Scan barcode
A review by pattieod
The Stonecutter by Camilla Läckberg
1.0
So I'm reading this book randomly taken from the "New Books" shelf at the library and about a quarter of the way through, I thought "I haven't read anything this badly written since ....what was it? Oh, right, that other Swedish book...." and I checked the Author profile, and yes, she was the person who wrote the last book I read that was this badly written. From that point, I just skimmed.
As with "The Ice Princess", most everyone outside the main detective is a one dimensional character. I'm guessing the author has a really miserable mother or mother-in-law, because the older women characters are particularly Grimm's Fairy Tale Evil Stepmother. Each character has been assigned one character trait - ex: the Lazy Colleague, who we know is lazy, because he's always playing video games at work. That's it - everyone gets just one attribute, just like in a Grimm's Fairy Tale.
Another reviewer referred to it as "duct-taped together", and I think she meant it as a compliment. I would agree with the description, but I do not mean it as a compliment. Each chapter begins with part of a story from the past of an purely-evil rich girl (a Lackberg favorite trope), and I figured out pretty early on where she was going with that one. One of the sub-plot attempted murders was pretty much telegraphed. Didn't really care about the main murder.
If you're a fan of good writing, complex characters, and a solid mystery, this book is not for you.
As with "The Ice Princess", most everyone outside the main detective is a one dimensional character. I'm guessing the author has a really miserable mother or mother-in-law, because the older women characters are particularly Grimm's Fairy Tale Evil Stepmother. Each character has been assigned one character trait - ex: the Lazy Colleague, who we know is lazy, because he's always playing video games at work. That's it - everyone gets just one attribute, just like in a Grimm's Fairy Tale.
Another reviewer referred to it as "duct-taped together", and I think she meant it as a compliment. I would agree with the description, but I do not mean it as a compliment. Each chapter begins with part of a story from the past of an purely-evil rich girl (a Lackberg favorite trope), and I figured out pretty early on where she was going with that one. One of the sub-plot attempted murders was pretty much telegraphed. Didn't really care about the main murder.
If you're a fan of good writing, complex characters, and a solid mystery, this book is not for you.