutter, who knows? Maybe, one day, we might be identifying Agatha Christie as “the British Camilla Lackberg.” The Stonecutter is one of those mysteries that ruin a vacation. Take it to the beach and your eyes will be so locked on its pages, you’ll never even know there’s an ocean in front of you. ”— Maureen Corrigan
Something's rotten in Fjallbacka, Sweden: Seven-year-old Sara Klinga's drowning turns out to be a murder, and mysterious woes soon befall other children. An eerie subplot about a local stonecutter's family secrets provides clues in this dark novel of revenge, estrangement and loveless marriages. It will keep you guessing.
No wonder the Ikea furniture is so easy to assemble; it’s the Scandinavian writing. Direct + uncomplicated = male-friendly. Repetitive and S-L-O-W, this novel alternates between the assorted miseries of contemporary Fjällbacka, Sweden which includes a tragic drowning, and the assorted miseries of yesteryear Fjällbacka, Sweden, starting with the experiences of a titular stonecutter in 1923. Läckberg’s workmanlike characterizations reflect the stolid characters of Fjällbacka’s citizenry, like the new mom who feels like “…she was just two huge walking breasts” and who “…had never in her entire life felt so miserable, tired, angry, frustrated, and worn out….” Readers will soon find, however, that this is a 560 page assburner that alternates between ‘slow burn’ and ‘hopeless mess’ with a needlessly repetitive plot. The entire pathological mess has at its roots in a sexy, man-eating socialite named Agnes whose conniving heartlessness traces an ugly path to current day Fjällbacka, Sweden. There two dedicated policemen boil down a shitstorm of activity into four rather prosaic cases including a pedophile ring, a drowned girl, and someone feeding ashes to babies. While both story arcs are monotonous, the contemporary portion’s plentitude of characters often make it feel like a soap opera.
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Läckberg’s Swedish mystery makes abrupt transitions in time and place somewhat confusingly in the opening chapters. Not until the closing pages are the story’s relationships clear. Narrator David Thorn distinguishes the bevy of characters and deftly pronounces their unfamiliar names. In the central plot, the murder of a child in the small town of Fjällbacka horrifies police detective Patrik Hedström, a new father. Issues of new parenting such as nursing and lack of sleep receive as much attention as the murder investigation by the author and narrator. As Thorn occasionally slurs “s’s” and rolls “r’s” for effect, the story moves along steadily with plenty of clues. D.P.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Swedish publishing phenom Läckberg returns to the ill-starred town of Fjällbacka for another dose of resentment that festers into violence. Now that his live-in girlfriend, writer Erica Falck, has presented him with a child, Patrik Hedström ought to be finding a better balance between his personal and professional responsibilities. But his sympathies as both father and cop are demanded by the murder of Sara Klinga, the daughter of Erica's new friend Charlotte. Who would dump a seven-year-old near a wharf after drowning her, according to forensic evidence, in a bathtub? As Patrik surveys the wreckage of Sara's extended family, from the pathological philandering of Charlotte's husband, Dr. Niclas Klinga, to the unaccountable cruelty of Niclas' mother Lilian Florin, whose name Niclas rejected in favor of his wife's upon his marriage, Läckberg (The Ice Princess, 2010, etc.) parcels out hints of the tragedy's roots in the loveless marriage some 75 years ago between flirtatious heiress Agnes Stjernkvist and Anders Andersson, the stonecutter she'd captivated and planned to leave before her father discovered her pregnancy and forced the couple to wed. Meanwhile, back in the present, Patrik and his mostly incompetent colleagues on the Tanumshede police force focus their suspicions on imperious Lilian, who seems to loathe everyone but Stig, the bedridden husband she nurses so assiduously; Kaj Wiberg, the neighbor with whom she's long feuded over every pretext she can find; and Kaj's son Morgan, a computer game designer with Asperger's Syndrome who'd be poorly equipped to take the air even in a much sunnier spot than Fjällbacka. Yes, the detection is forgettable (Patrick solves the mystery by watching a similar case on TV) and the climactic revelation unsurprising. Läckberg's greatest strength is dramatizing the long shadows of family troubles that grow to monstrous size.
