A missing child When a four-year-old girl disappears in the woods just outside Fjllbacka, the community is horror-struck. Thirty years ago, a young girl went missing from the exact same spot, and was later discovered, murdered.
A murderBack then, two teenage girls were found guilty of the killing. Could it really be a coincidence that one of the girls now a world-famous actress has just returned to Fjllbacka? Detective Patrik Hedstrom starts investigating, with his wife, bestselling crime writer Erica Falck, by his side.
A community torn apartBut as Patrik and Erica dig deeper, the truth becomes ever murkier, because it seems that everyone in the tight-knit community is hiding something. And soon, the residents must confront the fact that they could be harbouring a murderer in their midst.
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[It was impossible to know what sort of life the girl would have had] ***(HarperCollins, 22 February 2018, ebook, 600 pages, ARC from publisher via NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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The Girl in The Woods is a cracking read. Läckberg is one of my favourite crime writers.
Like all of Läckberg's novels, the plot of this book is much more than the sum of its parts. The threads of the story are twisting, both light and dark, stretching back in time hundreds of years.
This is a book about many things; a missing girl, murder, witchcraft, the collective fear of the unknown when refugees take up residence in an area and the darkest secrets held in human hearts. The author does a brilliant job of slowly revealing all the complex intricacies of what really happened to Nea in the present and Stella thirty years ago.
This book is a bit darker at the end than other books by the author. Both crimes are solved but at a terrible price. How will things in Fjllbacka return to semblance of normal? There is also a tragic cliff-hanger involving Erica's sister Anna.
