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The old man was checking the house. The lady who owned the house gave him the key. But the moment he went in, he knew that something was wrong. Checking the rooms , he went into the bathroom. A woman was there in the bath tub, veins cut, naked. Blood everywhere. Leaving the house in panic, he met another neighbor, Erica, and took her in the house to show her what he had found. The body was Erica’s childhood best friend Alexandra, the owner of the house. She was lying there in the white bathroom covered with blood, beautiful like an ice princess.
Alexandra had everything. Great marriage, money, job, happiness. Why would she kill herself? Why would she kill herself like that, cutting the veins, when she was afraid of blood?
Her best friend Erica decides to find out what really happened. The local inspector who works on the case is a friend of her. Long time ago he was in love with her. Can old flames sparkle again?
The main character here is Erica. She is a writer who writes biographies for famous women in the history. Telling the story for Alexandra is her big chance to write a real novel inspired by true facts. In the name of their friendship, she starts a research to write the story for real Alexandra, not like some journalist would do. But truth sometimes hurts. The investigation digs out some things buried in the past. Alexandra wasn’t what everyone else was thinking. She had double life, a life with another childhood friend, with a missing person, with possible murder, with many secrets. Some things should stay in the past.
The story centers around two characters. On one side there is Erica with her personal life, her family relationships, her best friend and her love life. On the other side is Alexandra, married, having a lover, pregnant. But that is just the surface. Under that there is a victim of sexual abuse, a secret buried deeply in the past that has consequences today. As the investigation goes by, the secrets from the past start to arise.
As a huge fan of Scandinavian thriller, I couldn’t put his book down. It’s my first Camilla Lackberg book, but it sure won’t be the last. I really liked that the main character Erica is a little bit different than the other main characters of crime books. She has pretty normal life and she is not alcoholic. The police inspector is a supportive character here. This story has everything: child abuse, domestic violence, secret lovers, revenge. A real page-turner.
My opinion: 4 / 5