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lit_with_leigh's review against another edition
3.0
One sentence review: Another Honda Civic Reliable Nordic Noir
SYNOPSIS
Seven months after a troubled mother disappears, her body is found brutally beaten in a cave. Elma and her team are tasked with tracing the shaky steps of the original missing persons investigation to find the killer. And as they do so, revelations about the deceased and her daughter come to light.
MY OPINION
Another solid HRC addition to this series. And would ya look at that: I read them in order! I'll be grabbing #3 once it goes on sale ( update 12/13 it went on sale! Snatched! ) I quite enjoy this series, even though it doesn't blow me away. In a way, the blandness of the characters and their neutral personalities are what make these reads reliable. Surprise, surprise but NOT being annoyed af at characters (especially if I can't stand the alleged protagonist), makes my reading experience so much better.
But on the flip side, the lack of character depth is what really holds this book back from being great. It's been a year between cases, but nothing has happened in their personal lives. Elma continues to whine about her frayed relationship with Dagny and the subtle, but blossoming, relationship between Elma and Saever went nowhere?? The lack of progress wasn't really addressed either; Elma just said the tension dissipated. How sway?? You can't just go from silently holding hands on a beach to NOTHING happening, not even a lil awkward convo about WHY things can't move forward?? There's not often such a long gap between cases in a series, so the absence of character growth over such a significant period of time was kinda ?????
While I enjoyed this book more than #1, the setup was VERY similar. You've got a troubled woman with hella secrets who moved away from Arkanes but ended up back there and dead. You've got flashbacks and kids being weird. It was sorta like she took the same cookie recipe but swapped out chocolate chips for white chocolate chips lol.
Like the first book, the flashbacks were my favourite part. I'm obvi not a mother, but I absolutely empathized with the unnamed narrators struggles with postpartum depression and newfound motherhood. I can't imagine how emotionally and physically difficult it is to incubate a baby for 9 months and then feel absolutely nothing but contempt for it. And to really have no control over these feelings. Really sad shit. So yeah, big TW for this.
Now, my main rich homie qualm is the twisty twist wasn't foreshadowed enough. There weren't any clues about the unnamed narrator, their identity was just suddenly revealed. In fact, the author could've been like yeah the unnamed narrator is Ivanka Trump and you'd be like ight, I can't really argue with that because there wasn't any evidence of the contrary. If the twist had been more subtly foreshadowed, I would've been more impressed with the reveal.
The ending was... meh. After the twisty twist in one of the flashbacks, the author went full spoon-feed mode and the rest of the novel her telling you how everything came to be. Not a fan. Also one of the reveals made me hella uncomfy :/
PROS AND CONS
Pros: juicy case, great flashbacks (very emotional), switzerland neutral characters that won't annoy you LOL
Cons: the twisty twist wasn't foreshadowed enough to make it bangerlicious, romantic storyline was literally yeeted and then picked back up on the very last page... wut
SYNOPSIS
Seven months after a troubled mother disappears, her body is found brutally beaten in a cave. Elma and her team are tasked with tracing the shaky steps of the original missing persons investigation to find the killer. And as they do so, revelations about the deceased and her daughter come to light.
MY OPINION
Another solid HRC addition to this series. And would ya look at that: I read them in order! I'll be grabbing #3 once it goes on sale ( update 12/13 it went on sale! Snatched! ) I quite enjoy this series, even though it doesn't blow me away. In a way, the blandness of the characters and their neutral personalities are what make these reads reliable. Surprise, surprise but NOT being annoyed af at characters (especially if I can't stand the alleged protagonist), makes my reading experience so much better.
But on the flip side, the lack of character depth is what really holds this book back from being great. It's been a year between cases, but nothing has happened in their personal lives. Elma continues to whine about her frayed relationship with Dagny and the subtle, but blossoming, relationship between Elma and Saever went nowhere?? The lack of progress wasn't really addressed either; Elma just said the tension dissipated. How sway?? You can't just go from silently holding hands on a beach to NOTHING happening, not even a lil awkward convo about WHY things can't move forward?? There's not often such a long gap between cases in a series, so the absence of character growth over such a significant period of time was kinda ?????
While I enjoyed this book more than #1, the setup was VERY similar. You've got a troubled woman with hella secrets who moved away from Arkanes but ended up back there and dead. You've got flashbacks and kids being weird. It was sorta like she took the same cookie recipe but swapped out chocolate chips for white chocolate chips lol.
Like the first book, the flashbacks were my favourite part. I'm obvi not a mother, but I absolutely empathized with the unnamed narrators struggles with postpartum depression and newfound motherhood. I can't imagine how emotionally and physically difficult it is to incubate a baby for 9 months and then feel absolutely nothing but contempt for it. And to really have no control over these feelings. Really sad shit. So yeah, big TW for this.
Now, my main rich homie qualm is the twisty twist wasn't foreshadowed enough. There weren't any clues about the unnamed narrator, their identity was just suddenly revealed. In fact, the author could've been like yeah the unnamed narrator is Ivanka Trump and you'd be like ight, I can't really argue with that because there wasn't any evidence of the contrary. If the twist had been more subtly foreshadowed, I would've been more impressed with the reveal.
The ending was... meh. After the twisty twist in one of the flashbacks, the author went full spoon-feed mode and the rest of the novel her telling you how everything came to be. Not a fan. Also one of the reveals made me hella uncomfy :/
PROS AND CONS
Pros: juicy case, great flashbacks (very emotional), switzerland neutral characters that won't annoy you LOL
Cons: the twisty twist wasn't foreshadowed enough to make it bangerlicious, romantic storyline was literally yeeted and then picked back up on the very last page... wut
tyr2607's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
katarina_11's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
books4annie's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
kiramke's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
3.5
Good, but the ending was a bit unsatisfying and abrupt. I feel like there were notes that should've been more sinister that fell a little flat. Also not thrilled about yet another story hitting those 'very rare' crimes. (You know, the ones that happen far less frequently based on actual records and evidence, but certain people assert they occur all the time and that's why it's necessary to oppress certain other people.)
nodogsonthemoon's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
jules_july's review against another edition
challenging
dark
tense
4.5
Zurück in Akranes
4,5 von 5
In "Verlogen" nimmt Eva Björg Ægisdóttir uns wieder mit nach Island, genauer Akranes.
Dieses Mal ermitteln Elma und ihr Team erneut in einem Mordfall, der viele Geheimnisse bereit hält und mitreißend ist.
Genauso mitreißend ist der Schreibstil. Er ist authentisch und unaufgeregt. Wenige Details reichen um eine besondere Atmosphäre aufzubauen und das raue Island darzustellen.
Dazu kommen die wechselnden Perspektiven, die für Abwechslung sorgen und bis zum Ende nicht zu viel verraten, allerdings auch Verwirrung stiften, sodass am Ende ein "Aha!" Moment entsteht.
Dies ist ihr hervorragend gelungen, denn immer wieder war ich am rätseln wer was gemacht haben könnte.
Man verdächtigt jeden und doch den falschen?
Aufmerksam lesen ist angesagt.
Aber ob man dann schneller den Mörder findet als Elma und ihre Kollegen?
Um den Überblick, bei den ganzen Protagonisten, zu behalten, hilft das Personenverzeichnis am Ende des Buches weiter. So weiß man immer wer wer ist und besonders bei den isländischen Namen ist es hilfreich.
"Verlogen" ist ein Island Krimi, der durch psychologische Finesse heraus sticht und besonders für die kalten und dunklen Tage geeignet ist.
Ich freue mich definitiv auf den nächsten Band und kann es kaum erwarten wieder mit Elma und Sævar zu ermitteln.
erisch's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
mpr2000's review against another edition
4.0
Since the beginning the title of the book intrigued me “Girls Who Lie”, because, haven’t we all lied once?
So, it will not be difficult to feel connected one way or the other with this story and their characters; the victim Maríanna, her daughter Hekla or the main investigator of the case, Elma. Which one you’ll choose?
This is a book to remember that we all have secrets and some of them are so dangerous that can kill us. But most importantly, this is a story about motherhood, a mysterious woman will share her diary with us; the need to connect with her daughter but how she feels a burden instead. Who is this mysterious woman and daughter related to the story? And then we have the relationship between Maríanna and Hekla; distant, cold… she left 7 months ago with just a note and now her body appeared in the caves… It’s a suicide or someone killed her?
There are so many possible suspects that it will be impossible to not make your own guesses and stories while you are reading the book.
I’ll admit that I don’t know what part of the story intrigued me most, the mystery from the past, the one from the present or Elma’s life. They are all cleverly presented and written that it is impossible to stop reading page after page till the end.
Are you ready to be one of the “Girls Who Lie”?
So, it will not be difficult to feel connected one way or the other with this story and their characters; the victim Maríanna, her daughter Hekla or the main investigator of the case, Elma. Which one you’ll choose?
This is a book to remember that we all have secrets and some of them are so dangerous that can kill us. But most importantly, this is a story about motherhood, a mysterious woman will share her diary with us; the need to connect with her daughter but how she feels a burden instead. Who is this mysterious woman and daughter related to the story? And then we have the relationship between Maríanna and Hekla; distant, cold… she left 7 months ago with just a note and now her body appeared in the caves… It’s a suicide or someone killed her?
There are so many possible suspects that it will be impossible to not make your own guesses and stories while you are reading the book.
I’ll admit that I don’t know what part of the story intrigued me most, the mystery from the past, the one from the present or Elma’s life. They are all cleverly presented and written that it is impossible to stop reading page after page till the end.
Are you ready to be one of the “Girls Who Lie”?
balthazarlawson's review against another edition
3.0
The body of a woman, who has been missing for seven months, is found in a lava field. Elma and the team had investigated the disappearance and now question if they had done all they could the first time around. It's a slow process to check old information and uncover new evidence but Elma suspects not everyone is telling the truth and didn't the first time around.
All the time we are given diary type entries from someone we don't know but are lead to believe is the victim. It takes us down another path but doesn't really tell anything other than the back story of one of the characters. The truth about this person is only revealed when Elma finds the truth in the present.
I kind of find this style frustrating at times as it's just full of misinformation and is so open to interpretation as to be confusing.
It wasn't a bad read overall but the ending was inconclusive for me and again it was left so open for the reader to interpret.
All the time we are given diary type entries from someone we don't know but are lead to believe is the victim. It takes us down another path but doesn't really tell anything other than the back story of one of the characters. The truth about this person is only revealed when Elma finds the truth in the present.
I kind of find this style frustrating at times as it's just full of misinformation and is so open to interpretation as to be confusing.
It wasn't a bad read overall but the ending was inconclusive for me and again it was left so open for the reader to interpret.