Customer Reviews

Stone Cutter (Patrik Hedstrom 3)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Stonecutter" begins when a fisherman pulls young red-haired Sara's lifeless body out of the water along the coast of Fjallbacka, Sweden. At first, it appears the headstrong daughter of Charlotte and Niclas, who have just recently moved to Fjallbacka, has accidentally drowned. But the autopsy reveals that the water in Sara's lungs is not seawater, but bath water. Now Detective Patrik Hedstrom must conduct a murder investigation among warring neighbors and less-than-happy couples, as well as navigate the political backwaters of the Tanemshede Police Department, a substation of Goteberg, where his incompetent boss, Chief Mellberg, longs to return. In addition, Patrik is the new father of a baby girl and his wife is close friends with the victim's mother, Charlotte. It's all a bit overwhelming for the exhausted detective who finds the investigation has become far more personal than his previous cases.

This third title, an English translation from Swedish author Camilla Lackberg's Fjallbacka mystery series, presents a far more dense narrative landscape than the previous two novels, "The Ice Princess" and "The Preacher." The structure consists of alternating time periods that shift between a story in the past and the present-day account of the murder investigation, but the tie between the two narratives is not revealed until the end. There are also multiple side stories dealing with the lives and relationships of the various characters. Collectively, it all makes for a somewhat cluttered plot. But Lackberg knits it all together in the end. Although the killer's motivation may seem a bit preposterous, "The Stonecutter" is still a good whodunit police procedural with interesting characters, both new and familiar, in a cozy setting with more than enough mystery to go around.

This review is based on the HarperCollins digital edition.

Camilla Lackberg has conjured a Peyton Place of psycho-killers in and around her hometown of Fjällbacka, une petite ville de Suède, de la commune de Tanum, an old fishing village, now resort village, winter population 812, 165 km from Oslo, in her own trilogy now getting full publication in the states following Larsson's multi-part masterwork so well-received. The reader almost feels the luxuriance of Berlin Alexanderplatz in this series, or perhaps something by Bergman for TV in the 60s -- that other 60s -- with Lackberg's continually evolving characters.

Not exactly literary, and as a police procedural this reviewer, who acquired the book from Amazon.co.uk, defers to the genre experts, but a terrific read on the subway, all the way down the street and up the elevator.

The Stonecutter turned out to be such a tiresome read for me. It feels like the author tried to cover so many grounds in her book till she losed focus and failed to emphasis more on the thing that suppose to matter most: the mystery and the routes to solve it.

The only thing that can be found in a bundle here is the neverending emotional outburst mostly from the female characters. To read about their endless self-pity where they blame others for difficulties that they have to face is utterly exhausting. And to have this train of thoughts repeated number of times in the book is simply too much for me.

But what pained me most is the way Läckberg consistently created characters that have a brain the size of a pea and then built some absurd subplots involving them that don't seem to add anything at all to the story. It irks me that she put this seemingly ridiculous storyline upfront while neglecting to be precised and in detail about the proper police works that involved in solving the crime. How this book could be mentioned as at par with the other Scandinavian mysteries is really beyond me.

In the nutshell, I found The Stonecutter to be excruciatingly dull, slow and exhausting read. It is an ordinary whodunit book that have zero suspenseful chapters and by the end, I don't think I really care who actually the perp is anymore. One of the worst books I've ever read. Enough said.

Love the characters and the story line. Her translated writing is wonderful. Flows smoothly, is humorous at times, and characters you genuinely grow to love.

If you like Chritie's novels, this third novel by Lackberg is the one you need. She describes places, characters, personalities in such a way that you feel part of them, and of course, she knows how to keep suspense until the end.

just a note to say that that I really enjoy reading this book. I m coming at the end of the story and I ve just order the Hidden child by C.L. The first book I ve read by her was the ice princess and it was also very good!!! It is an easy reading but with an unpredictable story and interesting characters.