The Ice Princess is a crime novel originally published in Swedish and translated into English. It tells the story of Erica Falck who has returned to her family home in Fjällbacka after the death of her parents. When her childhood friend Alex Wijkner is found dead in an icy bathtub in an apparent suicide, Erica is bewildered. The childhood friend she knew would never take her own life. However, when it is revealed that Alex’s death was not a suicide, Erica teams up with detective Patrik Hedström to investigate the mystery.
I enjoyed this crime novel. There are a lot of twists and turns and every time I thought I knew what was happening, the author would throw out something new that would make me rethink everything. The ending was a bit far-fetched in my opinion but I still enjoyed the mystery and how we got there.
The author conceals a lot of information from the reader, and if you are not a fan of this literary device you should probably not read this book. Frequently Erica or Patrik will uncover a clue or find out relevant information at the end of the chapter but will not share it with the reader. You are left wondering what it is and will have to wait until the next couple of chapters to figure it out. It left me guessing and while sometimes I was a little annoyed because I just wanted to know what was going on, I liked the way the author uncovered the clues.
Erica seems to meddle a lot in the police investigation and I’m not sure how that would go over in a real situation. Patrik’s co-workers are a gang of stereotypes including an incompetent boss that just wants to take credit for everything and a co-worker on the verge on retirement, doing the bare minimum.
There’s a lot of description of the town (the book includes a map) and the landscape. There is plenty of Scandinavian scenery to get lost in. The book takes place during the winter and the author does a great job of depicting the cold and snowy weather.
I also really enjoyed the slow romance of Patrik and Erica. I liked how they were both nervous about starting a new relationship and I found their inner thoughts humorous at times. There was one instance where Erica is rushing around trying to figure out what to wear, worrying about her appearance, and when Patrik arrives he doesn’t even notice her nervousness and thinks she looks amazing. There’s a lot of character development which is good considering this book is the beginning of a series. There are a couple of subplots that aren’t really resolved but perhaps that will happen in later books.
I thought this was a good murder mystery that wraps up neatly at the end. Like I said, the book is the start of a series so I will be interested to read the next book.
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