Customer Reviews

The Gingerbread House (Unabridged)

I have never written a review before but feel compelled to in order to encourage you to save your money.

From the outset the motivation of the criminal is completely obvious and we learn nothing about the character as the story unfolds. From this point of view the story is like the tv show Columbo but it's missing the genius of Peter Falk in the protagonist of Conny Sjoberg. Far from being the typical detective who has personal problems and stresses that must be fought in order to maintain productivity in work, Sjoberg has a fantastic home life and only fights with his wife once - when he has to work over the weekend in order to solve the murder case.

The story takes so long to unfold not because the police have competing theories or conflicting evidence but apparently Sweden is the only country in the developed world that does not have a centralised fingerprint database. As such it takes about three quarters of the way through before the cases are eventually linked when regional police forces post their fingerprint analyses to Stockholm. Yes, you read that correctly, the results of the analyses are posted in hard copy format, as if this story is set a hundred years ago.
After the confirmation that the murders are linked the case takes one day to solve. Huzzah for efficiency! Imagine if they had wanted to work this hard before, other victims would have been spared.

Do I need to tell you that this is a completely rubbish book? I must have been reading a different story to everyone else because they all seem to love it and have identified multiple twists. Where are these?

I have read a few Scandinavian crime thrillers now, hooked in by Stieg Larsson. This story begins back in 1968 in a pre-school housed in an attractive building on top of a hill, surrounded by pine trees. However, within this idyllic setting an unpleasant regime of bullying is allowed to flourish: group dynamics and an uncaring teacher allow the brutal victimisation of two unfortunate children by their six-year-old classmates - children who, in the UK, would be in their second year of primary school.
In a different part of Sweden, in 2006, a murder occurs. Chief Inspector Conny Sjoberg, of the Violent Crimes Unit in Hammarby, Stockholm, leads the investigation. Rebus he is not - he is a happily married father of five who plays by the rules and gets on well with all his colleagues. After three more murders in other parts of the country he realises a serial killer may be responsible.
A fascinating portrayal of life in Sweden, Stockholm in particular, is presented to the reader. The Scandinavian character: understated and sometimes lacking in emotion, is described, along with the autumn weather and atmosphere. We experience family life - and lack of it in some cases, and are allowed to sample the food: unfamiliar (moose steak); tantalising (family meals prepared by Conny and his children), and unappealing: (burnt pork schnitzel with noodles).
We are also educated about the Middle East conflict and, in a sub-plot, encounter the use of Rohypnol, known as the 'date-rape' drug.
Throughout the book we read 'The Diary of a Murderer', which gives us insight into the reasons behind these gruesome killings.

The prose and dialogue often seem stilted - not unusual in books which have been translated from one language to another - and the language is American English. Also there is a somewhat implausible aspect to the resolution. Nonetheless I enjoyed this book and did not find the ending altogether predictable. I will try ro find time to read the remaining titles in the series.
After reading this, maybe any of us who ever participated in bullying as a child - and who didn't to some degree? - will wonder what the consequences have been, and hope that things have improved for today's children.

"I'm not altogether sure if I want to carry on reading this book" That was my thought each time a murder happend, it was a bit too gruesome for me. But I'm pleased I did as it was enthraling right to the end. I'm not sure why we had the other story line plonked in the middle,but hay hoo!

I would only recomend this book to someone who would be able to take the gruesomeness on the chin.

Enjoyable story, good premise and characterisation, the twist wasn't that out of the blue though and from the point it happened it seemed a rush to the conclusion.

A preschool in a small town. Lots of children some of whom are cruel and nasty. A preschool teacher who didn't care and didn't try to deal with the issues. Forty years later the anger, hurt and humiliation break out into the open. Carin Gerhardsen paints a picture of small town life and small town people which is believable. She also paints a picture of neglect, violence, bad parenting and bad teaching. The question is: who is the real killer? The teacher who allowed a gang of children to bully and humiliate other pupils? The killer who seeks revenge? The children who were bullies? A chilling tale brilliantly written with enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages.

As fine an example of Nordic writing as you are likely to get. Buy it. Read it.

Quite a slow book had to struggle through the different towns and cities and surnames that all sound the same to practically the last page of the book before anything exciting happened !

this was a decent enough read but not one i would read again.
a decent enough plot but the end introduced a person barely mentioned which seemed a bit of a cheat.

This is a great read. The Scandinavians seem to have a fantastic dark grasp on the thriller genre. I would recommend it

Five stars because I really enjoyed it never read any this author's books before but will definitely read more and pass on to friends

Interesting read, but not as engrossing as I expected. Story line became a bit predictable & while finishing in a flurrish I found the pace fairly slow.