Carin Gerhardsen tillhör helt klart svenska deckareliten. Riktigt bra bok med ärliga och trovärdiga karaktärer rakt igenom. Jag gillar Gerhardsens sätt att bygga cliffhangers och inte ha så bråttom att avsluta fallet med "den andre mannen" ( )

I recently read the first in this series, THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE, and if anything CINDERELLA GIRL makes better reading. This is certainly shaping up to be a good police procedural series. I read somewhere that Gerhardsen has been working on #7 so I hope we get a few more translated into English.

There are three main strands in the plot: the murder of a teenager on an overnight ferry from Sweden to Finland; the apparent abandonment of a three year old in the flat where she lives with her parents; and the rape of one of the female members of the police team.

The reader knows why Hanna's mother has not returned to the flat, but the police are not aware of Hanna's existence. Hanna herself begins to make random phone calls and contacts an elderly lady called Barbro who initiates her own search for her.

As the blurb says, this book makes compulsive reading. Will Barbro find Hanna in time? Who murdered the girl on the boat and why? And who is Bjorn who rings Hanna and promises to visit her with food?

The internal workings and relationships in the police team get a lot of focus too, and things are not as harmonious as they seem. There is some overlap from the first in the series and I think these are books that should be read in order. Certainly at the end of CINDERELLA GIRL things are not neatly tied off, and so reading this one will be important for best appreciation of the next. ( )

CINDERELLA GIRL is the second Conny Sjøberg book from Swedish author Carin Gerhardsen, the English title of the first book being THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE. Having missed that one when it came out in the middle of 2013, there's some catching up required.

It did seem to take a very long time for anything much to happen here. A lot of time is spent introducing the reader to two teenage sisters, living with their alcoholic mother, in less than satisfactory circumstances. Borderline neglected, these two girls are very used to looking after themselves, and some of their methods are unpleasant and could be confronting. There's a tendency, in the early part of the book, to feel this almost forensic analysis of their lives is a little too detailed, almost voyeuristic. Especially as it's not until about 20% of the way through the book that their reason for being there is clearly defined.

In the meantime, a mother has been dealing with her ill baby boy. Her struggles to settle him take her out of the apartment, which then quickly morphs into something more sinister as it becomes clear that she's not returned. And there is a very young daughter in that apartment, confused, hungry, dirty and very alone.

Eventually we have two deaths - the mother of little Hannah, although authorities don't know the little girl exists, and one of the teenage sisters. Both of these events are investigated by Conny Sjøberg's team - he concentrates on the teenager's death while Petra Westman leads the team that are trying to identify the mother, and her very ill young son.

Not having had much to do with 3-4 year old kids (and it being way too long ago to remember much of my own childhood), I've no idea if Hannah would be able to survive, albeit a bit battered and bruised, in the way that she does. But for this reader, it felt a little off. Not so the search for Hannah, undertaken by one very determined elderly lady when she receives a worrying random telephone call one night. On the one hand it wasn't at all odd that police would not be convinced by her story of that telephone call - supposedly from such a young child on their own. On the other hand, there's a further twist to that story which certainly ramps up the threat - but smacks a bit of being there just for that purpose.

The other slight disappointment about CINDERELLA GIRL is the lack of focus on Sjøberg. Nothing wrong with the Westman character at all - she was a determined and dedicated investigator, but not quite having the full story of both of them, their history and in particular, who Sjøberg is made his presence unfocused, unsure.

Both killings are eventually resolved obviously, and I suspect a lot of the issues with not quite grabbing hold of the entire story are to do with not having read the first book. CINDERELLA GIRL did leave me with a desire to do exactly that though. There was something about these two investigators that's intriguing.

http://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/review-cinderella-girl-carin-gerhardsen ( )

Sammanfattning

Den 16-åriga Jennifer hittas strypt på en toalett på en finlandsfärja. Misstankarna riktas mot Jennifers pojkvän Joakim då han hade uppenbara motiv till att vilja röja henne ur vägen. Efter att polisen, med Conny Sjöberg i spetsen, har börjat titta närmare på Jennifers sista timmar i livet inser de att allt inte är vad det verkar vara och horden av misstänkta växer stadigt.

När Petra Westman är ute på en joggingrunda påträffar hon en liten pojke i ett buskage. Han är svårt medtagen och Petra kallar på förstärkning. Strax därpå hittar Petra även en mördad kvinna som hon förmodar är den lille pojkens mamma. Mamman saknar identitetshandlingar vilket leder till stora problem för polisen. De ger sig ut på en intensiv jakt med frågan ”varför är det ingen som saknar dem” ständigt ringande i öronen.

Hanna, 3 år, vaknar upp i en alldeles tyst lägenhet. Hon smyger upp ur sängen för att inte väcka mamma och lillebror som skriker hela tiden. Till slut tar hungern över och hon gläntar försiktigt på sovrumsdörren men där finns varken mamma eller lillebror. Hon ropar försiktigt på mamma, men hon får inget svar. Strax inser Hanna att mamma och lillebror har flyttat och lämnat henne ensam kvar i den låsta lägenheten.
Mina tankar

Mamma, pappa, barn är den andra delen av Carin Gerhardsens Hammarbyserie. Det märks att det var ett tag sedan jag läste Pepparkakshuset eftersom jag bitvis hade svårt att hänga med. Men som tur var så återberättas händelser som har hänt i huvudpersonernas liv så jag behövde inte känna mig vilsen under alltför långa stunder.

Mordhistorierna är intressant och trovärdigt beskriven, men det är inte de som fängslar mig i den här boken. Det är historien om Hanna som höll mig i ett järngrepp och då Gerhardsen bara har pytsat ut ”småbitar” av Hanna och hennes kamp fanns det bara en sak att välja på: raket tempo boken igenom!

Jag riktigt längtar tills jag får Vyssan lull i min hand. Gerhardsen har blivit en favorit och det glädjer mig att hon håller på att skriva klart del fyra i serien. Minst två böcker till att se fram emot med andra ord. Sådant gillas! ( )