The Girl in the Woods by Camilla Lackberg

 

Synopsis :

A MISSING CHILD…
When a four-year-old girl disappears from in the woods just outside Fjällbacka, the community is horror-struck. Thirty years ago, a young girl went missing from the exact same spot, and was later discovered, murdered.

A MURDER…
Back then, two teenage girls were found guilty of the killing. Could it really be a coincidence that one of the girls – now a world-famous actress – has just returned to Fjällbacka? Detective Patrik Hedström starts investigating, with his fearless wife, Erica Falck, by his side.

A TRUTH BURIED LONG AGO…
But as Patrik and Erica dig deeper, the truth becomes ever murkier. For centuries ago, a woman burned at the stake for witchcraft cursed the Fjällbacka families who accused her, and now it seems the past may be coming back to haunt them…

This is what I say :

This is the tenth title in the universe of Erika and Patrik of Fjallbacka.  I am happy to share that I have read all ten titles and the crime thrillers by Camilla Lackberg are all very good.  They are well written with just enough excitement and also give an opportunity to sleuth out the killer(s).

However, in The Girls in the Woods, it got a bit confusing at times and the back story of yesteryear do not really linked to the current timeline story.  The author try to justify the linkage at the final chapter but I find it rather vague. I mean she can use almost any backstory and it might have worked equally well.  If she had only linked it in earlier chapters and elaborate on it, I feel it might have worked better.  I always loved all this back stories from yesteryear from Camilla so this time round, I am super disappointed.

I also do not know her intention with the story on the refuge (maybe she just want to highlight the plight of refuges) but I can't find the connection to the story and it could have been omitted totally.

Having said that, it was a good story anyhow. It wasn't the best but it was still nice.

I think at this point, there are no other new titles under the Fjallbacka series. By the way, all her titles under this universe are stand alone titles and you can just read them independently.  However, you might then get confuse on the development of the personal stories of the regular characters  but that's quite ok. 

I will be checking out Camilla's other titles which is independent of this series soon. Stay tune!