Rolf Stenklo is murdered whilst setting up his photography exhibition. Detective Patrick Hedstrom will go to Fjallbacka to investigate. Lola was the subject of the exhibition but she died many years ago. Who killed Rolf and are there more killings to come?

Excellent novel, so we written. Well paced with lots of twists and turns before we find out who the murderer is and why they started on this path for revenge.

Highly recommend this atmospheric novel.

Based in Sweden, this story is quite complex with many different characters that take a while to become accustomed to. It is also told from 1980 and the present day. Two of the main characters, Henning and Elizabeth are celebrating their Golden Wedding with a glamorous party to which all their family and friends are invited. Henning is also excited to learn that he will soon be announced as the winner of the Nobel prize for literature.
Meanwhile we return to 1980 and follow Lola and daughter P’tite. As we soon learn of a murder that happened during the party and we also discover that Lola and P’tite died previously in a tragic fire, the question is what connects them? The story weaves its way between the two as family and associates are all possible suspects and then an even more shocking and horrific murder shakes everyone to the core. Patrik, a police officer and his wife Erica, a crime writer separately begin to make the connections and eventually a shocking finale produces all the answers.

This is the first book I have read by Lackberg so cannot compare with previous ones. Set is the present day and the 1980s was not confusing as the 1980 was clearly marked. The present day narrative was however very confusing as it had numerous characters and jumped between them without any warning. I nearly gave up many times during the first half of the book. Erica, policeman's wife seemed to be far better at solving the crime than Patrik, Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.

This was an intriguing story with a good twist. Patrick and Erica working together to solve an horrific murder and an historic cold crime. The two stories were well intertwined and it wasn’t until the gender of the child found dead in the trunk was revealed as male that I worked out where Ptite had ended up. I had been suspicious of Henning’s writing much earlier though. Although this novel is one of a series it can be read as a stand alone book with no detriment to the story line or reading experience. Lackberg’s writing is as good as it usually is and the translation into English is good too.

Having read all the previous books in the series with Detective Patrik Hedstrom and his author wife Erika Falck I was delighted to read this gripping murder mystery set in Sweden. As we read the story of the murders in Fjällbacka being investigated by Patrik and a cold case from the 1980's being researched in Stockholm by Erika it becomes obvious that they are connected. Be prepared for skeletons, shocks and surprises! Many thanks to the author, publisher and netgalley for an arc of this well written, well researched thriller, one that I highly recommend.

I've not read anything by this author before, so unable to compare how it is compared to the others in the series.
It took a while for this to get going - I believe partly due to the sheer number of characters introduced so it takes some time to remember who is who etc.
Also, I'm not sure if this was down to the format of the arc, the translation, or just how the author writes, but the jumping from one set of characters to another happens within a chapter without knowledge quite often which I'm not a fan of. I enjoyed the dual timeline aspect and that's always explained by chapter title so we know when we are.
I liked the storyline of the 80s in particular.
I did find I'd guessed a chunk of the ending before it unfolds, and I found the pace of the ending drastically different to the rest of the book, so it did feel a little rushed.
Overall I'm giving 3 stars for the elements I enjoyed. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc ebook.

When Rolf, a famous photographer, is found murdered in his gallery, Patrik is on the case to solve the murder. This is however, no straightforward case.
Patrik's wife Erika, a true crime writer, travels to Stockholm to find some material for her latest book on the cold case murders of trans woman Lola, and her young daughter.
It soon becomes clear that the cases have links, and a complicated unravelling of families, lies and adultery follows.
I love Camilla Lackberg's books. They're intelligently written and really make you think. I did take a while to work out who all the many characters were in this book, but that didn't detract from the enjoyment.

This was an unexpected blast from the past! Read this series many years ago and was delighted to read another! It took a few chapters to remember the characters, but soon it all came back to me! Erika and Patrick a strong couple who work together ( though shouldn’t) piecing things together! This book had me guessing right up until the end and an unexpected ending!

Really hoping there will be another one soon

This is my first read of this author and it was an enjoyable experience overall with some misgivings.

A Scandinavian thriller involving a murder on an exclusive island and a group of friends who hold a secret from their distant past that has come back to haunt them.

Told in two timeframes, the present and back in 1980, I felt overwhelmed in the first few chapters as character upon character appeared and my head was dizzy trying to keep tabs of who’s who.
However I soon got to grasps with it and enjoyed the ride overall with these group of characters, the settings in Sweden and how the story played out.

My only gripe, apart from the overload of characters, is the ending. Like I like a big reveal but here we have a reveal, then another and another until you felt the author panicked somewhat and threw as much at the ending as they could manage. It really took away from the experience as we are asked to swallow yet another “OMG” moment in what had been up til then a well thought out and restrained story.

So 3.5 stars from me rounded up to 4 because, despite the ending, I had a really good time reading this.

Many thanks to the publisher for offering an ARC through Netgalley.

Detective Patrik Hedström and Erica Falck are invited to a Golden Wedding Anniversary by Louise Bauer, daughter in law of Henning and Elisabeth Bauer. Louise is married to their son, Peter and stepmum to Max and William., Peter's brother Rickard is married to Tilde. Louise is the hard working assistant to Henning, who is a famous author, she and works in Blanche, a club for all forms of cultural expression. The party is full of friends old and new. On the night of the party, Rolf Stenklo is setting up a new photo exhibition and is found the next day by the cleaner. There is a dual time line - 1980 and present time and forms a part of the story where we meet Lola and her daughter P'tite and what happens to them. Erica discovers their story from Vivian Stenklo and decides to investigate for a true crime book story. The book is well written, very descriptive and all the sub plots lead to a dramatic conclusion. It is a must read book.

The Cuckoo Camilla Lackberg
5 stars

My introduction to Camilla Lackberg.

I received an email recommending this book to me as I had previously enjoyed and reviewed Nordic thrillers. I had never heard of this author but will certainly be trying to find some more of her books to read. This one is apparently the 11th book in the series featuring Detective Patrik Hedstrom and his wife Erica Falck, who, although a writer has an uncanny knack of discovering things about the crime her husband is trying to solve.

I found this book easy to read as a stand-alone and although there were quite a variety of characters I had no problem in following the plot.

The book starts with the 50th wedding anniversary of Henning and Elizabeth Bauer surrounded by all their friends and family. However there is one notable absence, their long-term friend, Rolf Stenklo who had just declined the invitation. When he is discovered in his artist’s studio murdered Detective Hedstrom is allocated to the crime. A few days later The Bauer’s son, Peter and his two young sons, William and Max are brutally shot in their home with no apparent motive.

Rolf’s latest exhibition was a series of photographs of Lola, a Trans woman, that he had known when he was young. She and her young daughter P’tite had also been murdered and the crime had never been solved. The police in those days were not really interested in getting involved in the transgender society of that day and only made perfunctory enquiries.

This scenario is just the type of situation that appeals to Erica and she resolves not only to write Lola’s sad story but also try to find out more about what really happened and what the connection is with not only Rolf but members of the Bauer family all of whom had been involved in a club, named Blanche which was ostensibly a social club promoting all forms of art.

The story is fast-paced jumping between the current case and the past and slowly pulling the threads together. I was impressed with the way the author treats the transgender situation compassionately and with empathy.

As with all good thrillers I never guessed who the culprit was until the end and then it all fell into place and also I understood why the book was called The Cuckoo. I will now be on the lookout for any new books by this author and would also like to read some of the previous ones. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

.
Karen Deborah
Reviewer for Net Galley

Erika and Patrik have been invited by Erika's friend Louise to a 60th Anniversary party in honour of her in-laws. Sometime during that evening, Rolf, a friend of the celebratory couple is shot dead in his studio whilst preparing his next exhibition. Patrik starts to investigate and Erika is given a new mystery to solve from the grieving widow. A mystery that goes back to 1980 concerning the murder of a transgender woman and her daughter that has never been solved. Meanwhile there are more murders, and Patrik and his team now have four murders on their books. Are the murders linked? Is there a link to the past?
Another well thought out book from this author. Very enjoyable.

A fast paced murder mystery with so many twists and loved the characters and the setting was lovely. I did find it hard to follow at the beginning with so many characters and flashbacks but after the first 3 chapters I was hooked and worth carrying on and thoroughly enjoyed the story. This is the first book I have read by Camilla Lackberg and look forward to reading some more.
Would highly recommend.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Oh hurrah - Erika and Patrick are back. After so long (and Lackberg's dive into not quite as good fiction), it's lovely to see them again. And the central issue they're unpicking is delightful and twisted and also quite current. Can we have the next one soon please?

A group of friends, of many years standing, who are well known in Swedish cultural society are on holiday in a seaside resort north of Gothenburg. One is a well known author - on the short-list for the Nobel prize, another is a well known photographer who is organising a retrospective collection in the gallery there. The author holds a party to celebrate his golden wedding anniversary and the next morning, when everyone has a terrific hangover, the photographer is found dead in the gallery. Can the motive for his murder lie in the content of his exhibition? More deaths will follow. Its a dark and complex story, well told which will keep you engrossed. the clue to the killer is in the title.

The book takes us to a small Swedish archipelago near the author's native Fjällbacka, where a family drama is unfolding in the presence of the author's alter ego Erica Falck who finds herself researching an apparently unconnected cold case from the 1980s.
This is a gripping book that starts slowly enough to make you care about the characters and locations, but takes off quickly, capturing the reader with fast paced action until the final crescendo and a denouement that took me somewhat by surprise. I also appreciated the caring treatment of the LGBT themes in the book and the pacing of the 1980s flashbacks.
I am a fan of mystery novels who appreciates Nordic Noir but never read Camilla Läckberg before; despite being the 11th book of a series I found it an excellent entry point to it, and I will certainly go back to read more of Erica Falck's stories.

Note: I received this book for free as an ARC from #NetGalley but the opinions above are mine and unbiased.

Having read several books by Camilla Lackberg over the years, I was keen to read her latest one. It was an enjoyable read. However I found there were so many characters introduced at the beginning, it was difficult to remember them all without getting mixed up. I also found the first part of the book quite slow. It soon speeded up though, and was hard to put down. Lots of twists kept me guessing as I raced through it. All my suspicions were proved wrong until near the end, when I did finally guess the murderer. Maybe not her best in my opinion, but still a great read. Anyone who enjoys Scandi stories will enjoy this.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC for honest review.

"The Cuckoo" reunites the familiar team of Detective Patrick Hedstrom and author Erika Falck. The plot revolves around a prestigious literature prize and a shocking murder, but it takes a while to get going.

There are a lot of characters introduced at once, and the connections between them felt convoluted at first. While things pick up later, the mystery lacked the usual Lackberg spark for me.

Fans of the series will likely appreciate the return of established characters and their backstories. There are some twists, but they weren't entirely surprising.

Overall, "The Cuckoo" was an okay read. It wasn't a bad mystery, but it didn't quite reach the heights I expected

I'm finding it hard to pinpoint why I didn't much like this book - it's similar to what I usually read and enjoy.

Things I didn't love:
- It was hard to follow all the characters, especially at the beginning
- The first third was pretty slow
- I feel like it was a bit flat throughout
- We weren't given quite enough information as readers to feel like we could guess what was happening (which is literally the fun part of reading a mystery) - there were too many times that a character learned something important and we were never given the information.
- The ending was rushed - we spent the whole book getting nowhere and it resolved in the last 10%
- (there were also formatting problems that made it hard to see when we were changing characters - something that I'd imagine should be resolved when published)

Things I did like:
- I figured out who dun it...
- The ending actually was good and wrapped up neatly

First time reading @CamillaLäckberg and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed #TheCuckoo, even though it’s book #11 in the Fjällbacka series, it can also be read as a standalone.

Set in the Swedish coastal town of Fjällbacka where Rolf Stenklo, a famous photographer, is found murdered. And two days later, on a private island, a tragedy devastates the Bauer family. Leaving the community torn apart. Detective Patrik Hedström leads the investigation. While Erica, Patrick’s wife researching a cold case makes a connection to Patrick’s current case.

The storyline is intriguing and gripping with lots of twists and turns to keep you turning the pages.
It’s very well written, descriptively so of the area, places and the past. It’s compassionate and poignant. With so much emotion.
The characters come to life on the pages. Just brilliant.
Definitely recommend. If you like scandi crime mystery thriller, you’ll love this book. It’s well worth the read.

With thanks to #NetGallery #HarperCollinsUK @HarperFiction for an arc of #TheCuckoo in exchange for a honest review.
Book publishes 23 May 2023.