"Criminal inspector Leonore Asker seems to have the leading position at Malmö’s Major Crime Division within reach. But things go awry when, in the middle of a high-profile kidnapping case, management relegates her to the so-called Department of Lost Souls—the unit for odd, cold cases banished to the basement of the police station.
Despite the humiliation, Asker is drawn into one of the more peculiar cases. Someone is placing small ominous figures in town and one of them seems to represent the missing woman from the kidnapping case. As Asker’s investigation takes her to abandoned buildings, she reaches out to a local architecture expert and together they explore the sinister recesses of the city and discover that an unusual kind of evil lurks in the shadows."
What Worked for Me
The characters in this read were incredibly well developed and intriguing. I loved how many different people and personalities we got to meet and see how they are connected with Asker or the case. We get some fantastic details about their individual wants and drives. I think de la Motte does a great job of really getting the reader invested in Anders and the other characters as well. I found myself rooting for different characters at different times while reading which was great. I find sometimes these police procedurals really only focus on developing the main character and maybe one or two others and everyone else feels like cardboard cutouts. This was not the case in this read and I'd be happy to follow any one of the many characters in the upcoming books.
The investigation was incredibly compelling and I loved how it developed from a seemingly small and unimportant type of crime. The way de la Motte was able to expand the investigation in a very logical and interesting way from that small beginning nugget was truly impressive. I was very interested in the entire investigation and didn't find it lull in the middle like some other books do. The pacing was on point and we had just enough pauses to recap the investigation that the reader could stay up to date and have a little breather but didn't lose too much momentum.
The killer was really interesting both in the style of kills as well as their psychology and background. I always love a complex killer in these types of reads rather than just your garden variety psychopath. We do get to see the killer's POV in the book which was very well done and the killer had a great character voice. I also liked how Asker works out a lot of details about the killer which lead to multiple suspects so it was fun to try and sort out who is the killer.
What Didn't Work for Me
Since this was the first book in a series, we were being introduced to many characters and the start of many different plot threads that will span across multiple books. I found this a little frustrating because I was so intrigued but ended up feeling like these were sort of put to the side. I know book #2 in the series will expand on one of these side characters and we will get more of these threads tied up with that book and I hope that trend continues with other books in the series. But as a standalone read, these threads ended up feeling a little abandoned and unfinished.
This was a bit of a longer read at 464 pages and while I had a great time reading, I did feel like some of the flashbacks weren't really necessary. They did explain more about Asker's personality and background and they end up sort of coming into play in the later investigation but they really seemed mostly to set up book 2 plot. Since these parts didn't really directly contribute to the current investigation, I did find myself wanting to skim through these portions.
Overall, this was exactly what I want out of Nordic mystery/thrillers and I'm excited to have a new series to look forward to.
Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Publication date was January 30, 2024
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