Cover Image: The Gilded Cage

The Gilded Cage

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Member Reviews

The Gilded Cage by Camilla Läckberg is a gripping thriller that explores the dark side of wealth and power. The story follows Faye, a successful entrepreneur who seems to have it all, but whose past hides a terrible secret. When her husband betrays her, she plots a ruthless revenge that will expose the corruption and violence behind the glamorous facade of her life. The book is well-written, with vivid characters and a fast-paced plot that keeps the reader hooked until the end. The author blends psychological suspense, social commentary and feminist themes in this novel.

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Wow The Gilded Cage by Camilla Läckberg is the first book in the new Brilliant Faye's Revenge series and I was blown away. What a brilliant start to a psychological thriller series. It was face paced with excellent twists and turns that just had you hooked from the beginning till the end.

I highly recommend for readers of psychological thrillers this book will not disappoint!.

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This book is a slow burn but you won’t be disappointed
It has amazing character building
A great read

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Ooh this was good! So so gripping, I found myself drawn in from start to finish. Absolutely great!
My first by this author and it wont be my last.

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Faye lives with a secret, She grew up in a violent household, She then marries the man of her dreams, until that dream is shattered. She decides to get revenge, and that is where the story gets gripping and doesn't let the reader go until the very end. Recommended.

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What a gripping book

This was a very disturbing but good read.

Thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish and could not get enough of.

This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good thriller!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot, the tension -  impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

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I have been a fan of Camilla Lackberg for years and was excited to get the opportunity to read her newest book The Gilded Cage. Unfortunately the book did not live up to my expectations and I struggled to finish it.

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The Gilded Cage is a really enjoyable and tense psychological thriller. Told over multiple timeframes and in three distinct parts, the narrative grabs your attention and builds suspense effectively. This is an expertly constructed thriller, where the realities of the situation are carefully peeled back layer by layer and culminating in a thrilling conclusion. Highly recommended!

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Whopper of a story I rate it 5 stars all day long, loved Faye and enjoyed reading about her backstory and life before and after Jack, filed with friendship, love, hate, betrayal and plenty of suspense it’s a must read for 2021, get the book!!!

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I very much enjoyed this book. It has a good story and excellent main characters. I would definately recommend this book.

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I have been an avid fan of Camilla Lacksberg books thus far. I have greatly enjoyed reading her stories about Swedish characters including a detective and his writer wife that were sensitively written and held a great depth of psychological and cultural material about the Swedish way of life and culture. So it is with great regret I have to say that her latest book "The Gilded Cage" is hollywood dribble! I am very disappointed that she allowed herself to sink to such a low level. Uninspired writing from a very talented lady.

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Just when I thought it was impossible to like Lackberg more, I read this! Wow! Gripping from the start with Faye being told by the police that her husband is suspected of killing their daughter. Then we go back in time. Faye’s story builds into something completely unexpected. An intelligent woman, Faye falls for Jack Adelheim when they meet as students, and she is instrumental in helping him start Compare, that within a few years is a successful business and - now married with a daughter Juliette- the couple are set for life. Faye was happy to sacrifice her degree to support the growing business, but then one day, Faye walks in on Jack and her perfect life is shattered. Left with nothing, Faye plots revenge. Faye’s story -her violent past and those of the women she reaches out to - is brilliant and compelling! Lackerg has created a heroine who the reader can empathise with and I just loved the ending. Very clever!

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I love Camilla Lackberg and was so happy to recieve this egalley! This book was tense and gripping. There is an atmosphere to reading these books, i feel my heart rate increase and i am compelled to finish this book in one sitting.

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For fans of Camilla Lackberg’s crime series involving detective Patrik Hedstrom this will be a significant departure. The carefully structured plots and the delicate nuances that characterise those novels are conspicuous here by their absence. Whilst it is always interesting to see an author exploring new or different genres to see how their skill set matches the demands of the new context, it is probably fair to say that - in the opinion of this reader, at least - this attempt by Ms Lackberg has not met with success. Particular challenges that appeared to have been unsuccessfully met relate to:
- the pace of the novel, which was turgid at best in the first half, and handicapped in the second half by implausible and poorly explained commercial success of the lead character’s business venture;
- sexual adventures on the part of the lead character that were described in unnecessarily graphic detail and added nothing to the story - no prude here, but it was more an entry into the ‘Bad Sex’ category than a series of relevant erotic episodes;
- characters that were difficult to empathise or identify with; and
- an entirely predictable plot twist ‘revealed’ in the final pages.
Camilla Lackberg is so much better than this; if you are new to her work, don’t judge her on this book alone.

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Wow! Wow! Wow! Why haven’t I read this sooner?

If you are planing to read this book here is some advise: clear your schedule, buy some takeaway, fill your bottle of water, sit comfortably. You will not be able to stop. You won’t even think of taking a break!

This is not a fast paced psychological thriller! This is a full blown hurricane of emotions and drama, suspense! A perfect mix of everything that you will not be able to put down.
it!

The characters are so fantastically written and the plot is simply ingenious! I just needed to find out everything about Faye!

There is love, hate, betrayal, friendship...and to top it off... sweet revenge!

This was such an amazing read and so cleverly written! I can’t wait to read more books by Camilla Lackberg and make sure I read her previous books as soon as possible! If you want to lose yourself in a story and be at the edge of your seat, I highly recommend The Gilded Cage!

I would also like to thank

I would like to thank Netgalley and Harper Collins UK for an advanced copy of this great novel in exchange for an honest review.

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This one wasn't for me unfortunately. I always have such high hopes for Scandi crime and I've heard great things about Lackberg but this one missed the mark.

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Faye appears to have a wonderful life, she is the wife of a rich industrialist living in luxury but when it all crashes down Faye needs to prove her worth. From a background of violence and tragedy Mathilde has reinvented herself and she has no intention of giving up what she has fought for.
I found this book very odd. Lackberg is an excellent writing of dark Scandi-crime and this surfaces every so often in this tale. However the majority of the story is written like an airport 'bonkbuster', a litany of designer mentions and graphic sex. If that part of the tale is considered separately then the book is Jackie Collins in disguise. The problem is that fans of Lackberg will be looking for the dark heart and that almost seems tacked on as an afterthought.

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I’m a huge fan of the author’s crime novels featuring Patrik Hedström and Erica Falck. I assumed this was from the same series before I downloaded it from #NetGalley. I must admit, I was disappointed to discover it was a stand-alone title – at first. But then I started to read the book and my disappointment and doubts vanished. Läckberg takes a familiar trope – a scorned woman getting revenge and does something original with it. I didn’t know where this would go and how Faye would punish Jack for leaving her for another woman, his years of infidelity and his attempt to ruin her. The book opens in the present with the seeds of her revenge coming into bloom, though I didn’t know this at the time and moves back in time to chart the history of their marriage, his betrayal and how she claws her way out of the mess he leaves her in. This is great but I hope there’s another Patrik Hedström and Erica Falck book on the way. I was delighted when it’s revealed that Faye grew up in Fjällbacka where the other books are set.

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Umm,.no thanks. I still have some standards of decency, unlike, apparently, Ms Lackberg, whose books I used to enjoy. I didn't make it past the first few pages. I think the blurb should have given some indication of the graphic, indeed pornographic, sex scenes the unsuspecting reader will encounter as soon as she opens it. Then I could have put on my dirty mac and turned the collar up, like the dirty old men who used to sidle into the 'blue' movies in my youth...

No links - I wouldn't give this book any publicity.

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If you are keen to read this book because you've enjoyed the author's crime fiction series featuring Patrik Hedstrom and Erica Falck then you should be aware that this is a different beast indeed.

Firstly there is sex, lots of gratuitous sex . Now I'm not a prude but I do need to be introduced to the characters in books before I'm watching them do bedroom acrobatics. Secondly the character really isn't very nice. Not just in an irritating way but there is something revealed that meant that nothing could redeem her.

On top of that the plot is wholly unbelievable and I therefore struggled to remain engaged.

I would jump at the chance to revisit Sweden with this authors fabulous crime fiction series but I will pause before selecting another of her psychological thrillers.

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