The Drowning

Patrik Hedström and Erica Falck, Book 6

By: Camilla Läckberg

Narrated by: Eamonn Riley

Length: 15 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

is Swedish crime sensation and number-one international best seller Camilla Läckberg’s new psychological thriller - for fans of Stieg Larsson and Jo Nesbø.

Christian Thydell has been receiving anonymous threats since he began writing his novel, The Mermaid. When one message, secreted within a bouquet of flowers, causes him to collapse at the book's launch party, crime writer Erica Falck is compelled to investigate. Erica’s husband, detective Patrik Hedström, meanwhile, is puzzled by the disappearance of Christian’s friend Magnus Kjellner four months previously.

When a body is found frozen in the sea near Fjallbacka, he has a murder enquiry on his hands. Someone carries an intense hatred for Christian and his circle, and they won’t hesitate to turn their threats into reality. Clues in his debut novel, The Mermaid, point to a horrific secret buried deep in his past. One that someone will go to any lengths to keep hidden...

©2012 Camilla Lackberg (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"Mesmerising.... It’s Läckberg’s particular skill to have created two of the most fully rounded characters in contemporary crime fiction, with a warmth that cuts right through the Nordic chill." ( Independent)

"Läckberg is an expert at mixing scenes of domestic cosiness with blood-curdling horror…a must for white-knuckle junkies." ( Guardian)

"Läckberg is particularly good at portraying the claustrophobia of a small community in which everyone knows everyone else and the police may well be friends with killers." ( The Times)

The best one yet!

Dark and disturbing. If you like this type of book, you will love this one! It's the newest in the Patrik and Erica series, and I think it's the best so far. The heart of the story is sad. Children unloved, tragic actions, guilt - all leading to murder and mystery. And the narration was great! I can't wait now for the next installment.

excellent plot

great performance by Eamon Riley. So far the best of the three books I heard from Camilla Lackberg. Others were books 4 and 5 of the Patrick Hedstrom series. All of them very good. But this one stands a little higher.

Not the best of the bunch

Would you try another book from Camilla Lackberg and/or Eamonn Riley?

I've read all six books in this series by Lackberg, the last four of these in audio format narrated by Eammon Riley. I didn't enjoy this instalment quite as much as the earlier ones but I'm happy to give the combination another chance as I did enjoy the earlier books so much (particularly THE ICE PRINCESS and THE HIDDEN CHILD). Riley is a terrific narrator and I do enjoy having the Swedish names pronounced for me :)To me this book took a long while to get going, with almost the first third concerning itself with the day-to-day lives of the series' long-running characters which grew a bit tedious, and the mystery itself was not as strong as with some of the earlier books.

Have you listened to any of Eamonn Riley???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Only his other narrations of this series which I have enjoyed. This one is up to the usual high standard.

Do you think The Drowning needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

As always Lackberg has left us with a cliff hanger ending which means, I assume, there is another book on the way. I must admit I find this practice a bit annoying but I will read the next one anyway.

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What disappointed you about The Drowning?

She is run out of ideas...

What was most disappointing about Camilla Lackberg’s story?

It is a copy of Mc fadyen book

Have you listened to any of Eamonn Riley’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

He does good

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Drowning?

the essential idea, its is like you have read it before

Narrator Spoilt the Story

The narrator' s embarrassingly dreadful voices ruined this book for me. Why on earth he felt the need to change his voice for different characters is beyond me. The voices made the characters sound like utter morons. Other things in this book were awful too, no idea why a reader needs a blow by blow description of a pooey nappy being changed or why the narrator changed the pronunciation of the characters name, Erica was Earica, Patrick was another weird one. Don't waste a credit on this boring ridiculous book