523 pages

English language

Published May 7, 2016

ISBN:
978-0-552-17090-1
Copied ISBN!
OCLC Number:
920847268

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(1 review)

"When the body of a young girl is found hanging from a tree, the only clue the police have is an airline tag around her neck. It reads 'I'm travelling alone'. In response, police investigator Holger Munch is immediately charged with assembling a special homicide unit. But to complete the team, he must track down his former partner, Mia Kruger - a brilliant but troubled detective - who has retreated to a solitary island with plans to kill herself. Reviewing the file, Mia finds something new - a thin line carved into the dead girl's fingernail - the number 1. She knows that this is only the beginning. To save other children from the same fate, she must find a way to cast aside her own demons and stop this murderer from becoming a serial killer."--Back cover.

3 editions

None

An above-average whodunit with a rather unsatisfactory ending.

The story is set in and around Oslo, Norway, when detective Holger Munch is asked to reconstitute a violent crimes squad when a six-year-old girl is murdered. We follow the unfolding story from the viewpoint of various characters -- detectives, suspects, witnesses, friends, journalists, persons of interest and others, which gives a comprehensive picture. It seems odd that the detectives ignore some clues that are known to the reader and to the police, including clear indications that some of the investigation team members are personally involved.

It's a gripping story involving fraud and embezzlement as well as murder, but the denouement is at odds with the way the rest of the story is told, and ends up seeming skimpy and perfunctory. All sorts of people and groups are introduced -- a group of journalists, an old age home, a religious community, and …

Subjects

  • Murder
  • Police
  • Investigation
  • Fiction