The Cuckoo

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.

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.

The Cuckoo sees the welcome return of Camila Lackberg's husband and wife team,Detective Patrick Hedstrom and author Erika Falck.
The plot is quite complex, famous author Henning Baur is tipped off that he's a shoe in for the Noble literature prize prior to his and wife Elizabeth's Golden Wedding Anniversary. Equally famous friend of the couple,Rolf Stenklo doesn't attend,which surprises other friends of the couple,and is found brutally murdered in his studio the following day. When another body linked to the Baurs is found Patrik investigates while Erika sees something in one of Rolf's pictures that has her looking into a long forgotten cold case.
As both investigations progress it becomes very obvious that there are many skeletons in the Baur family cupboard.

The story is quite hard to keep up with at the start as there are so many threads but it evolves into a gripping mystery with plenty of shocking events along the way.
While this can be read as a standalone it's part of a long-running series with a lot of long-standing regular characters with their own back-stories so regular readers will get more from it..........and there are some real surprises and shocks involving many of those characters.

A great read,not least for loyal fans of the series,twisty,dark, plenty of shocks and ,as ever with Ms Lackberg, very entertaining.

This is another excellent psychological thriller from Camilla Lackberg. I liked the intriguing and gripping plot which revolves around Erica's family and friends. I thought it very compassionate and poignant, especially when deaths of children are involved. Old and recent attitudes to the transgender community are are explored and there's lots of jaw dropping moments. This story will stay with me. Highly recommended.