Camilla Grebe | AFTER SHE'S GONE

Plot (via Goodreads):

A woman vanishes in the middle of the night, leaving behind a diary that may hold the key to finding her--and to solving the murder she was investigating when she disappeared, in this thriller from the writer at the "front rank...of Nordic noir" (Kirkus Reviews).

In the two years that have passed since psychological profiler Hanne Lagerlind-Schön survived an attempted murder, she and investigator Peter Lindgren have rekindled their love, and a recent extended vacation in Greenland seems to have eased the symptoms of her early onset dementia. But when the pair is called back to Sweden to investigate a cold case involving the murder of a young girl whose remains were found in a cairn ten years earlier, the icy winter conditions and stress of the job take their toll, and she feels her mind beginning to slip. Desperate not to lose her job--or worse, Peter--Hanne begins keeping a diary, meticulously chronicling everything she's worried about forgetting.

As Hanne and Peter get closer to solving the case of the murdered girl, they both suddenly go missing. The local police have no leads. The only witness is a teenage boy who sees a woman get into a strange car in the middle of the night but, guarding a secret of his own, he is unable to come forward. The boy, Jake, discovers the notebook Hanne left behind, and reads her notes, fascinating by the unfolding murder case until he makes a shocking realization: his own father was a key suspect in the investigation. Jake becomes determined to uncover the truth on his own. 

Hanne reappears days later, with no memory of where she's been--or who she is. Without her notebook, she is lost and terrified, driven by a single thought: find Peter.

Review:

After finishing The Ice Beneath Her, I was immediately ready to see what Camilla Grebe would come up with next. When I read the synopsis to After She's Gone, I was prepared to continue this story and felt that I needed to know what happened next in this fictional world of Peter and Hanne. Looking back, I wasn't prepared for what was I signed myself up for.

This novel opens with not one, but two creepy scenes that left me anxious for nightfall and eager to lock my doors and throw away the key. The way that Camilla Grebe is able to turn a novel into an atmospheric playground for her readers is exceptional and at times almost too much. Adding in some violent and eerie scenes to compliment her ability to write one hell of a setting is the perfect catalyst for some hypnotizing reads. I will say I found the setting and the plot to this one more enjoyable, but I found the plot was a little more heavy with the police procedural aspect compared to its predecessor.  This one was definitely different from The Ice Beneath Her, but still the perfect follow up - even if it was slower paced. The plot was more complex and featured characters that were so uniquely written that I still found it to be as enjoyable but much more character driven.

One thing I did enjoy was how this one followed up on the relationship between Peter an Hanne and the continuation of their story as much as it was a crime fiction thriller. The combination of this as well as the introduction to some new characters peaked my interest and kept me invested in the story even though at times it was a little slower than what I was expecting or desiring. Throughout the novel, I was enjoying the characters a little bit more than I was the story and yet by the end, I was completely invested and found that again, Camilla Grebe wrapped up everything in a violent and harrowing conclusion that left me in awe and a little afraid for book number three.

Special thanks to Ballantine Books for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 3.5/5