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valb13's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
jobustitch's review against another edition
3.0
I think I would have enjoyed this book more in paper format rather than audiobook. It was hard to understand some of the names and places sometimes and I think I could have tracked characters better if I had read the book instead of listening to it.
All and all, a good start to the series. I like that the heroes in the book are not weird-ass, twisted, or damaged people. It's nice to read about a detective that appears like a nice guy and who lives a relatively normal existence. I think I'll continue on with this series.
All and all, a good start to the series. I like that the heroes in the book are not weird-ass, twisted, or damaged people. It's nice to read about a detective that appears like a nice guy and who lives a relatively normal existence. I think I'll continue on with this series.
boozer's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Classism, Emotional abuse, Suicide, Rape, Pedophilia, and Child abuse
thisbookishcat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
This took me on so many twists and turns and made all of my theories turn in on themselves! I definitely will continue on with this series because it feels so real and I need to know that the sonuvabitch Lucas gets the shit beat out of him at some point. If you like Swedish crime novels I'd recommend it.
ellanbellen's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
maggiebook's review against another edition
1.0
This book promised to be a gruesome murder mystery which is not my genre but it was the book club pick for this month so I decided to give it a shot. The murder mystery is lackluster and takes a back seat to the author's obvious issues with any woman not skinny and beautiful or at least working to be skinny and beautiful.
I had so many issues with this book that had nothing to do with the plot. It is the first book that I couldn't focus on because I kept wondering if the author ever had a real female friendship.
Within the first 100 pages she trashes just about every woman in the book. When a woman asked our main character how she is doing after discovering the body of a former friend. The author spends an entire paragraph explaining how this woman is over weight and how disgusting she finds her. I think the author was trying to paint the woman as a busy body or town gossip but instead she wanted us to not like her because she was over weight! Another woman's whole description is 'ugly duckling' which is the basis for her being unlovable and angry.
Our main character estimates the weight watcher points for everything she eats which I believe was to let us know that she is working to be thin so we should all admire her for this. When she goes to see the dead woman's husband she is happy that she fixed herself up before arriving as the husband is good looking. REALLY!
After 134 pages I skimmed the rest of the book to just get the mystery solved. It was anti-climatic and did not save the book for me.
I had so many issues with this book that had nothing to do with the plot. It is the first book that I couldn't focus on because I kept wondering if the author ever had a real female friendship.
Within the first 100 pages she trashes just about every woman in the book. When a woman asked our main character how she is doing after discovering the body of a former friend. The author spends an entire paragraph explaining how this woman is over weight and how disgusting she finds her. I think the author was trying to paint the woman as a busy body or town gossip but instead she wanted us to not like her because she was over weight! Another woman's whole description is 'ugly duckling' which is the basis for her being unlovable and angry.
Our main character estimates the weight watcher points for everything she eats which I believe was to let us know that she is working to be thin so we should all admire her for this. When she goes to see the dead woman's husband she is happy that she fixed herself up before arriving as the husband is good looking. REALLY!
After 134 pages I skimmed the rest of the book to just get the mystery solved. It was anti-climatic and did not save the book for me.
utahmomreads's review against another edition
3.0
This review originally posted on my blog: http://utahmomslife.blogspot.com/2011/03/ice-princess-book-review.html
A woman is found dead and frozen in her bathtub by her neighbors in a sleepy and cold seaside town. She has slit her wrists and at first it appears to be a suicide. However, the forensic teams conclude from the evidence that it is not suicide. She has been murdered.
Thus begins the murder mystery novel The Ice Princess by Swedish author Camilla Lackberg. Lackberg is intensely popular in Sweden. She has sold over 3.5 million copies of her book there. That might not seem like much until you realize that there are just over 9 million people living in Sweden. The mystery has been translated into English by Steven T. Murphy and will soon be available in paperback from FreePress.
On the cover, Lackberg's book is compared to the extremely popular Swedish mysteries written by Stieg Larsson. I haven't actually read his work yet but I've heard some good things.
I don't often read murder mysteries but I do enjoy a well developed one. I started The Ice Princess last week. I read the first 100 pages in a few hours. It got off to a great and exciting start. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I felt sure that I could have finished it that night.
However, I got bogged down in the middle section. There was too much side-story that didn't involve the investigation. While the characters of Patrick, the police detective and Erica, the discoverer of the body are well developed and their budding romance is fun, it distracted from the mystery. Apparently this book is the beginning of a series starring Patrick and Erica, so I understand the need to have more of their story.
The ending wasn't entirely satisfactory either and the truth simply spills out without much difficulty in the last few pages. For guarding a disturbing secret so carefully for so long, everyone gives it up too easily with just a little questioning.
Camilla Lackberg does create interesting and believable characters. She has a great understanding of even the so-called "dregs of society" and writes of them with compassion and sympathy. Each one of the characters in the story, no matter how minor, earns a good description with plenty of back story.
The Ice Princess is a fairly good mystery. It's certainly not the best one that I've ever read and I must admit some disappointment. I expected better.
I received a free copy of The Ice Princess from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. No additional compensation was given.
A woman is found dead and frozen in her bathtub by her neighbors in a sleepy and cold seaside town. She has slit her wrists and at first it appears to be a suicide. However, the forensic teams conclude from the evidence that it is not suicide. She has been murdered.
Thus begins the murder mystery novel The Ice Princess by Swedish author Camilla Lackberg. Lackberg is intensely popular in Sweden. She has sold over 3.5 million copies of her book there. That might not seem like much until you realize that there are just over 9 million people living in Sweden. The mystery has been translated into English by Steven T. Murphy and will soon be available in paperback from FreePress.
On the cover, Lackberg's book is compared to the extremely popular Swedish mysteries written by Stieg Larsson. I haven't actually read his work yet but I've heard some good things.
I don't often read murder mysteries but I do enjoy a well developed one. I started The Ice Princess last week. I read the first 100 pages in a few hours. It got off to a great and exciting start. If I hadn't been so exhausted, I felt sure that I could have finished it that night.
However, I got bogged down in the middle section. There was too much side-story that didn't involve the investigation. While the characters of Patrick, the police detective and Erica, the discoverer of the body are well developed and their budding romance is fun, it distracted from the mystery. Apparently this book is the beginning of a series starring Patrick and Erica, so I understand the need to have more of their story.
The ending wasn't entirely satisfactory either and the truth simply spills out without much difficulty in the last few pages. For guarding a disturbing secret so carefully for so long, everyone gives it up too easily with just a little questioning.
Camilla Lackberg does create interesting and believable characters. She has a great understanding of even the so-called "dregs of society" and writes of them with compassion and sympathy. Each one of the characters in the story, no matter how minor, earns a good description with plenty of back story.
The Ice Princess is a fairly good mystery. It's certainly not the best one that I've ever read and I must admit some disappointment. I expected better.
I received a free copy of The Ice Princess from the publishers in exchange for an honest review. No additional compensation was given.
syrudy's review against another edition
4.0
It was an enjoyable read but was it ever revealed why Alex thought she was to blame for Anders problems? She once said that if she had made a different choice that day, that he wouldn’t have been in such a bad situation but i don’t recall it ever being revealed why she Thought that. Unless the ending really just explains all that in general
nikki_in_niagara's review against another edition
4.0
The first book in a small-town crime series set in Sweden. Writer Erica returns to her childhood home and finds her childhood best friend dead in a bathtub. She and local detective Patrick work together to solve the murder made to look like suicide.
This was a quick read that was imbued with a sense of the cold found in a Scandinavian winter. I liked the main characters and enjoyed the crime. I had an epiphany moment and thought I'd solved it but found I'd only got one part of it right. The police squad room is populated with a smorgasbord of characters. An enjoyable story to a series I intent to continue.
This was a quick read that was imbued with a sense of the cold found in a Scandinavian winter. I liked the main characters and enjoyed the crime. I had an epiphany moment and thought I'd solved it but found I'd only got one part of it right. The police squad room is populated with a smorgasbord of characters. An enjoyable story to a series I intent to continue.
punkinmuffin's review against another edition
1.0
Urgh. This book was seriously over-rated. I don't know if it's the translation or the author's fault, but the writing was patchy, occasionally good but mostly barely acceptable in a published novel. The characters weren't particularly believable either. Not bothering with the rest of the series.