This was my first read from Camilla Lackberg, a Swedish author, which I actually grabbed from one of my many visits to the used bookstore.

The Girl in the Woods is novel following the investigation of a recent death of a four year old girl in a small, Swedish town. While tragic enough, even more concerning and intriguing aspect of this case is that it seems to be a repeat of history - years ago, another four year old girl was found dead, in the same forest area. While the previous case had been closed, the recent homicide makes detectives call into question whether that case indeed saw justice. Is this a repeat from the same offender that they didn’t catch before?

I always enjoy reading from authors outside of Canada and America. Particularly with European authors, I find their writing style, level of detail, and just overall plot development offer much more depth than what I often consume in my “go to” reads.

That being said, this read did exactly that. While it wasn’t a quick read (being just shy of 800 pages), it was really interesting how Lackberg curated so many different characters and journeys that eventually intertwined. Throughout the novel I often found myself wondering “how are these connected?” which kept me reading.

I have a few other Lackberg novels go get through so I’m definitely interested to see how those compare.