The Hidden Child

Patrik Hedström and Erica Falck, Book 5

By: Camilla Läckberg

Narrated by: Eamonn Riley

Worldwide bestseller Camilla Lackberg weaves together another brilliant contemporary psychological thriller with the chilling struggle of a young woman facing the darkest chapter of Europe's past…

Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover an old Nazi medal among her late mother's belongings. Inspired to dig deep into her past, she visits a retired history teacher for answers. Two days later, he’s dead.

Detective Patrik Hedström is on paternity leave. But his wife’s enquiries appear to have set off a chain of murders and he’s finding it hard to keep out of the investigation.

A terrible secret from the darkest days of World War II is coming to light – and their families’ histories are right at the heart of it.

©2011 Camilla Lackberg (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Läckberg is an expert at mixing scenes of domestic cosiness with blood-curdling horror… a must for white-knuckle junkies." ( Guardian)

"Läckberg is particularly good at portraying the claustrophobia of a small community in which everyone knows everyone else and the police may well be friends with killers." ( The Times)

Don’t expect much

Mid level story, not much excitement, it was exciting enough for gardening, but bored me while walking

Better than the book 2-4

I almost left the series after #4, but this one is really good one. Same level as Preacher.

Camilla Lackberg gets my vote again.

Eamon Riley is a brilliant narrator. Camilla has created such complicated characters and each book allows the reader to learn more of the characters and why they act the way they do. I love crime novels and she is one of my favourite authors. I much prefer the authors of the Scandinavian countries. Will definitely continue to 'listen' to Camilla's books.

El mejor de los libros de esta autora

Sin lugar a dudas en el que mejor mezcla la intriga con el desarrollo de los personajes.

Wonderful rich

It is a wonderful story...so rich and multi-layered. This is the third I've read in this series and I'm now loving the development of the characters as much as the mystery itself. I can't wait to start the next book! I would definitely recommend this series to lovers of the dark Scandinavian mystery genre.

Pauses needed.

Needs a pause between scenes Audio can be hard to follow sometimes as it is difficult to follow a scene change and different characters. Other wise an excellent story.

Sugar Coated Holocaust

This will be the last Camilla Lackberg I read. This pretentious and poorly written novel might be just about acceptable as a children’s book but it is an insult to even a moderate adult intelligence. The characters are two dimensional, shallow and irritating and include those such as the cringe making Scandinavian man who “does his bit of tidying up” and the older boss who is ridiculed as a buffoon. The prose is laboured and leaden and the story line full of inconsistencies.
The level of sentimentality is high and at times it was like being force fed marshmallows: the prose syrupy, stilted and contrived.
I shudder to think what kind of labour Ms Lackberg had with her children because the mawkish account she gives in the book pushed credibility to new limits.
This book is full of tired old stereotypes and a ceaseless mind-numbing litany of trivia.
Given the underlying subject matter this book is an insult to those who lived through the second world war and suffered it’s consequences.