A review by dominic_t
The Stranger by Camilla Läckberg

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.0

This was another great installment of this series. The mystery was done really well and she did a great job building the tension as the book got closer and closer to the end. The twists took me entirely by surprise, and I really didn't have a clue how it was going to end.

I did have a couple of issues with the book that detracted from the score a bit.

First, the storyline with Mellberg.
I understand that we aren't supposed to like Mellberg or empathize with him. All the descriptions of him are super mean-spirited and focus on him being gross or arrogant. I started out feeling uncomfortable with his romantic storyline because I didn't really care about him, but by the end, I felt like the storyline did a lot to humanize him. And then it turned out that his "girlfriend" was just a scam artist who took him for his life savings. The reveal was awful. It really felt like we were supposed to be laughing at him. I just think the book would have been better without that.


And now, let's talk about the killer.
Or killers, I should say. I didn't see this coming at all, but I can see in hindsight the clues I missed. Very well done. I just wish we heard more from Hanna's perspective. We don't really know how she felt about what Lars was doing or how involved she was. Was she just going along with it? Was she enthusiastic? We see snippets of her relationship with Lars, and it's tense. They feel distant from each other, and it's clear in hindsight that the constant murdering is taking a toll on their relationship.  But it's just not clear if it's their shared trauma driving a wedge between them or if they disagree about their path forward in life. The other cops make assumptions about Hanna's level of involvement, but nothing is really confirmed.


The cliffhanger at the end is interesting, but it was super corny in execution.
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