The Boy in the Suitcase

A Nina Borg Mystery

By: Lene Kaaberbøl - author/translator, Agnete Friis

Narrated by: Katherine Kellgren

Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

Audie Award Nominee, Solo Narration - Female, 2013

Audie Award Nominee, Best Thriller/Suspense Category, 2013

Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, wife, and mother of two, is trying to live a quiet life. The last thing her husband wants is for her to go running off on another dangerous mission to help illegal refugees. But when Nina's estranged friend, Karin, leaves her a key to a public locker in the Copenhagen train station, and begs her to take care of its contents, Nina gets suckered into her most dangerous case yet.

Because inside the suitcase is a three-year-old boy: naked and drugged, but alive. Nina's natural instinct is to rescue the boy, but she knows the situation is risky. Is the boy a victim of child trafficking? Can he be turned over to authorities, or will they only return him to whoever sold him? In an increasingly desperate trek across Denmark, Nina tries to figure out who the boy is, where he belongs, and who exactly is hunting him down. When Karin is discovered brutally murdered, Nina realizes that her life and the boy's are in jeopardy, too.

©2011 Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis (P)2011 AudioGO

Critic reviews

"This past-paced, suspenseful thriller intertwines several stories, gradually revealing the motivations of multiple characters and building tremendous suspense." ( Booklist)

"Warning! If you open this book, your life will be on stand-by." ( Elle, Denmark)

"The surprise ending is perfect. You won’t be able to put this down." ( Romantic Times)

Bit hard to follow

I found this book bounced around a bit and I had to rewind it a fair bit which was a tad annoying. I also found the narrator a little brash for want of a better word.

Riviting I couldn't turn it off!

A worthy companion to the Stig Larsson genre I have to add words to submit this review but I don't want to spoil the story for anyone.

Great Story

This is a wonderful story. The narrator was wonderful. She made the story so real. You could feel every emotion. The intertwining storyline was also great.

Good book!

Surprise twists and turns, good all the way to the end. Only one more person/ loose string needed to be "tied up" at the end, but it seem there's more to come...........?

Intricate storyline, kept me listening!

I enjoy a different location and country, the storyline was fascinating from start to finish! The author hit on several major themes, motherhood, marriage, career, children, best friends, subterfuge, evil and good!
I recommend this audiobook!

Fantastic thriller!

This tops my list of best thrillers of the year! I read a ton of mysteries, and am pretty good at guessing the ending - but this one, I could not, and that's always fun! The characters are realistic, the mystery complex, and the plot unravels a clue at a time. Definitely worth a credit (or more)! And Katy Kellgren is one of my all-time favorite narrators and she does not disappoint. BTW, I didn't like the Jo Nesbo books (too violent), so don't let the "scandanavian" category put you off this one.

Strong feminist crime thriller

Any additional comments?

A social worker who spends more time helping the downtrodden than her own family picks up a suitcase in a travel locker for a friend only to find it contains a little boy. The police aren’t a good choice because of what happens to children in such situations and she sees an angry man who found the locker empty right after she emptied it. She goes off-grid to find out what happened. The book is a little confusing at the beginning with flashbacks and multiple characters at different ages, but soon there’s an action-thriller rhythm culminating in an exciting finale. This book is nothing like “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” trilogy plot-wise, in its high-tech setting or with a young heroine, but it does overlap in two areas: it’s a Scandanavian crime novel and it’s written by someone who understands feminism. It’s rare to see female characters handle dangerous situations as typical women would and not as male action heroes would. (It passes the Bechdel test with flying colors.)

Must read

If you could sum up The Boy in the Suitcase in three words, what would they be?

exciting touching mysterious

What did you like best about this story?

the character development and the subtle accents made the story great

Which scene was your favorite?

When Alexander's adopted mother stepped in at the end

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It is very touching

Any additional comments?

Very interesting and the mystery is well woven through the story. I love the character development and emotions that the book evoked.

Good. Not Great.

I found myself simply finishing the story just to see if the boy is reunited with his mother. I felt like the story line was a bit generic, but as a mother I think you feel obligated to become attached to 3 yos who are abducted, even if he is fictional.

Amazing story and performance.

I loved the book and the accents / performance was amazing. I recommended this book before I even finished because of the reading.