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    The Ice Princess
    The Ice Princess
    The Ice Princess
    Audiobook15 hours

    The Ice Princess

    Written by Camilla Läckberg

    Narrated by David Thorn

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Returning to her hometown after the funeral of her parents, writer Erica Falck finds a community on the brink of tragedy. The death of her childhood friend, Alex, is just the beginning. Her wrists slashed, her body frozen in an ice cold bath, it seems that she has taken her own life. Erica conceives a memoir about the beautiful but remote Alex, one that will answer questions about their lost friendship. While her interest grows to an obsession, local detective Patrik Hedstrom is following his own suspicions about the case. But it is only when they start working together that the truth begins to emerge about the small town with a deeply disturbing past.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateOct 12, 2010
    ISBN9781615735471
    The Ice Princess
    Author

    Camilla Läckberg

    Camilla Läckberg is a worldwide bestseller renowned for her brilliant contemporary psychological thrillers. Her novels have sold 19 million copies in 55 countries with translations into 37 languages.

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    Reviews for The Ice Princess

    3.5/5

    1,081 ratings82 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was a wonderfully written mystery and I highly recommend it to any who's a fan of Scandinavian crime fiction. The plot moves at a steady pace and the story never gets boring. She's Sweden's #1 bestselling author and her next book will be published later this year.
    • 3/5
      An easy-read murder mystery - sometimes predictable, sometimes gushy romance, sometimes gruesome detail, sometimes tedious police forensic investigations and sometimes quite unbelievable; pregnancy of 10 year old rape victim, child victims murdering the perpetrator with no police report or investigation of missing person, parents adopting the baby and keeping her identity secret, wealthy grandmother paying guilt money to parents of victims but acknowledging the child in her will, more murder when the hushed up story threatens to be told ... and a suicide... and some domestic violence to round off an eventful story!
    • 4/5
      The character Mellberg was farcical, other than that a very enjoyable and reasonably quick read.
    • 5/5
      Erica Falck returns to her childhood home in Sweden after her parents deaths. While there, she stumbles onto the body of her childhood best friend. It appears that Alexandra has committed suicide in a bathtub of frozen water, slashing her wrists.Erica is bewildered: why would a beautiful woman like Alex commit suicide? Taking on Alex's parents request to write a newspaper story about their daughter, Erica joins forces with police detective Patrik Hedstrom to discover Alex's secrets. It soon turns out that some secrets can be deadly; and this one can still claim lives.I enjoyed this mystery very much. I had never read Stieg Larsson or any other Swedish author, but Camilla Lackberg was a great author to start off with. I give this book an A+!
    • 5/5
      Originally posted at: A Girl that likes booksIf you guys check my reviews, you will notice that I love Scandinavian Novel Noirs...they are just so...noir. I love The Hypnotist and Sun Storm, and, even though I didn't review it in this blog, I'm a fan of the Millenium Trilogy.Part of it is because I dream of going to Sweden and hopefully doing my PostDoc there, but also because so far I have not been disappointed with this genre. At the same time all of this books had been quite different, at least in the way they build their suspense.In this book, Alex a childhood friend of Erica (one of the main characters) is found dead, and this triggers a lot of revealing of deep secrets. The first chapters are opened by a couple of pages written in first person, but most of the book is written in third person, jumping from one character to the other, but all in the same mesh.In the first pages you know it wasn't a suicide (well, you kind of knew from the summary, didn't you?), but no only for the medical examination, but because of how Alex is described Alex was fragile [...] An inner strength is required for someone to decide to take her own life. She didn't have that kind of strenght Harsh words, don't you agree? but trough the book you will realize that they are not necessarily true.As you dig deeper in Alex's life and the people around them you keep discovering more and more secrets, and every time you think you have the killer...well, you don't.There was a couple of twists that I saw coming...but at the same time, I kept telling myself -"No Caro, you are just far fetching too much, that just doesn't add up"- And surprise...it did!It was different, the tiny stories around the main one kept me wanting to know more about the side characters, and that's the main reason why I really want to read the sequel. Also, because it was well written. I never know how much is lost or gain in translation (I keep wondering the same thing about 1Q84 ) but since I don't speak fluent Swedish yet, we will stay with the premise that is very good writing/translation team.So, did I like the book? YES! I did, I took it with me to New York recently, and I was actually sad about being so tired that I could not read one single page. If you like this genre, this is definitely one saga to follow.
    • 4/5
      A fairly violent Nordic mystery. A writer gets caught up in the murder of a childhood friend and along the way comes across unsolved cold cases that relate to the current crime.She is also dealing with her sister and a brother-in-law who is violent and abusive. She becomes involved with the local police in attempting to solve the case, one in particular.The Nordic mysteries are typically not cozy, comfy reads but take on uneasy and at times violent twists and turns but they do hold one's interest. I gave this one a 4 star rating out of 5 and recommend it if you want to read a good mystery uninterrupted.
    • 3/5
      a good mystery. love the icy background and the insight into all the different characters!
    • 1/5
      One of the worst mysteries I’ve ever read. The reader never has the chance to participate in solving the mystery because the clues are not revealed until after the investigation is complete.The point of a mystery novel is to let the reader try and solve the mystery with the clues they are given; if you take away that element it’s not a mystery novel.When an an assault occurs (I assume to show how evil a character is) it is never followed up, it’s as if it never happened. The person assaulted it not affected by it and never tells anyone about the incident. She should have been traumatized and used it as a clue to her sister’s odd behavior. There are many other problems, but I’ll end with the writing is dull and I skimmed the last 50 pages….cannot recommend.
    • 3/5
      A popular writer is murdered in the opening pages. The rest of the book is left to a detective and a former friend of the murdered woman to unravel the secrets of this small town in Sweden.
    • 4/5
      The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg is the first book in a Nordic mystery series as well as being the author’s debut book. While this book is not as well written as some other Nordic mysteries by the likes of Jo Nesbo, Mari Jungstedt or Henning Mankell, the story grabbed my attention and I enjoyed the read. Set in the smaller town of Fjallbacka that was originally a fishing town and has become a tourist town, the main characters are an author who has been specializing in biographies and a police detective.Erica Falck has returned to her home town due to the death of her parents. She is enjoying the peace and quiet and has been working on her latest biography, when she becomes involved in the discovery of a childhood friend’s body. It is soon made clear that this was a murder and Erica wants to not only get to the bottom of the mystery of what happened to her friend, but also can see a book about this mystery in her future. Police Detective Patrick Hedstrom, is also a childhood friend and he is excited to be able to rekindle their relationship. Although I thought the police procedures were rather lacklustre, I can see a lot of possibilities for the future of this series. While this particular mystery was rather tidily wrapped up as family secrets were revealed, the author has managed to generate a number of other subplots that I am hopeful she will be exploring in the future. As a debut novel, this one kept my attention and gave me hope that future volumes will be even better.
    • 1/5
      Ice Princess by Camellia Lackberg I have a lot to say about this book.

      It is a very good story that is not told very well. I found it unconvincing as a detective story. The detectives do not seem very bright or even like detectives at all. I saw no glimpses of deductive logic, more a case of contrived stumbling over clues.Some of the characters are clichés, the fat leery head detective had no aura of truth or authenticity at all. The rich wicked widow was likewise unconvincing. The head detective was a waste of story space and the rich wicked widow was a lost opportunity as she is a key character in the story.Either I lost the timeline or the author did at least once.And what is that thing with revealing the existence of certain clues but not revealing the clues themselves?

      For example: At least twice if not more the author has one of the main characters find a piece of paper with writing on it and thinks to themselves, words to the effect of, "this changes everything", but does not tell us the readers what those words are.

      WTF is that? Obviously we see that these clues are ultra significant but they are not revealed until many pages later.Unless I am mistaken, I thought that the job of the author was to leave clues in plain sight and leave us to work out the significance or otherwise of them, assuming that we are sharp enough to spot them in the first place. We should get to be full participants in the unfolding tale and it is the author pitting their wits against ours. Anything less is patronising.And detail, floods of irrelevant details. When Patrik goes into the female assistant's office there is half a page of detail about the interior decor which not only adds nothing but actually detracts from the flow of the story. I don't think I am being picky either. This was a constant scenario throughout the book. I have seen this tactic used in historical novels to good effect as it builds a picture that adds texture to the main story. But here it is simply annoying.Is there anything more unsatisfying than loose ends in a story. The character of the controlling abusive brother-in-law is built up to the point where the downtrodden wife and kids eventually leave him after he breaks his daughter's arm. But that's it. We have been lead to knowing that he doesn't stop until he gets what he wants and will stop at nothing until he gets it. The story of the murder finishes before the end of the book and I was waiting for the evil brother-in-law to rear his ugly head but no! Nothing. Nada. So what was the point of the evil brother-in-law? The sister could have just appeared for any reason. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with dead ends in the plot to throw us off the scent but this was yet another pointless diversion that detracted As I said at the beginning of this rant it is a very good story that is not told very well and I will stand by that. This could have been a really good read.
    • 4/5
      THE ICE PRINCESS: A NOVEL is written by Camilla Lackberg and translated by Steven T. Murray. This title is Book #1 of Ms. Lackberg’s Patrik Hedstrom (Fjallbacka) series.Erica Falck returns to her hometown of Fjallbacka (Sweden) after her parents’ death in order to pack up her childhood home and contemplate the future. Erica also finds the dead body of long-ago childhood friend, Alex Wijkner, nee Carlgren. Alex is suspended in a bathtub of frozen water with her wrists slashed. Erika teams up with police detective Patrik Hedstrom to uncover very shocking events from Alex’s (and the town’s) past.THE ICE PRINCESS is very suspensefull with a many-layered plot and interesting, tragic, characters. There are dark secrets kept hidden for decades in this seaside town; excellent writing; a very engaging couple - Patrik Hedstrom & Erica Falck; a helpful map of the town of Fjallbacka (an important character in its own right); and noir, Scandanavian noir at its finest and darkest. The translation is excellent and I was able to find a used paperback copy through Amazon Marketplace.A real page-turner, not to be missed.
    • 4/5
      Small town life in a cold climate, with crime. The deaths are complex enough to keep that aspect of this book interesting, the characters are complex, but in the ways that have now been the fashion for some time. Some of the questions that puzzle the central character are pretty obvious to a modern reader, and it's hard to tell if that could have been the author's intention.
    • 4/5
      This is the second crime novel by Lackberg that I have read and I enjoyed it as much as the first. The characters are vividly portrayed, and the solution to the crime keeps you guessing to the end. A good read.
    • 3/5
      I had some quibbles with this Scandi crime. I thought the police supervisor was too one-note of a foil, and the various mystery points too obvious. But it was a good read, and I'll look out for more of Lackberg's books, as the main characters and setting are very well drawn.
    • 3/5
      The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg illustrates the beauty and bleakness of Sweden. The names of the various characters caused moments of confusion, as the names do not follow the easy American pattern. Lackberg inserts many “red herrings” as to whom murdered Alex. The relationships of the individuals uncover a gamut of personalities. Lackberg brilliantly shows the good, bad, and ugly of both male and female characters. The personality of the murdered woman, Alex, lacks a little punch, as the reader does not discover the “real” Alex in the story. What really happened to the young Alex? The story turns down a darkened alley on many characters before the exposing the killer. Did Lackberg tire of the story and bring the saga to an abrupt end?
    • 4/5
      "A psychological thriller by No.1 bestselling Swedish crime sensation Camilla Läckberg. Returning to her hometown after the funeral of her parents, writer Erica Falck finds a community on the brink of tragedy. The death of her childhood friend, Alex, is just the beginning. Her wrists slashed, her body frozen in an ice cold bath, it seems that she has taken her own life. Erica conceives a memoir about the beautiful but remote Alex, one that will answer questions about their lost friendship. While her interest grows to an obsession, local detective Patrik Hedstrom is following his own suspicions about the case. But it is only when they start working together that the truth begins to emerge about the small town with a deeply disturbing past."The first in this series, I liked the two main protagonists, flawed though they are, but none of the other characters are redeemable. And, strangely, I figured out most of the mysteries (there are several interwoven) before the end. Still, I liked the book a lot. And I am not alone. Winner of the 2008 Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, France's most prestigious award for crime fiction. I look forward to seeing where this series goes.
    • 3/5
      I thought I'd try a new Scandinavian author and I did enjoy the book. I found the messed up characters and their families more entertaining than the actual mystery.
    • 3/5
      Writer Erica Falck is back in her Swedish hometown, Fjällbacka, to sort through her parents’ effects after their sudden death. As the result of being the wrong place at the wrong time, she is the first to discover the body of her childhood friend, Alex, in a frozen bath in a freezing house. This brings her back into contact with Alex’s family and with an old schoolmate, Patrik Hedström, who is now a policeman. As Erica learns more about Alex’s life, she determines to write a book about her old friend to make sense out of the tragedy. And as she spends more time with Patrik, their interest in each other quickly develops into intimacy. Erica also must come to terms with her sister, Anna, and brother-in-law, Lucas, and their desire to sell her parents’ home for the money it would bring in. Erica has sentimental ties to the home and can’t imagine living anywhere else.I quickly fell in love with the setting for this novel (and for future books in the series). The characters are likable. The plot and pace had some weaknesses. Most of the revelations at the end of the book didn’t have their intended shock value for me because I had figured them out early on. However, what most frustrated me was the information that was withheld from the reader. Erica or Patrik would discover a significant piece of information, but that discovery is withheld from the reader for dozens of pages. All in all, it’s not a bad first effort at a crime novel, and I’m curious to see where the series will go from here.
    • 4/5
      4 StarsThis book is one I found, randomly. By that I'm referring to those books that you pick up because they look cool or perhaps you're just browsing shelves online or otherwise and happen to randomly pick up a book. I found the Ice Princess online and the blurb sounded interesting and there you go. I ordered it and quite a few others (they were all discounted). Google picked a random number for me after I numbered the books. Here we are. With all that useless information shared I give this book 4 stars. I wanted to give it 4.5 but then remembered just how annoyed I was with her LONG VERY LONG chapters. This book was a bestseller in Sweden where the author resides and was translated by Steven T. Murray.Murder mysteries, I think it's fair to say, are a favorite genre of mine and this book did not disappoint. Except, like I said above, this author writes super long chapters. I prefer many short chapters for two main reasons. One they create natural and easy breaks while reading to go do something else (by necessity or otherwise) or absorb the story thus far. Two, they make reading seem faster, easier even. Camilla however wrote this book in 6 (SIX) chapters and it's 389 pages. One of the shortest chapters - the last one - is 16 pages. The longest chapter, Chapter 5 is 189 pages, yes 189 pages for one chapter. Sure there are paragraph breaks in there but IMHO 40-50 pages is too long for a chapter, never mind 189. I find it tiring. Perhaps, I hope for her sake, this was an editing error due to being translated…?HOWEVER, I still enjoyed this book. Camilla Lackberg's characters are well-written and believable though I think it wouldn't hurt to put a little more into some of the main characters instead of spreading the love around to so many. On the flip side I liked that there were so many different people in this story. It keeps the reader following a lot of moving parts (like life) without being TOO MUCH. There are a lot of sketchy questionable characters which make mysteries more interesting when done well, like I think she did.The little bit of romance might feel cliché and obvious but I didn't feel it detracted from the story (although it almost did, but I let it go). Her characters I thought acted true to life and I wasn't left shaking my head thinking oh come on who would actually do that or oh my gosh how could she miss that. I also appreciated all the internal insight of the characters. This was a story with a lot of character and content. While that's a pro it was also a con because I think there are a lot of scenes in the story that it could have done without. These scenes didn't so much drag the story down as they often do but it threatened to and made it a much longer and sometimes slower read than it needed to be. Which combined with super long chapters could be irritating for someone who wants a fast-paced quick read. But the story itself was very satisfying - personally the reveal let me down a bit, half-flat, but it still felt natural - interesting and dark. I'd venture to say it wasn't original but it was unique in its finer details. I do recommend this book to murder mystery fans especially if you're patient or a fast reader. This is the first in her series with Detective Patrik Hedstrom. At the end of this book there is a chapter from the next in the series, which I will be picking up.
    • 3/5
      3.5*

      I think that it is a sad commentary on the times and my reading that the big "shocker" in this Swedish mystery was something that I guessed early on though I never did figure out the murderer.

      I liked Erika and Patrik but the chapters were much too long (6 chapters in 400 pages) and each contained multiple sections from different points of view. I would rather have lots of shorter chapters!
    • 3/5
      An apparent suicide doesn't add up for writer Erica Falck and investigating police detective Patrik Hedstrom. The autopsy shows their suspicions are correct--Alex was given sleeping pills before being dragged to the bathtub where her wrists were slashed. As the investigation moves along, one of the suspects, who originally was cleared but whose alibi didn't check out upon further inspection, is found hanging in his apartment. It's a case where the investigator finds himself going back to square one more than once. Child abuse is an underlying theme in things relevant to the case and to the people surrounding the writer and detective. It's a good start to the series, but not the smoothest reading. I'm not sure if the problem lies in the translation or the actual novel. I'd still be interested in pursuing further installments to see if the series improves as I like the setting.
    • 3/5
      The book draws the characters very well, slowly bringing everything together for the final reveal. it did seem that the ending was not very plausible nor did it really answer the "why" of the murder. Overall, it was well-paced and engaging. I would be willing to try more in the Fjallbacka series.
    • 4/5
      This is a very good murder mystery. Set in Sweden, a suicide looks like a murder and a murder looks like a suicide. Intrigued? in the mood for a mice love story too? Hi e this one a try!
    • 3/5
      Having recently read The Stonecutter (the third book in this series, which I really enjoyed) I decided to start at the beginning and work my way through the series. Although The Ice Princess was an easy, relatively engaging thriller, there were times when I found it rather meandering and lacking in form. It was almost as though the author was trying too hard to build up her cast of characters for future books in the series, at times to the detriment of the development of the plotting of this one. I did appreciate her evocative descriptions of the small seaside town of Fjallbäcka, and of a Swedish winter – I really could feel the bone-chilling cold. I also enjoyed her exploration of complex family relationships, dysfunctional behaviour and various social issues which are somehow magnified in small, insular communities. However, I think that had I read this debut novel prior to The Stonecutter I probably wouldn’t have been tempted to seek out the other books by this author. However, as I know that the writing, the character development and plotting gets much better, I’m pleased that I read the books out of sequence because I now feel motivated to move on to The Preacher, the second book in the series.
    • 3/5
      Lackluster debut novel l that I rate as average. I had many issues with the way this story was told: stringing along the reader with clues, the intrusive romance between Erica and Patrik, too many side characters, and some terrible dialogue, or perhaps just bad translating. I'm not sure, but taken altogether The Ice Princess didn't turn out to be the riveting Scandinavian thriller I'd hope for. Plot wasn't terrible but quite predictable except for one or two twists. I won't be reading more of this author.
    • 5/5
      An outstanding mystery novel. There were several different scenarios that one could form as to who killed Alex and Anders; but none as good as the authors. Fantastic character development -- each and every character described so they were incredibly distinct in the readers mind. She has an incredible ability to evoke visual imagery with virtually every setting. A real joy to read.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed this, I found it really gripping. It kept me guessing right to the end about the murderer's identity.
    • 4/5
      The last book I read that was recommended for 'fans of Stieg Larsson' (by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir) - well, I really didn't 'get' the connection. However, here, the back cover makes that same recommendation - and I'd have to agree. I felt that both the 'feel' of the book, and the mystery's gradual unpeeling of layers of secrets, was very similar to Larsson's methodology, over and above the Swedish setting.

      The small town of Fjallbäcka doesn't generally have much crime. When the body of a young woman is found in a frozen bathtub, her wrists slashed, the immediate assumption is that it's an uncomplicated suicide. Certainly, the lazy police inspector, exiled to the boonies due to his incompetence, has no desire to investigate more than he has to. But the dead woman's long-estranged childhood friend, Erica, motivated mostly by the desire to write a book about the incident, together with a detective with a childhood crush on her, team up to discover that there was far more behind this death than first guessed.

      This was Läckberg's first novel; I'd definitely read more by her.
    • 4/5
      This is a gripping read and a great crime story. I love the bleak, icy setting of Fj'llbacka, a small, Swedish, seaside town - the perfect place for a thriller. The characters are varied and well-developed, and Lackberg covers a number of issues including family relationships, child abuse, adultery and domestic violence. Gradually the reader learns more about the secrets that the townspeople have hidden over a number of years until the shocking truth is revealed. With twists and turns throughout this is an engaging read from start to finish.