Thrilling and suspenseful. Decent writing style and different to what I was expecting which is always a nice surprise.

A little girl was killed thirty years ago. Now one of her killers is back into town and soon after another young girl is found murdered. Are the two deaths linked? The story is told from many points of views, from the detective in charge of the investigation to the police officers helping him, from his wife who is writing a book about the first murder to two teenagers who feel they don’t fit with the rest of the world, from two women accused of murder to a refugee family trying to start a new life, and we, the readers, are taken through a story full of twists and turns that will keep you guessing until the end. Add the story of a young mother fighting for her life in the seventeenth century, and you have a gripping and captivating story.

Although at the beginning I had a bit of trouble following the different points of views and the different timelines, once I figured out who was who I found myself completely absorbed in the story. The author explores themes that are current at the moment, like bullying, domestic abuse, and the behavior of people towards refugees. The characters are well-developed and realistic and the story is full of suspense and dark. This is my first novel by this author but I loved her writing style and her story and I am definitely going to read more of her books!

Lots of twists and turns but a little overly long in places which made y attention wander, overall, a good read.

Fjallbacka is a town full of secrets and the mystery of a four year old girl who was found murdered 30 years before still haunts its residents. Two 13 year old girls confessed to her killing but later changed their story. Then another child goes missing and the similarities to the earlier case lead Detective Patrik Hedstrom and his team to reinvestigate the earlier killing in the hope of uncovering the truth. His writer wife Erika is also researching the story for a book she is writing. Once again Lackberg writes a clever police procedural but with an extra side order of emotional depth and warmth from characters we’ve come to know so well. Loved the interesting side story of 17th century witch trials and the heartbreaking story of the Syrian refugees. As usual the story ends on a cliffhanger! Excellent - can’t wait for more.

Another great story from this author. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving giving the opportunity to read this title.

I am happy having read the recent #10 book in the series, it's been a while since I read ninth book and loved to return to new story set in Fjallbacka/ Patric Hedstrom detective series and his smart wife Erika, who really solves and gives best tips ever :)

I gave the book 4.5 stars, so very close to have full rating, still there were few items I felt against the smooth plot. The cover is impressive! So much fits the story and the thriller mood, interesting read for half of a day for sure!

The book unites many, and I say many characters and their standalone, as one may think at the start, but we know the writing too well, that these all will come to picture - for the main plot. I found the overall plot a little bit too often broken/interrupted jumping from one character set to another and to the past setting. The Girl in the Woods is a mixture of secrets, lies, detective, crime and drama, which hasn't been solved in the passed and drags along, involving new and new characters, who will make a deadly halt to everything.

The story of the past involves a true historic background with fictional story, but ... it set's the attitude of that time thinking and "morals" and is quite disturbing at the end. It's about families, poverty, "no-family ties", vengeance...

The present takes a real puzzle trying to solve the past links to the present crime. The four year old
Linnea goes missing and her parents aren't sure when or how did she got lost, because none of them has checked on her properly...through out the plot I often had to question were the parents not a little too careless, to allow a 4-year-old to freely play on his own outside the house or alone in the woods? Everyone is so calm about it..that alone felt fishy...as I don't believe any of the childcare services would have seem this to be ok in real world. What's odd about the little girl is - she is SAME AGE and lives off at the SAME HOME only 30 years later ,a girl her age went missing and was found murdered alone in the water 30 years ago...ooooh, it does adds the thriller spooky setting!

30 years ago two teenage girls were accused to have been guilty and thus it shaped their lives forever, one had grown up in a bad family, where's another one - in sort of "perfect" family....the death of the little girl named Stella, set it all upside down...for better or worse..as none of the girls ever get over the trauma and were coping, dealing with outcomes every day... one become a famous actress, the other one a housewife...but they both had their children at the same age... There will be soo many questionings and conspiracy thoughts of - how, what, who...

I will leave out any spoilers, because I want you to read it and have your own opinions about the book! It will be handy if you have read the previous books to figure the jokes and funny sets for the characters that story line develops from each book a little bit more.

The number of crime thrillers I read are very few and far between, I know the genres I enjoy reading and tend to stick to them. I'd go as far to say I am very selective in what I read in the thriller genre as it wouldn't be my first port of call when choosing my next read but I drop everything when it comes to a new book from the incredible writer that is Camilla Lackberg. This new novel The Girl in the Woods is the tenth in the Fjallbacka series featuring true crime author Erica Falck and her detective husband Patrik Helstrom. It feels like the gaps between the appearance of each new book in the series have grown wider in recent years but that makes the publication of a new story all the more special. The books become a real treat to savour for as long as possible. This is something which I find hard to do given how much I love this series as once I begin I literally can't put down the book until I have discovered the eventual outcome - who did it and why? The Girl in the Woods is definitely what we would call a real page turner, you promise yourself one more chapter and then found you have read 100 pages or more. This book was quite long and there were certain parts I felt could have been narrowed down slightly but apart from that I loved every moment of this read. I desperately wanted to know the motivation for the killing of such a young innocent girl.

What is so brilliant about Camilla Lackberg's books is that, yes there is a murder to be solved but that alongside this there are always little sub plots working away in the background. Some may be a continuation from previous stories of which I have been desperate to find out more, others are new strands that may eventually tie in with the murder. One thing is certain the major event that triggers an investigation is never clear cut. There is a lot of wading through finer detail and joining the dots that at first may not be apparent to either the police force or the detectives. That's what makes me enjoy this series so much as I never 100% know who actually did it. You have your suspicions the whole way through the book but they can change multiple times. That's in thanks to the way the author leads you up one path only for it to be a dead end. One minute she has you certain that who we are reading about is more than likely the killer but then a few pages later there are doubts emerging, given what you have just read about another character. The element of mystery abounds right until the final few chapters and I enjoy having one pulled over my eyes. The tension, suspicion and intrigue increases with the passing of each chapter and frustratingly they always end on a cliffhanger and it might be several chapters before we come back to that character to see what they may have uncovered. That for me is what adds to the real page turning element of the story.

The focus of this story is the disappearance and subsequent discovery of the body of a four year old girl Nea Berg. She was found quite close to the home in the woods of her family - Eva and Peter Berg. But what upsets the community most is the more than passing resemblance to a case over thirty years ago. Has the same killer struck again? The person who in 1985 murdered a beautiful little girl called Stella quite close to the sit of the discovery of Nea's body? The story takes us back and forth through three time periods, July 1985 and the following months as the case is attempted to be solved. Modern day where Patrik and the police force try to work out what happened and is it connected to sinister goings on within their small community but also every few chapters we are taken back to Bohuslan in 1671 as follow Elin Jonsdotter whose husband was lost at sea. She and her daughter were sent to live with her sister and her husband. Normally I love any historical element but I found myself racing through the sections set in 1671, not fully absorbing the detail because it really didn't interest me and I couldn't see what bearing it had on the other two parts of the overall story. Yes it was filled with incredible detail but the content of Elin's story was just all a bit too wishy washy for me. I suppose in the end it did connect back to the modern day but it was all just too tenuous for me. Instead I focused all my attentions on what was going on in the present day and how it could all be linked together to find the ultimate answer and of course the reasons and motivations behind it.

Once the initial discovery of the body and the connected investigation had been established for a period there was an overwhelming sense of waiting for something to happen. The police needed some clue to be discovered, some inspiration to strike for things to get motoring on. The book stalled slightly here but on reflection I suppose that's what happens in real life when a case is opened, you don't get answers instantly. Reports have to be carried out, questions asked, information has to be sieved through to work out what is false and what could be accurate. The author teases the reader with titbits of information and we are left to ponder how relevant they are to the overall picture or are they red herrings dropped in to put us very much off track. While things in my opinion were waiting to get into full flow an awful lot of characters were introduced. Some I would view as re-introductions from the previous books and others were all new.

The reader has to size up each person and decide on their relevance and importance. Were they associated with the murder or was there other topical issues coming to the fore? That's another element that made me enjoy this book. Yes there was a murderer to uncover but the matter of the Syrian refugees arriving to seek sanctuary in the town also stirs emotions and even hatred within the minds of some residents which may have disastrous or positive outcomes. Is prejudice and racism alive and well in modern day Fjällbacka? The arrival of movie star Marie Wall to shoot her latest film sets everyone talking as she has not been seen since she confessed to a murder thirty years ago. Why wait so long to return and what connection may emerge between herself and local girl Helen? If any? Why did they confess to a murder they didn't commit so many years ago? Life has become very unsettled for all involved as old memories and secrets begin to stir once more and come to the fore. Marie's daughter Jessie and Helen's son Sam form a friendship that begins to grow deeper than just your normal companionship. They can talk to each other as they see more than a few passing similarities between them. The everyday pressures of being a teenager are compounded with the old wounds of their mothers being reopened but they too in the present are experiencing their own form of dislike. There were other characters mentioned who all in time have a bearing on the reveal but at the time of reading I dismissed some when I should have paid more attention to them.

The tension and suspension increases with each chapter. Erica although not the sole focus of the book is busy beavering away, aiding Patrik in the most subtle of manners with the investigation. As the murder of Stella is the focus of her next book she holds more than a passing interest as to the motivation of little Nea's murder. Erica has such a brilliant mind as she can step back away from the investigation and observe and consider things from a different viewpoint. I thinks she works very well in tandem with Patrik. He knows she can be relied upon and at times even though their personal relationship blurs the lines of their professions they make things work and it never seems so out of the ordinary that Erica is allowed to get so involved. Patrik too is an expert at his job and I love how he can hold his tongue when it comes to the actions of a certain someone on the police force. They themselves are loveable but god they can be very frustrating when it comes to solving any crime be it small or large.

This story is one long jigsaw with the various pieces of the puzzle slotting into place at a slow and steady pace and I loved every minute of it. The eventual outcome was a surprise and as things in the last few chapters happened very quickly, the reader does need to keep their wits about them so as not to miss out on any vital aspect of the storyline or to become too confused. I cannot recommend The Girl in the Woods enough, it is an excellent addition to the series. Long time fans will be deeply satisfied and there will be many new readers who once they have read this book will want to go back and read the entire series in one fell swoop.

Camilla Läckberg has provided this reader with another meaty read in this the tenth in the Patrik Hedström and Erica Falck. This story is lengthy and involved. Readers won’t be able to stop themselves remembering some real-life crimes, especially those involving child-killers with the most obvious inspiration being drawn from Anne Perry and her friend Pauline Rieper, not a comfortable subject at all.

The main story is that set in the present day of the disappearance of four-year old Nea Berg from the same farm that another four-year old child went missing from thirty years before. Then Marie and her best friend Helen were accused of murder at the tender age of just thirteen. This is therefore in true Camilla Läckberg style a crime in the past with parallels in the present.

What makes the disappearance of Nea Berg all the more chilling is that Marie Wall had returned to Fjällbacka in her role as Ingrid Bergman in a new film. Marie had used the crime she was accused of thirty years ago to help propel her into Hollywood stardom, and it had worked but she had not set foot back in the small Swedish town since she left all those years before. Helen meanwhile had married a local man aged eighteen and lived a quiet life now mother to a teenage son she is fearful that Marie’s return will encourage the story to come to life again.

The chapters each cover many viewpoints each including scenes at the police station as our old favourites interview witnesses, pour over forensic reports and the ever dependable station chief Bertil Mellberg gives television interviews and interferes in Patrik Hedström’s handling of the case. As always it was great to catch up with everyone in Fjällbacka’s Police force and it does provide some much needed light relief in this dark and disturbing tale.

Erica already had a book in the pipeline about Stella Strand and her two accused killers and so when parallels are drawn between the crimes she is on hand with her notes so far, and the interviews she continues to hold with key people from the time.

Interspersed with the current investigations and happenings are chapters on The Stella Case giving the reader insights that haven’t necessarily been discovered, including those thoughts of the lead investigator. Intriguingly there is also a far older tale to be told that of Elin Jonsdotter in Bohuslän in 1671, what relevance this strand has remains a mystery for much of the book. If all that wasn’t enough the author includes another strand about Syrian refugees.

I enjoyed this greatly although I was reminded why I normally save these novels as holiday reads; The Girl in the Woods is a whopping 592 pages long and packed full of information which doesn’t necessarily lend itself to short bursts of reading. For the first time in this series I did have moments where I wondered if the author had been slightly over-ambitious in the amount of different strands that run through the book, not that it was confusing, far from it, but the read felt far darker overall than the previous books in the series, and they were hardly laugh a minute reads. However, if you are a fan, as I am, there is much to feast on not only while you are reading this book but there are bigger themes and philosophical questions to ponder long after you finish the last page.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to HarperCollins UK who allowed me to read advance copy of The Girl in the Woods before publication on 22 February 2018. This unbiased review is my thanks to them.

I love my annual pilgrimage to fjällbacka and check in with Erica, Patrick and the team. I do wonder sometimes though how such a small place attracts so much murder and devastation but hey that's all part of the fun. One of the better installments of the series and very enjoyable.

I've heard great things about Camilla Lackberg's books, and getting further into this one, it is clear that it is the latest in a series, as you are supposed to know the back story of several of the main characters. Having said that, the fact that I didn't, didn't impede the plot of this one particularly. A four year old girl goes missing from a farm where thirty years before, another four year old girl was found dead. The murderers of the original girl are under suspicion again. The author runs three plot lines through this book, the original murder, the contemporary case and a local story about witchcraft from the 17th Century. I found this rather unsatisfying. I think there are two key factors here for me, firstly that it is obvious that things are done very differently in the Swedish police force and I was really frustrated by those differences. Like, the casual way in which they treat the parents of the girl and the fact that they leave the potential crime scene totally un-investigated for days. Then there is the fact that this is in translation. Everything seemed rather basic, and I think I miss the nuance of the original language which would have made the characters seem more real to me. These things cannot be helped and you either get on board with them, or not. I also found the witchcraft section of the book utterly pointless and thought it weakened the story. I'd rather there was more time spent on the original investigation as that plot line seemed rather sketchy to me.

I would like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for an advance copy of The Girl in the Woods, the tenth novel set in Fjällbacka, Sweden to feature detective Patrik Hedstrom and his true crime writer wife, Erika Falck.

When four year old Nea Berg goes missing from her home alarm bells ring because she is missing from the same farm where four year old Stella Strand was murdered 32 years previously. Two teenagers were convicted of Stella's murder, based on their retracted confessions. Helen has always lived in the area but Marie became a famous film star and is back to make a film. Is it coincidence, are they involved or is there something more sinister involved.

I thoroughly enjoyed the second half of the novel where the plot becomes absorbing and starts to make sense. I found the first half didn't engage my attention and was easy to put down in favour of doing something else. I don't particularly enjoy novels where each chapter has several different points of view with only a new paragraph to denote a fresh viewpoint. Add in to this mix chapters which go back to the "Stella Case" and the weird narrative of Elin Jonsdotter set in 1671 which has no real bearing on current events except as an ironic footnote and it becomes a very choppy read with little sense of obvious direction.

On the other hand the novel has effective things to say about asylum seekers, racism and the cultural differences. There isn't much new in what Ms Lackberg has to say but she manages to say it in a practical way. She also tackles bullying and I must admit that I found some of the scenes hard to read at the cruelty of teenagers but sadly I didn't find them unbelievable. Teenagers always seem to be able to spot a victim and pile on more pressure. I'm not sure I found the solution overly convincing but it's not improbable.

As usual the novel is full of Erika and Patrik's domestic life. They have a loving relationship, reinforced with close family ties. I suspect that Ms Lackberg brings many of her own frustrations to Erika's character - the difficulty of writing and finding me time with three young children. It makes a welcome diversion from the difficulty of the main investigation.

The Girl in the Woods is a novel of two halves which is worth sticking with. 3.5*

A complicated story that shows off Lackberg's successful mix of soap opera and crime: the murder of a child in the past, a similar crime in the present, out of control teenagers, and the almost obligatory insertion of a group of Syrian refugees struggling to be accepted in Sweden. Alongside all this, regular characters argue, start dating, get married and juggle personal lives with young children.

The pacing isn't quite right as everything unwinds slowly with attention to detail, only to suddenly speed up to a rushed climax. And the insertion of a seventeenth century story didn't work for me, causing me to skim those sections, short as they are. Nevertheless, this is intelligent crime writing built around characters we have come to know well and care about.