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thequeenoftoads's review against another edition
3.0
6/10
"The Crow Girl" is a dark, gritty, slog of a book.
The story begins with the discovery of the mummified body of a young boy and follows the subsequent investigation run by DS Jeanette Kihlberg (which I was pronouncing wrong in my head the entire time). Not only does she have to deal with rampart sexism and corrupt politics, she also has to work her way through a messed up marriage and a possible new romance. Refusing to give up on the case, and seeing connections most others are choosing to ignore, she brings in psychologist Sofia Zetterlund to help. What they discover is shocking and runs deep into the core of their worlds.
The book is a trial to get through, full of repetitions. On the surface that can be it down to the fact this was originally three books, combined into one for the English edition. In reality it made the story drag to the point that I almost have up on it.
The mystery at the heart of "The Crow Girl" is what kept me reading. I was dubious at first because 'the twist' seemed obvious and when it came it was about a quarter of the way through the book. I wondered how they would be able to to keep the story going for another four hundred plus pages. Turns out they could.
What this Swedish duo is good at is tying everything up and having it make sense. When I was starting to think everything was a little convenient and convoluted, they had another reveal which changed everything AND made sense. There are several reveals through the book, all but one of them making sense (the timeline seems a little off for one of the threads).
The ending isn't satisfying, but it's (sort of) realistic given the circumstances in the book.
I'm not one for trigger warnings, but I will say that there are a lot for this book. It is DARK and cruel and depressing.
If you can get through the repetitions the underlying story is worth the read.
"The Crow Girl" is a dark, gritty, slog of a book.
The story begins with the discovery of the mummified body of a young boy and follows the subsequent investigation run by DS Jeanette Kihlberg (which I was pronouncing wrong in my head the entire time). Not only does she have to deal with rampart sexism and corrupt politics, she also has to work her way through a messed up marriage and a possible new romance. Refusing to give up on the case, and seeing connections most others are choosing to ignore, she brings in psychologist Sofia Zetterlund to help. What they discover is shocking and runs deep into the core of their worlds.
The book is a trial to get through, full of repetitions. On the surface that can be it down to the fact this was originally three books, combined into one for the English edition. In reality it made the story drag to the point that I almost have up on it.
The mystery at the heart of "The Crow Girl" is what kept me reading. I was dubious at first because 'the twist' seemed obvious and when it came it was about a quarter of the way through the book. I wondered how they would be able to to keep the story going for another four hundred plus pages. Turns out they could.
What this Swedish duo is good at is tying everything up and having it make sense. When I was starting to think everything was a little convenient and convoluted, they had another reveal which changed everything AND made sense. There are several reveals through the book, all but one of them making sense (the timeline seems a little off for one of the threads).
The ending isn't satisfying, but it's (sort of) realistic given the circumstances in the book.
I'm not one for trigger warnings, but I will say that there are a lot for this book. It is DARK and cruel and depressing.
If you can get through the repetitions the underlying story is worth the read.
gldnhaze's review against another edition
4.0
Also irgendwie hat es gedauert, bis dieses Buch wirklich interessant für mich wurde. Aber ich bin froh, dass ich durchgehalten habe. Zunächst dachte ich ja, die Autoren hätten den Überblick über ihre Charaktere verloren, als auch Sofia plötzlich anfing, über Tante Elsa zu erzählen und wegen anderer kleiner Details. Die wirkliche Wendung hat mich dann aber umgehauen. Dass Johan am Schluss auch zum Opfer wurde fand ich allerdings ein wenig zu klischeemäßig und von der Idee eben nichts Neues mehr.
sleeka's review against another edition
5.0
A heavy read but somehow I couldn't stop turning the pages.
olivettaa's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
doobyus's review against another edition
4.0
This was an intense and, at times, uncomfortable read. That being said, it was pacy, extremely well plotted, full of twists, well resrarched, and kept me hanging till the last page.
jugglingpup's review against another edition
2.0
To see more reviews check out MI Book Reviews.
I read this book solely because it fit a requirement (Nordic noir) for a reading challenge. This is not really my genre. I have read a book and a quarter of a popular series, but it didn’t really do anything for me. I read a horror book in the same vein. I didn’t expect to like a book close to those again. This book is a jumbled mess in my mind and heart.
The book follows a great number of characters, but they may or may not all be the same person. This books takes the unreliable narrator idea really far. One of the main narrators has Dissociative Identity Disorder (the actual name for Multiple Personality Disorder). When that character is diagnosed the term was MPD, but the psychologist diagnoses her with DID, which annoys me. This annoys me even more when the authors refer to another character was a hermaphrodite, which is just as much an outdated term as MPD, but is worse because it is a slur. The correct term is intersex. So the authors fall pretty darn short of caring about queer characters. They are used more as a “men are awful, lets turn to women” idea and as some pretty nasty characters. There is no positive queer representation despite multiple queer characters.
The book is SUPER graphic. I was in physical pain from anxiety by the end of this book. My chest was tight, I felt nervous. It is not for the faint of heart. It isn’t for those that get triggered by violence, sexual violence, rape, drugging someone to rape them, child rape, incest, child abuse, fighting children like a dog fighting ring, alcohol abuse, suicide, murder…I could keep going. Pretty much if you are triggered by anything that has to do with trauma then this book is not for you. The book is so graphic about everything that it just is safer to avoid than try. The child rape scenes are so graphic that I am surprised that it passed American censors. This makes every other book I have ever read look warm and fuzzy.
The plot was interesting, but the ending fell super flat. The first 700 pages had me gripped tight. I had put sticky notes every fifty pages so I could force myself to finish it before it was due back at the library. Instead I found myself finishing the book in just a few days, not the sixteen I had planned for. That ended around page 700 though. The last bit where most of the loose ends are tied up and the murder is revealed is so tedious to get through. I was left with a few unresolved questions, some of them were big enough that it detracted from the story. Otherwise the ending felt rushed and forced. The unreliable narrator and the constant red herrings were just gratuitous. The book easily could have been a few hundred pages shorter and had a better ending from it.
So if you like super long mysteries that go with the unexpected, just because that character really isn’t in the book at all then great, this is for you. If you like violence against children and sexual violence against children, please get off this blog, this book probably is for you. If you want a story that doesn’t rely on gore and shock to get you to enjoy it, don’t bother. If you want a story that has a satisfying ending that helps you sleep after all the horrible things it put you through, don’t bother.
I liked the book, but I am also terrified of this book. I don’t want to recommend it, but there are people who I know will like it because they have been desensitized to the horrors of that this book presents due to their jobs, but I won’t recommend it to people randomly. I will make many warnings clear if it is ever brought up. I already made one of my more anxious friends aware that she should never even go to the page of this book on GoodReads because it will cause her to have a panic attack. This book is that much.
I read this book solely because it fit a requirement (Nordic noir) for a reading challenge. This is not really my genre. I have read a book and a quarter of a popular series, but it didn’t really do anything for me. I read a horror book in the same vein. I didn’t expect to like a book close to those again. This book is a jumbled mess in my mind and heart.
The book follows a great number of characters, but they may or may not all be the same person. This books takes the unreliable narrator idea really far. One of the main narrators has Dissociative Identity Disorder (the actual name for Multiple Personality Disorder). When that character is diagnosed the term was MPD, but the psychologist diagnoses her with DID, which annoys me. This annoys me even more when the authors refer to another character was a hermaphrodite, which is just as much an outdated term as MPD, but is worse because it is a slur. The correct term is intersex. So the authors fall pretty darn short of caring about queer characters. They are used more as a “men are awful, lets turn to women” idea and as some pretty nasty characters. There is no positive queer representation despite multiple queer characters.
The book is SUPER graphic. I was in physical pain from anxiety by the end of this book. My chest was tight, I felt nervous. It is not for the faint of heart. It isn’t for those that get triggered by violence, sexual violence, rape, drugging someone to rape them, child rape, incest, child abuse, fighting children like a dog fighting ring, alcohol abuse, suicide, murder…I could keep going. Pretty much if you are triggered by anything that has to do with trauma then this book is not for you. The book is so graphic about everything that it just is safer to avoid than try. The child rape scenes are so graphic that I am surprised that it passed American censors. This makes every other book I have ever read look warm and fuzzy.
The plot was interesting, but the ending fell super flat. The first 700 pages had me gripped tight. I had put sticky notes every fifty pages so I could force myself to finish it before it was due back at the library. Instead I found myself finishing the book in just a few days, not the sixteen I had planned for. That ended around page 700 though. The last bit where most of the loose ends are tied up and the murder is revealed is so tedious to get through. I was left with a few unresolved questions, some of them were big enough that it detracted from the story. Otherwise the ending felt rushed and forced. The unreliable narrator and the constant red herrings were just gratuitous. The book easily could have been a few hundred pages shorter and had a better ending from it.
So if you like super long mysteries that go with the unexpected, just because that character really isn’t in the book at all then great, this is for you. If you like violence against children and sexual violence against children, please get off this blog, this book probably is for you. If you want a story that doesn’t rely on gore and shock to get you to enjoy it, don’t bother. If you want a story that has a satisfying ending that helps you sleep after all the horrible things it put you through, don’t bother.
I liked the book, but I am also terrified of this book. I don’t want to recommend it, but there are people who I know will like it because they have been desensitized to the horrors of that this book presents due to their jobs, but I won’t recommend it to people randomly. I will make many warnings clear if it is ever brought up. I already made one of my more anxious friends aware that she should never even go to the page of this book on GoodReads because it will cause her to have a panic attack. This book is that much.
826conner's review against another edition
2.0
Way too long.
Back and forth chapter after chapter with the same stories.
Not really easy to follow
Maybe the translation, maybe just the writing.
Disappointing
Back and forth chapter after chapter with the same stories.
Not really easy to follow
Maybe the translation, maybe just the writing.
Disappointing
butterfly2507's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, wartet mal, was?
Ich hab ja schon erzählt dass ich mich so langsam gefragt habe, wann und wie das denn endet. Und dann endet das mit so nem Cliffhänger? Wie wird Jeanette darauf reagieren? Ich will weiterlesen, ja, aber es hat mich nicht so vom Hocker gerissen, dass ich das nächste Buch jetzt direkt anfangen muss..
Ich hab ja schon erzählt dass ich mich so langsam gefragt habe, wann und wie das denn endet. Und dann endet das mit so nem Cliffhänger? Wie wird Jeanette darauf reagieren? Ich will weiterlesen, ja, aber es hat mich nicht so vom Hocker gerissen, dass ich das nächste Buch jetzt direkt anfangen muss..
havdic's review against another edition
2.0
To start off, this took me forever to finish. I was indeed busy at times but the book/story slowed me down a bit, was hard to read and get through at times. Not to mention my edition/version of the book was nearly over 800 pages long... I didn’t know there were three separate books put together in one. Anyways, I was very excited to read this. It was actually a recommendation from a friend on Instagram, and when I heard it’s a psychological thriller/crime, I couldn’t resist; one of my favorite genres.
This story is definitely one of a kind and nothing like I’ve read before. I liked some of the characters, the twists (!!!!) and police/investigational work, but, to be honest, the underlying topic that the story revolves around—sexual abuse and the psychological trauma that follows, left me speechless and at times I couldn’t handle to read through.
I’ve always been, and still am a huge fan of psych thrillers, I love reading about mental health, psych trauma, etc, and expanding my views, but I wasn’t expecting this book to go into such detail about sexual abuse (within family and surrounding individuals) and psychological trauma the way it did to the point where I don’t think I appreciate it, unfortunately. I was so close to just putting it down and forgetting about it, but I kept reading and reading... and the ending was so disappointing to me. Not what I had anticipated, to say the least. It felt very abrupt and unfinished; I wish there were more to the story just to get that satisfaction.
This story is definitely one of a kind and nothing like I’ve read before. I liked some of the characters, the twists (!!!!) and police/investigational work, but, to be honest, the underlying topic that the story revolves around—sexual abuse and the psychological trauma that follows, left me speechless and at times I couldn’t handle to read through.
I’ve always been, and still am a huge fan of psych thrillers, I love reading about mental health, psych trauma, etc, and expanding my views, but I wasn’t expecting this book to go into such detail about sexual abuse (within family and surrounding individuals) and psychological trauma the way it did to the point where I don’t think I appreciate it, unfortunately. I was so close to just putting it down and forgetting about it, but I kept reading and reading... and the ending was so disappointing to me. Not what I had anticipated, to say the least. It felt very abrupt and unfinished; I wish there were more to the story just to get that satisfaction.
april_golden's review against another edition
4.0
Rounded up here. I’d give this 3.75 stars if possible. I’ve read that this was originally published as three separate books and when translated to English, consolidated to one. You can certainly tell because IT IS LONG. It didn’t necessarily feel like it could have been heavily edited without losing some vital or interesting part of the story, but it felt incredibly long. That’s really my biggest complaint, and I’m not sure it could be changed all that much.
Story wise, I’d call this “approaching Nesbo.” Similar way to tell a story (chopped up, several points of view, kind of confusing at first and then when you think you understand, everything is flipped) and the pacing was good, just not Nesbo good. It reminded me of one of his early novels pace wise, while more like his later ones in its writing style and themes.
Subject matter warning: this book includes a lot of physical and sexual abuse involving children. It does so very well, I think, but nonetheless, that’s a crucial part of the plot.
Overall, good read!
Story wise, I’d call this “approaching Nesbo.” Similar way to tell a story (chopped up, several points of view, kind of confusing at first and then when you think you understand, everything is flipped) and the pacing was good, just not Nesbo good. It reminded me of one of his early novels pace wise, while more like his later ones in its writing style and themes.
Subject matter warning: this book includes a lot of physical and sexual abuse involving children. It does so very well, I think, but nonetheless, that’s a crucial part of the plot.
Overall, good read!