The Preacher by Camilla Lackberg

Synopsis :

During an unusually hot July, detective Patrik Hedstrom and Erica Falck are enjoying a rare week at home together, nervous and excited about the imminent birth of their first baby. Across town, however, a six-year-old boy makes a gruesome discovery that will ravage their little tourist community and catapult Patrik into the center of a terrifying murder case.

The boy has stumbled upon the brutally murdered body of a young woman, and Patrik is immediately called to lead the investigation. Things get even worse when his team uncovers, buried beneath the victim, the skeletons of two campers whose disappearance had baffled police for decades. The three victims’ injuries seem to be the work of the same killer, but that is impossible: the main suspect in the original kidnappings committed suicide twenty-four years ago. 

When yet another young girl disappears and panic begins to spread, Patrik leads a desperate manhunt to track down a ruthless serial killer before he strikes again.


This is what I say :

Hot on the heel of The Ice Princess, I was quick to dive int the world of The Preacher.  The Preacher would be the second title in the series that feature some rather interesting but down to earth characters like Patrik and Erica who has since gotten married after The Ice Princess.

Timeline wise, The Preacher took place about a year or so after The Ice Princess.  It's a totally new storyline so if this is the first book that you are reading, it's fine.  It wouldn't lessen your enjoyment of this investigative thriller.

There's some family relations that was pretty complicating for me which I need to map out in my mind which you can map out on a piece of paper if you choose to to help you follow the story.
   There's also a couple of funny moments that lighten up the story especially about visiting relatives who overstayed their welcome which perhaps could be the author's way of trying to inject a bit of humour into the otherwise dark murder title or perhaps it's also her way of 'humanizing' the characters.

All in all, I loved it and even though it's the third book by this author that I have read, I am still enjoying this series and actually looking forward to the forth book.

However, I think I should stop here for the time being and explore other authors for variety sake instead of yet another title by Camilla Lackberg but no promises.  Let's see how it goes!