Sara Blædel | THE KILLING FOREST

Plot:

Following an extended leave, Louise Rick returns to work at the Special Search Agency, an elite unit of the National Police Department. She's assigned a case involving a fifteen-year-old who vanished a week earlier. When Louise realizes that the missing teenager is the son of a butcher from Hvalsoe, she seizes the opportunity to combine the search for the teen with her personal investigation of her boyfriend's long-ago death . . . 

Louise's investigation takes her on a journey back through time. She reconnects with figures from her past, including Kim, the principal investigator at the Holbaek Police Department, her former in-laws, fanatic ancient religion believers, and her longtime close friend, journalist Camilla Lind. As she moves through the small town's cramped network of deadly connections, Louise unearths toxic truths left unspoken and dangerous secrets.

Review:

Obviously, after finishing Blædel's THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS, I was eager to dive into Blædel's second series in the Louise Rick saga. I was not disappointed. This one was even more interesting than the first as I felt that there were so many different things unrelated (and related) to the plot of the first one that I was eager to find out if they were ever mentioned again or even worth remembering. I was not let down. The plot to this one is not only as dark and complex as the first, but it almost read as a Halloween episode of your favorite show due to it's flirtation with folklore and also by kicking things up a notch in the creepy atmospheric aspect. This one was even better than the previous novel and I couldn't believe how quickly the pages were flying by as I was once again held captive by Blædel's amazing writing and storytelling ability.

Many characters from her previous novel return in this one, while some are just lingering in the background or only told by mention. Not to spoil anything, but I really missed the presence of Hanne in this one as I found her character to be such a great comedic relief in the previous novel. While the previous novel wrapped things up extremely well, this one also ties into the events from the previous novel, but also spins its own wickedly delicious plot and built its own core mystery to be solved...and what a mystery it was! I loved having the character perspective of not only Louise and Camilla, but also adding in Sunne who is front and center of this novels creepy web of a towns dirty secrets. His character was not only vulnerable, but smart (especially for his age) and added in that unique perspective of what a teenager would be going through in not only his situation, but with the chaos, violence and murder that surround him. This was not only effective to the plot, but his character was brilliantly placed and did not disappoint.

I would definitely consider the plot to this one to be more direct and just as complex, if not more than the previous novel. While Blædel doesn't hold back with the violence and extreme creepy factors, I loved that this one featured most of its scenes in and around the forest that it almost is its own character. Blædel did not take the easy route that I often fear to happen in a series. Sometimes, I stick away from series as I find some authors have a generic outline or timeline they use with their novels. Person is missing or mudered, introduce a ton of red herrings, catch the killer, live happily ever after...until the next novel. This one was written so much differently than the previous novel, even with how Blædel introduces the mystery, backstory(s), and old and new characters. I loved how she kept certain storylines from THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS that may or may not have been key to that investigation, but they certainly pop back up in this one and I loved every single minute of it. Blædel has a talent for really navigating her reader through a multitude of different storylines and subplots that not only ultimately come together in the end, but can tie into each other in ways I would have never guessed. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who is a crime fiction fan such as myself. Once again (in one weekend, mind you) Blædel has blown my mind and taken me on a thrilling and terrifying ride that I won't be forgetting anytime soon.

Special thanks to Hachette for providing me with not only this novel, but the third one released in the United States...THE LOST WOMAN which I will be reviewing immediately.

Rating: 5/5