May 2014

I was not familiar with Camilla Läckberg, though she is an international bestselling author, which clearly means I have some “reading catching up” to do. In her latest novel, THE HIDDEN CHILD, Erica Falck is a crime writer who has discovered a Nazi medal and some diaries among the things left behind by her late mother. She brings the medal to a local history teacher, who was her mom’s childhood friend, to see what he knows of it. He reveals few details, and more questions evolve when he is murdered two days later. Her husband, Patrik Hedstrom, is on paternity leave but finds himself drawn into this case. When he wheels the stroller into the police station, Erica becomes enraged as she fears Patrik is putting their child in harm’s way. She also resents that he is not parenting the way she feels it would be expected of her, which layers in an interesting social commentary storyline to the novel.

Then another of Erica’s mother’s childhood friends is found dead. The past has lots of secrets, and as they are unearthed, Erica is learning more about the cold, detached woman who raised her. The story is brisk and tight, though the book clocks in at 400 pages. It’s set in Camilla’s native Sweden. I have been doing some reading about her and was surprised to see she is just 39 years old; for some reason, I had expected her to be older, perhaps because she was described somewhere as Sweden’s Agatha Christie. I love discovering authors like this. I think you will too.