The Ice Princess

By: Camilla Läckberg, Steven T. Murray - translator

Narrated by: David Thorn

Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins

Publisher's summary

Returning to her hometown after the funeral of her parents, writer Erica Falck finds a community on the brink of tragedy. The death of her childhood friend, Alex, is just the beginning. Her wrists slashed, her body frozen in an ice cold bath, it seems that she has taken her own life. Erica conceives a memoir about the beautiful but remote Alex, one that will answer questions about their lost friendship.

While her interest grows to an obsession, local detective Patrik Hedstrom is following his own suspicions about the case. But it is only when they start working together that the truth begins to emerge about the small town with a deeply disturbing past.

©2010 Camilla Lackberg (P)2010 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

“Läckberg skillfully details how horrific secrets are never completely buried and how silence can kill the soul.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“This excellent thriller is a must-read for fans of Scandinavian crime literature and will especially appeal to those who enjoy Asa Larsson’s Rebecka Martinsson novels.” ( Booklist)

“Chilly, deceptive, and lucid, just like the icy environment it describes.” ( The Literary Review)

Another Favorite Scandinavian Mystery Writer

The narrator David Thorn added enormously to my pleasure in listening to this first of several very good mysteries written by Camilla Lackberg. I hope they'll keep coming. I think each can stand alone, but there is an underlying story line that makes reading them in order especially enjoyable.

I have found a new, favorite author

I love the fact that Erica is a Weight Watcher member. She seems so like me......going about solving crimes, settling estates, falling in love....and worrying about her weight. Very human. Well written.

LOVE this Author!

A true mystery until the absolute end! I am counting Camilla Lackberg as one of my favorite authors, hands down. I did NOT enjoy the performance, however.

Beautifully written story

A small Swedish village full of terrific fully flushed characters.
The murder mystery is compelling and the protagonists - the author who finds the body and the policeman who works the crime have interesting back stories of their own
4 stars for performance because 2 of the lead female characters were portrayed vocally in a way that did not work for me given the dialogue and their actions - otherwise a fine performance
I was entertained and intrigued throughout!

Very good start

I didn't feel a connection to the two main characters, nor was there anyone I had any strong feelings for or against. It is still a very good mystery, though.

Interesting twists and turns!

I looked forward to every opportunity to listen to the book! Excellent! Deeply recommend!!!

A smart, suspenseful mystery

If this is the Swedish Danielle Steele (as one review claimed), I can’t wait to read more Swedish mysteries. This is a more intricate and suspenseful tale than most American mysteries, by far. I’m half Swedish, and have a good feel for the language and dialect, and the narrator didn’t butcher it. Despite a few errors, his mastery is good. I’m thrilled to read a book that doesn’t make me suspect the narration is AI. I have vision problems, so this was a treat. He overdid the women’s voices a bit, but at least he created a different voice for each of the characters, which was entertaining and easy to follow. The narration was slow…I played it at 1.1, and it was perfect. The book was slow moving at first, and the characters were stuffy. It was hard to sympathize, at first, but they are real people, in the end, who put on a few airs. When the facade falls away, they are actually quite relatable. Stick with it! You won’t regret it.

Good

I really liked the story and it kept me guessing. The narration, not so much.

Good Story Not Well Narrated

This is Camilla Läckberg's first mystery originally published in Sweden in 2002. It starts out with the discovery of a body of a woman, an apparent suicide, discovered in a bath tub in an unheated house in a former fishing village, now a tourist goal called Fjällbacka. One of the first people on the scene, Erica Falck, was once a close friend of the deceased woman. Because Erica is an author, specializing in the biographies of famous Swedish female authors, she is asked by the dead woman's parents to write about the woman's life. However, as Erica learns about her old friend's secrets she starts to look deeper into what happened that drove them apart as young girls.

The story begins with a bit of a bang but starts to drag a bit about a quarter of the way in. I don't think the characters of the police officers were particularly compelling (or even very interesting). A second death gives the story more impetus and although the answers to some mysteries are quite obvious, the ending is satisfactory.

And that's it for the story, now for the audible part. David Thorn's voice is strongly British and male. His way of voicing female characters is to make them sound breathy and bland. He occasionally will apply some accent, but usually he doesn't. While I might find him a good narrator for another type of book-- one with fewer female characters or one where there is no need for accents, I definitely don't think I would try to listen to him read another Scandinavian set mystery.

Using a maleBritish narrator was a terrible choice

I enjoyed the author's approach to her primary and secondary characters. She gave them depth which is refreshing in a Swedish mystery novel. I cannot fathom why the audio producers chose to use a male performer and a British one at that. Almost killed it for me. But I am going to try another one of Lāckenberg's in this series and see how she progresses.