The Crow Girl: A novel

This is the first volume of the Victoria Bergman trilogy. It is an insanely dark and incredibly powerful book.
It is about a young woman who was grossly sexually abused by her father when she was a child. She received no support and not only developed a split personality, but also took advantage of young boys, whom she subdued and abused, but also killed.
Jeanette Kihlberg, a Stockholm detective, is looking for the murderer after a boy is found dead in a park. His body shows signs of severe abuse. Kihlberg also has private problems and only realises when it is already too late that she is putting herself and her family in great danger with this investigation.

Definitely not for the faint hearted this one. To call it Noir is like talking about the Pope's funny hat. Any darker and it would've disappeared up some terrible orifice with a great deal of pain and a very full description.

Like any book, as you read you build up a picture of the characters and what is happening. This book however, lets you do that and then piece by piece, stroke by stroke undoes everything you thought you knew about anything in the book. In any other book this would appear contrived and frustrating but in this book it is done so superbly well that you cannot help but be drawn further and further into it.

It is very tempting to add some spoilers to illustrate what I am talking about but I really do not like adding spoilers. Suffice it to say that in this book are some of the most remarkable plot devices that I have ever come across. I was stunned at certain revelations many times throughout this book. I say "revelations" but in fact it was much more subtle than that it was like the reality that I thought I was seeing suddenly morphed into a completely different reality.

At around 800 pages it requires a certain fortitude and commitment to read this book to the end given how dark it is, how graphically descriptive it is, and how thoroughly shocking it is. Having said that I would urge anyone who likes a good crime novel to pick this up and set aside some good reading time.

3.5 stars. Reminiscent of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo books, although the writing is a bit better and the plot is more convoluted, to say nothing of some of the characters. This is a book you just ride with rather than spend lots of time trying to solve. "Who did it?" is not the central question: it's "Who am I?"

A long (at over 700 pages) and complex crime mystery with a heavy dose of psychology featuring Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg and psychotherapist Sophie Zetterland, who is not all she seems. This Scandi noir is not for the faint hearted as it has very detailed descriptions of rape, child abuse, murder, violence against women and torture. There are a lot of characters - some real, some alter egos, and as time goes on, it becomes quite easy to lose the plot. As the book progressed I found myself wanting it to end sooner than it did - the relationship between Kihlberg-Zetterlund which is at the heart of the plot wasn't that convincing.

At nearly 800 pages The Crow Girl is a doorstopper of a book (originally published as a trilogy) showing Scandinavian Noir at its most badass.

Complex and somewhat confusing, the book features a murderer motivated by revenge and retribution against a cult which practised child abuse, incest and sex slavery.

Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg enlists the help of psychologist Sofia Zetterlund but finds more than she expected in this disturbing thriller.

The Crow Girl is heavy in every sense of the word but if you’re a fan of the genre it’s worth ploughing through the twists of this convoluted plot

I am a big fan of Nordic/Scandi Noir, both in movies (The Killing, The Bridge) and in the written word. There is a certain style in the crime writing; very descriptive very character driven with a plot line always developed in an articulate and thoughtful way. I was therefore very excited when "The Crow Girl" recently reduced to £5 (kindle) became available to UK readers. I expected the same attention to detail and exciting storytelling that I have become used to in the writings of Henning Mankell, Jo Nesbo, and more recently Yrsa Sigurdardottir

It is always a good thing when the first few pages immediately hold and retain the reader's attention.....a room is being prepared, insulated and sound proofed to create what we can only presume is a prison, and very soon a young boy is held captive, doped and incarcerated. A body is discovered in the centre of Stockholm and DS Janette Kihlberg is tasked with finding the perpetrator of some gruesomely mummified remains. To help understand the mind of a killer she seeks out and requests help from psychotherapist Sofia Zetterlund. Jeanette is feeling the growing pressure, male prejudice at work and in addition trying to cope with a disintegrating home life with her partner Ake and son Johan. As the body count rises a conspiracy is discovered stretching back many years, involving sexual abuse and paedophilia, and implicating respected pillars of the community.

At 786 pages long this is a story that needs perseverance. At first I became engrossed with the stylish writing depicting acts of depravity and with characters that had multiple personalities and deep rooted personal problems. There are some big issues to think about here most prominent the idea of dissociative identity disorder where a person is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct or split identities or personality states that continually have power over the person's behaviour. I found myself having a lot of sympathy for DS Kihlberg balancing an increasing complicated workload and an equally confusing personal life. Decisions that she takes and a personal discovery that she makes will have far reaching consequences for the present and into the future.

The real problem with The Crow Girl is the page count. I really enjoyed the story at first but the depressing subject matter became overwhelming in the later stages. My understanding is that this was originally 3 separate books on first release in Sweden, and would have benefited greatly from some tight proof reading/editing, before UK release, leading to a single combined volume of around 500 pages. Having made clear my reservations I still believe this is essential reading for lovers of Nordic crime but be prepared to be shocked and possibly repulsed at the sensitive storyline unfolding before you.

Das Buch hat mich nicht überzeugt. Es liest sich unrund. Die einzelnen Teile sind manchmal sehr ausführlich, dann wieder passieren Dinge sehr unvermittelt. Das liegt aber eher an einem andeutenden Stil, der auch nicht darauf hinweist, aus wessen Sicht die jeweiligen Kapitel geschrieben sind. Am Ende wird es sehr spannend. Aber dann kommt ein Cliffhanger und man muss sich nun wohl die Teile 2 und 3 besorgen.
Das Buch wurde irgendwo mit der Millennium-Trilogie verglichen. Was für ein Quatsch! Außer, dass beide Bücher in Schweden spielen und beides Trilogien sind, haben sie nichts gemeinsam.

This review covers a book, published in English, which contains three books previously released in Sweden as Krakflickan, Hungerelden and Pythians Ansvisnigar. And let me tell you I’m really glad about that. About halfway through part 1, which I assume is the first novel, things got so dark, bleak and crazy that I thought I’d give up if there were two more books to go. After a bit of research I realized I had all three and pushed on. It did take some mental fortitude though since the entire book seems to revel in violence and degradation. As you’d think, men are the perpetrators and women and children the recipients. It’s pretty darn awful, but written in such a way that I wanted to see how it ended. The grisly parts got skimmed.

The book is told in short little vignettes that read like scenes in a movie. Each is labeled and so you know who will be the focus for the section. One is Jeanette, a cop in Stockholm trying to solve multiple murders of young boys; some illegal and unknown, some identified, but so down the social ladder that her bosses don’t really care. The other POV is Sofia, a psychologist who eventually is tagged to help Jeanette in her investigation. There is a lot of authorial sleight-of-hand and many things are not what they seem. Much of Sophia’s narrative goes back in time with her patients and her past; both of which are horrific enough to break your brain. A lot of the time with Jeanette is devoted to her crumbling marriage and struggles with being a female police officer with high rank.We also get a bit from some other cops and a repulsive Prosecutor named von Kwist. It's definitely a product of its time and there are a lot of contemporary pop culture references and references to life in Sweden/Stockholm. I called up a map so I could understand the geography. It's VERY politically correct on all fronts. Anyone who isn't at least a little bi-curious is the weirdo and of course women can't succeed as easily as men because men are assholes. Illegals/immigrants are just as, if not more important than a political appointee who gets into a major scrape. You get the idea. I'm not saying they're wrong, but it's laid on pretty thick.


The story is fairly drawn out and detailed and as an American I was a bit appalled at some of the things built into the Swedish system of justice. In the end, I suppose it works for them but imagine a prosecutor here being able to dictate who the investigators can and cannot question. What?? Crazy. Also crimes seem to get individual budgets that are set at the start of a case. Probably that’s the same here, but it’s covert. The writing isn’t elegant and there are some translation issues, but it moves right along. If you like really odd thrillers with a big psychological component (both analysis and mental illness) and can stomach a whole heck of a lot of torture porn, this series is worth checking out.

"How much can a human being withstand before they turn into a monster?"

For me, a glaring difference between (most) crime thrillers from the States versus those from Scandinavian countries is that the latter tends to be more character-driven. Many US crime fiction novels are just that - crime fiction. They've got the detective, the perpetrator, the crime, the investigation; they read as procedurals. Scandinavian crime fiction, on the other hand, brings crime fiction to a whole new level by straying away from the genre's traditional formula. Stieg Larsson's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" is a classic example. Scandinavian crime fiction stories tend to be grittier and complex - they probe endlessly at problems within Swedish (in this instance) society and use the narrative techniques of crime fiction to do so.

"The Crow Girl" is a deeply psychological novel. It surpasses "Gone Girl" by eons. As of right now, this book epitomises the psychological crime genre for me, because it balances both psychology and crime seamlessly together to form a very genuine story - one that's not trying to be a psychological crime novel. And most importantly, it uses both genres to explore societal issues and age-long questions about human endurance.

She thinks about what determines the value of a human life. Is it the number of mourners at the funeral, the financial value of the estate, or the media interest in the death? The social influence of the deceased? Their country of origin or skin colour? Or the sum of police resources allocated to a murder investigation?"

I don't think I can properly introduce the complex cast of characters in this book largely because the discovery of these characters is part of the experience for the reader. In my opinion, the psychological turns serve not to shock (in fact, I expected a lot of it), but to serve as an analysation of one of the overall themes of the book, illustrated by the first quote. It's a story that explores the vicious cycle of unimaginable pain and insurmountable hatred, victim and perpetrator; every character has their own set of motivations, and the lengths they go to achieve their goals plays a large part in the way these seemingly unrelated characters' lives collide.

"The Crow Girl" is emotionally crushing, but in my opinion it is so very important that it be read. I think this book adequately contributes to an understanding of the psychology of violence, pain, and the ways the human mind tries to protect itself. It has the potential to inspire people to learn more about a deep-seated issue that affects millions in societies beyond just Scandinavia; this alone makes the effort to read it worth it.

Last but not least: Jerker Eriksson and Håkan Axlander Sundquist have done a brilliant job writing some of the book's most prolific scenes. There are moments where the imagery and pacing are incredibly cinematic. The story will literally creep into you until you feel like its dark brutality has parked itself deep inside you.

Kudos to translator Neil Smith for taking this HUGE trilogy on and doing it fantastically.

Extremely dark - child abuse, torture, murder, psychosis. Very, very long - 768 pages. But I couldn't stop turning those pages.

Way too long.
Back and forth , chapter after chapter. Same old story
Maybe the translation, maybe the writing
Disappointing

This is a tough book to evaluate. On one hand I loved it and did not want to put it down, but had to due to its length and weight – it is 768 pages long and a rather hefty tome. On the other hand the descriptions of the numerous victims in the story are horrific, and there are many victims in this tale, so reading so much of this is rather repulsive. However, the writing is wonderful, the storyline is intriguing and the end is something I did not anticipate. When I learned that the original Swedish version was three separate books that the English version combined into one, its length made more sense. I gave it a high rating because while I both loved and was repulsed by it, I never wavered in my desire to find out what happened next right up to the end.

I wanted to like this book, but it's slow and plodding, taking far too long to get anywhere interesting and then randomly telling you what's going to happen in advance of plot twists. My eyes glazed over at the thought of finishing it; I'm giving up at the end of Part One.

Boy, this is a difficult book to try and explain and I'm still going back and forth on whether it was a 3.5 or 4 star read for me. It's very long and can be a little confusing but I have to admit, it kept me reading until I finished it. I really liked the character of Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg, but wasn't crazy about the others. The subject matter is just horrible and I don't recommend this book for the tender hearted. The first third of the book leads you in one direction, and the last third of the book undermines everything you believed. While The Crow Girl is one of the more challenging books I've read, I am glad I read it because it gives you a glimpse into the mindset of the mentally ill. It's also a pretty good murder mystery that takes you down several different paths before coming to a heartbreaking end.

Dark and despairing!

A hard read that I had to keep putting aside for a while.
The abuse and trafficking of children is not something of which humanity can be proud. Add torture and sadism and the absence of light is completed.
The story (actually three novels extended into one which makes it a very long read!) drops into lines that are chilling and arresting. The two main character voices of Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg who leads the investigation the therapist Sofia Zetterlund wrap around each other in interesting ways. Sofia has several cases / patients / requests she's looking at. The sentencing of Tyra Mäkelä, the following up Victoria Bergman (a client she finds profoundly puzzling), a request from a social worker to see a war affected child from Sierra Leone, that sparks forgotten nightmare. All build a carefully weighed background to this extreme psychological thriller.
I found the writing style fascinating and the subject matter extremely challenging.
I love Scandinavian noir but this was way to black for me.
To sum up this is a five star, well written novel where the translator has worked their word smithing seamlessly and superbly all wrapped up in a two star appalling topic.
A novel for the most dedicated.

A NetGalley ARC

This is the most unsettling story I have ever read. Very dark and scary.
Read it in one session, unputdownable.
I was given a digital copy of this book by the publisher Random House/Vintage Publications via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

This one starts off promising but begins to lag around a third in as the main characters kick their frustrations around in a circle for a while. It picks up towards the end, though, with some plot twists and some action that made me sit up and pay attention again. I'm giving it three stars out of five because there is a decent thriller to be told here, only it's spread out over too many pages. The pacing is uneven: the plot is put on hold for large chunks of the book to make way for sequences that focus solely on character development.

The latter, though, is where true strength of this crime novel and is obviously what most of the effort went into. There are two main characters, a psychologist and a police inspector, both of which are fairly well developed in their anguishing about the creeping ruination of their lives. They are thrown together and strike up a serendipitous friendship (somewhat rushed), feeling united in their shared feeling of dissatisfaction. Neither of them sees a way out, and consequently they are too apathetic to act on sudden changes. There's failed marriages here, workplace sexism, childhood traumas, sexual frustration, trust issues and a plethora of dysfunctional families. Both main characters simply have too much to deal with in their personal lives to deal with their job, a case involving child abuse, child soldiers, and a serial child killer, to the point where they feel slightly redundant and underused, as if the authors weren't really interested either.

I'll certainly read the next instalment in the series, to see where Jerker and Axlander Sundquist take their characters, but if the pacing doesn't improve I'm not sure if I'll want to read the third (and final) book.