2024 Book Review #45:The Ice Princess

 

This book is written by an author my oldest daughter discovered in our town library. She read book 2 in the series. This is book 1.  I'll read book 2 sometime this winter. 

STORY SUMMARY

Erica Falck has come back to her childhood hometown of Fjallbacka, Sweden after living for years as an author in Stockholm.  In fact, she still has a flat there but has come home for the funeral of her parents.  After the funeral, she lingers in town at her childhood home, going through things as now she and her sister Anna, who is married to an abusive man, now own it jointly. Anna and Lucas have 2 young children: Emma and Adrian. Erica is the oldest and has always been deeply concerned for Anna.  But Anna pretends all is well. 

While Erica is in town, she learns that her best friend from childhood has been found dead in her bathtub.  It appears to be a suicide. Her wrists are slashed and she is frozen in an ice cold bath. The entire community is facing this horrible tragedy as Alexandra (aka Alex) was very much loved and well known. But...things come to light that indicate this was a murder not a suicide. 

Detective Patrik Hedstrom is following his own suspicions about the case that he and his supervisor, Mellberg have been assigned to. Erica knows Patrik from childhood and they become reunited.  In fact, they are falling in love with each other! Patrik has been divorced for several years and doesn't have children. Erica has never married and does not have children, either. Together, they are determined to figure out what happened to Alex.   And then someone who was close to Alex (Anders, a local artist and the town drunk) turns up dead as well, and again, this is made to look like a suicide. 

Will Erica and Patrik solve these killings? How and why are they connected?  And will Erica ever learn the real truth as to why Alex and her parents disappeared 25 years ago, in 1975, for an entire year, only to resurface a year later?   What does the wealthiest family in town have to do with Alex and Anders?  The Lorentz family own and operate the cannery in town and their adopted son Jan manages it now for the matriarch, Nelly.  But where is Nelly's biological son Nils, who also disappeared the same time Alex did? What secrets do these familie have and will they finally be exposed? 

MY THOUGHTS

This novel opens up with such a descriptive setting that I was hooked immediately.  It's a literary work that's also a mystery with a "true crime" feeling.......most mysteries I read that are  contemporary are simple...they're just not that literary or "deep" yet this one is. 

The author has strong characters that are portrayed beautifully.  I felt like I knew Patrik and Erica.  The character Mellberg is quite humorous which is good in this very dark, deep look at issues in our society. It's a well executed plot and at the same time, while being mysterious and dark, it is also heart warming. 

One of the main themes in this book is the parent-child relationship.  This is very well done and involves every family introduced.  Alex's family, Anders' family, the Lorentz family and even Erica's family. It's brilliant. 

Other themes/subjects are alcoholism, murder, suicide, childhood sexual abuse, domestic violence, pregnancy. Some of these could be triggers for certain readers. 

There's a lot of psychological insight in this plot and I absolutely thought the ending was brilliant and  so well done. I loved how the author wrapped up one of the minor characters because it was him who first made the discovery of Alex. 

One thing I didn't like was the age of Alex when a major thing happened to her.  I don't want to share what that thing is because I don't want to spoil the plot for you but let's just say it's rather rare this happens at the age  that the author had Alex being at that time. It would be more believable if it had happened after the typical age of puberty  which is 12-14. 

I highly recommend this book if you like true crime and/or mysteries that probe a bit deeper into personalities and our psyches vs some of hte more "fluffier" easier contemporary mysteries. 

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature themes).

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 9.