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A review by batrock
The Drowning by Camilla Läckberg
3.0
After the better-than-average adventures of The Hidden Child, Camilla Läckberg returns to her normal schtick in this, the sixth entry in her more-than-competent crime and domestic drama series. The seeds for the crime in this one were planted in the previous novel, particularly given that the normal linkages between these novels exist solely in the realm of the personal.
The thing is that the crime this time is straightforward, but the solution is outlandishly close to pop-psychology, the sort of thing that you'd see in a briefly popular mid-nineties movie thriller. Läckberg has always done the dual narratives thing, and this one isn't particularly arresting: the identity of the unnamed parallel protagonist is pretty much impossible not to immediately guess, and the "child reacts to emotional abuse and neglect by overeating" device has already been used in this series. The twists aren't so twisty at all, just kind of strange, even desperate - sensationalism rather than well plotted crime is never a good way to go.
On the personal front, Patrik spends the whole book being pale and Erica spends all of her time failing to be properly communicative. It's good that Erica has something to do, but it's better when these people work as a team. There's no real instance here where acting as a tighter unit would have changed the outcomes for the better, although it doesn't make any sense that no one reads the central author's novel until just before the end.
While Erica and Patrik are relatively strong, the rest of the police force suffer. Mellberg's adventure isn't an adventure at all, but a brief epilogue to his last one. Martin, Gösta, Paula and Annika are going through the motions - their lives are happening in the background, but Läckberg has nothing interesting to say about them this time around.
Unfortunately for me I didn't make much of the final passage until my aunt complained about it. My original interpretation made it seem like it wasn't about much, but a shift of perspective makes it much more important. Läckberg could perhaps have stood to be clearer - or I could have stood to be smarter.
Anyway, this isn't top-shelf Läckberg, but it will do.
The thing is that the crime this time is straightforward, but the solution is outlandishly close to pop-psychology, the sort of thing that you'd see in a briefly popular mid-nineties movie thriller. Läckberg has always done the dual narratives thing, and this one isn't particularly arresting: the identity of the unnamed parallel protagonist is pretty much impossible not to immediately guess, and the "child reacts to emotional abuse and neglect by overeating" device has already been used in this series. The twists aren't so twisty at all, just kind of strange, even desperate - sensationalism rather than well plotted crime is never a good way to go.
On the personal front, Patrik spends the whole book being pale and Erica spends all of her time failing to be properly communicative. It's good that Erica has something to do, but it's better when these people work as a team. There's no real instance here where acting as a tighter unit would have changed the outcomes for the better, although it doesn't make any sense that no one reads the central author's novel until just before the end.
While Erica and Patrik are relatively strong, the rest of the police force suffer. Mellberg's adventure isn't an adventure at all, but a brief epilogue to his last one. Martin, Gösta, Paula and Annika are going through the motions - their lives are happening in the background, but Läckberg has nothing interesting to say about them this time around.
Unfortunately for me I didn't make much of the final passage until my aunt complained about it. My original interpretation made it seem like it wasn't about much, but a shift of perspective makes it much more important. Läckberg could perhaps have stood to be clearer - or I could have stood to be smarter.
Anyway, this isn't top-shelf Läckberg, but it will do.