RATING: VERY GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
Wow!! What a wonderful novel! I have suspicions about who the killer was before the resolution, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions.
Patrik realises that the common element between Marit’s and Rasmus’s death is the page torn from Hansel and Gretel fairytale. When Annika calls other police stations, she discovers that there are two other similar deaths: one of a persistent alcoholic and the other a devout Catholic woman. Patrik and Martin go and talk to the police officers, and Elsa’s priest, but they don’t shed any light. When Patrik tries to find more about the book the torn pages come from, he learns that it is an old fairybook, but the librarian realises that there is a page missing, so Patrik thinks that there is a fifth victim.
When Sofie, Marit’s daughter, brings the article that she found among her mother’s things, Patrik finds the common element. Marit was involved in an accident years ago, as a consequence of which someone died, and she had been drinking. This is what made her become a teetotaller. The same happened to the other three people; they were all involved in an accident while drinking, and someone died.
Then it is Gösta who comes closer to discovering the truth. As he studies the photographs and documents of all the cases, he notices an almost imperceptible name at the bottom of one of the fairtytale pages. The owner of the book seemed to have written her name on another page and her name was also marked on the following page. The name is Sigrid Janson, and when Patrik tries to find information, he discovers that the woman also died in a car accident, and the person driving the other car was Elsa. Patrik realises that this is the most important case, and he also finds out that there were two children with Sigrid in the car, who were unhurt, but the surprising thing is that everybody claimed that Sigrid had no children, and the autopsy showed that she had never been pregnant.
Then Patrik gets a call from a police officer from a very small village. The man had been away on holiday, and only now has he learnt about Patrik’s enquiries. This officer tells him that a man in the village was also killed in the same way, and what astonishes Patrik is to learn that the man was Barbie’s father, and the policeman tells her that he was shocked to learn that the girl had died, and he also mentions that Barbie, who was ten at the time, claimed to have seen a man when her father died. Now Patrik realises that Barbie’s murder is also connected, so the person who killed Marit and the others also killed Barbie.
Gösta also comes up with a theory that proves to be right as well. He remembers a case years ago in which two children, twins, drowned. Their mother reported their deaths, but no bodies were found, and there was a woman who claimed that the children hadn’t been with their mother. Gösta tells Patrik that the mother is a neighbour from a nearby island and is well-known because she is an alcoholic. When Gösta and Patrik go to see the woman, she is out drunk, but Patrik makes strong coffee and the woman grandually comes to. Her ramblings are barely comprehensible, but she starts talking about a woman with a pearl necklace, and the woman admits that she gave her children to her because she had promised to look after them. Later she felt ashamed and that is why she claimed that the twins had drowned.
The last clue that leads Patrik to the murderer is when they are checking the owners of Galgo Español as hairs of this kind of dog were found on Barbie’s body. Gösta notices that there is a missing name as when he first checked them, there were 160 and now there are only 159. When they find the name, it doesn’t ring any bells. Yet, Patrik remembers, and when she checks some papers in her desk, he realises that he knows. So moments later he brings his team to speed. He explains about the two siblings, and he reveals their identities. It was Hanna and her alleged husband, Lars, who actually is her brother. When Patrik watched the CCTV of the night Barbie was murdered, there was something that he found strange, but now he realises that it is the fact that Hanna was phoning someone at 3 a.m, and they guess she must have been talking to Lars. Patrik also informs that the towns where all the victims were killed match the places where Hanna had worked. And the name that Hanna removed from the list of dog owner belongs to the man who hired her the house where she and Lars live. So everything points at Hanna and Lars as killers of all these people because the woman who looked after them was killed by a drunk driver. Patrik tells the team to be discreet so that Hanna won’t be alerted. Yet, Annika tells them that Hanna, who had been feeling unwell and was off sick, had called, and Annika had thought she should know what was going on, so she had told her about the twins and the mother.
When Patrik and the others go to find Hanna and Lars, they are gone, so they realise that they must have gone to find their real mother. When they reach the island and the man’s cottage, Lars comes out of the place, holding a gun against Hanna’s head, threatening to kill her. The police officers have to get rid of their guns as Lars steers Hanna towards the shore, followed by Patrik. Without releasing his hold on Hanna, Lars explains that after losing the woman who had looked after them, even though she kept them isolated from the world, Lars and Hanna knew they had to get rid of those drunkards that hurt the world. We know that they have also killed their real mother as Patrik and the others had seen the poor woman tied to a chair, tape covering her mouth, and a hole on the tape through which they forced her to drink to death.
When Lars finally got Hanna to the boat, Patrik could see that they couldn’t start the boat because the police officer in charge of their boat had removed the fuel from the twins’ boat. Patrik keeps saying that they should give themselves up as there was no way out. Lars lets the boat with the current, which Patrik knows won’t take them far, and then to his shock Lars draws Hanna closer, and Hanna takes his hand, which holds the gun, and brings it closer to her head and pulls the trigger. Seeing his sister dead, Lars follows suit and he also shoots himself, and both siblings fall into the sea. What a terrible end.
The tragedy at the end is counteracted by the description of Patrik and Erica’s wedding, which is lovely. Patrik is so moved by his bride and his own happiness that he even cries. They have a wonderful day, and during the reception they also discover that Anna and Dan now are an item as they find him making out in the garden of the restaurant.
Patrik and Erica have put off their honeymoon a few months so it will be better when Maja is a few months older. Yet, Patrik has a couple of days off after the wedding, and that Monday when they are cuddling on the sofa together, Erica starts talking about her mother. Throughout the novel she has expressed her dissatisfaction at the way her late mother treated her and Anna. Elsie – that’s her mother’s name – was always cold and aloof, and she feels that there were two Elsies within her, the mother and the introspect woman. What Erica intends is to find out more about her mother as she doesn’t even know where she came from or what relatives she had. Patrik suggests that the attic has some things that belong to her parents, but Erica thinks that the boxes were her father’s. Yet, encouraged by Patrik, she decides to check, so they leave the comfort of the sofa and climb into the attic. There are several boxes and as Erica thought, they all belong to her father, but then Patrik discovers a chest. Inside, Erica is surprised to find all the pictures and crafts that she and Anna made when they were children, and there are also many photographs of them. This is really shocking because Elsie had never been affectionate, and Erica and Anna had always thought that their mother didn’t care about them, but this shows that they were more important for her than she let on. Then the last thing she finds is a piece of cloth. The cloth is full of blood mark and as Erica unfolds it, she and Patrik discover a medal with a swastika. Wow! What an ending! I wonder what the Nazis had to do with Erica’s mother. Why was she always so distant with her daughters? Is her past the reason why she was so aloof? I imagine that this will be important in the following book.
Apart from the case and Patrik and Erica’s issues, there is something that happens at the end of the novel. Mellberg in this novel was kinder and happier as he thought he had fallen in love with a lady he had met at a barn dance. Rosemary was a middle-aged woman, a widow, and who lived with her sister. Melberg was really smitten, and when Rosemary talked about a future together, he let himself be carried away. When Rosemary mentioned buying a condo in Spain, and Melberg offered to buy the place together, I have a bad hunch. Mellberg didn’t consider checking whether what Rosemary had told him was true, so he didn’t hesitate to transfer a huge amount of money to an account that Rosemary had told him they should pay the money into. Then the next time they are supposed to meet, Rosemary doesn’t turn up and when he calls her number, he is informed that the number is not available any longer. So he realises that he has been duped and cheated out of all that money. I feel so sorry for this pathetic man. He is not very kind, but nobody deserves an experience like this. Mellberg really loved Rosemary, an d not only has this woman taken advantage of his feelings, but has stolen his money!!! Knowing how proud Mellberg is, I doubt he will report him as he will think the others will mock him for letting himself be taken for a fool.
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