tirsdag den 15. september 2009

Camilla Läckberg, Stenhuggaren (2005)


Den tredje i serien om Patrik Hedström og Erica Falck – læst på svensk.

En hummerfisker får sit livs chok, da han haler hummertejnerne op uden for Fjällbacka: dagens sidste tejne indeholder liget af en lille pige.

Patrik og Erica har set frem til at nyde tilværelsen som en rigtig, lille familie, men Maja sover næsten aldrig, og Erica er tydeligvis på randen af en depression. Desuden viser det sig, at den døde pige er datter af en af Ericas bekendte, Charlotte, som har en baby på alder med Maja.

For Erica bliver dødsfaldet en lejlighed til at komme lidt hjemmefra og engagere sig i noget andet end sit eget, personlige babyhelvede: hun ser, at Charlotte har det værre end hende selv og virkelig trænger til hjælp. Charlotte er ganske vist omgivet af familie, men har alligevel hårdt brug for en udenforståendes sympati.

Som titlen antyder, er der en ældre sidehistorie om en stenhugger, en fattig men talentfuld ung mand, som forelsker sig i datteren af stenbruddets ejer, et grænseløst forkælet enebarn. Desværre er denne tråd lidt unuanceret, en romantisk historie med personer, som fremtræder irriterende sort-hvide.

Ud over det hyggelige gensyn med Patrik og Erica, leverer Läckberg dog i det store og hele en god krimihistorie med et spændende plot og et par solide overraskelser i de sidste kapitler.

Camilla Läckberg, The Stone Cutter (2009)
This is the third novel in her series about Patrik Hedström and Erica Falck. It should be on its way to English readers very soon.

A lobster fisherman gets the shock of his life when he pulls his lobster pots out of the water near Fjällbacka: the last pot contains the body of a little girl.

Patrik and Erica have been looking forward to being a real family, but newborn Maja hardly ever sleeps, and Erica is clearly on the verge of a depression. Furthermore it turns out that the dead girl is the daughter of one of Erica´s acquaintances, Charlotte, who has a baby the same age as Maja.

For Erica the death gives her an opportunity to get away from home and engage in something else than her own, personal baby hell: she can see that Charlotte fares worse than herself and really needs help. Charlotte may be surrounded by family, yet she really needs sympathy from a third party.

As the title suggest there is an older side story about a stone cutter, a poor but talented young man who falls in love with the daughter of the owner of the quarry, a hopelessly spoilt only child. Unfortunately this thread is a bit one-sided, a romantic story with characters who appear annoyingly black-and-white.

On the whole, Läckberg delivers an exciting crime story, however, including a cozy reunion with Patrik and Erica, plus some solid surprises in the final chapters.

5 kommentarer:

Beth F sagde ...

Another new to me series! I'll keep it in mind, but I'm not sure I'll go looking for it.

Elizabeth Spann Craig sagde ...

It sounds like an exciting book....but child endangerment scares me to death! I'd have nightmares, so I may have to pass on this one.

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Dorte H sagde ...

Beth, I think her debut was really promising, but Läckberg won fame in Scandinavia immediately, and my theory is she has not had enough diversity ;)

Elizabeth; a very young victim always makes the book worse, but at least Läckberg adheres to "my rule": don´t kill children the reader has got to know!

Louise sagde ...

I have read all the Läckberg mysteries, and I have found them to become less and less interesting. I never found her debut very interesting, but did like Prædikanten (The Preacher?) which was number 2 and this one, number 3. I've read both four and five as well, and they are...well...to be honest I just don't think that Läckberg is a good enough writer for those long mysteries. Her characters are becoming more and more like caricatures - I mean, the police force of the city...they are a complete joke! I know this is fiction, but its not SCIENCE fiction.

I agree that her mysteries (at least two of them) are cosy and easy, but specially the last two were plain bad in my opinion. I hope you will read them though, so that I can hear your thoughts about them.

Louise

Dorte H sagde ...

Louise: I have read no four some time ago, but I reread them and post my reviews when they are published in English.
I think I have said it many times before, but I really believe Läckberg won fame too soon and too easily. I think she could do better, but everybody called her the new princess of crime fiction after her debut so she may not feel she has to work hard to sell books. (On the other hand, she has had a baby, a depression and a divorce in a few years so perhaps she has spent her energy on these crises).