The Stonecutter

By: Camilla Läckberg

Narrated by: David Thorn

Length: 16 hrs and 58 mins

Publisher's summary

The remote resort town of Fjällbacka has seen more than its share of tragedies, but a little girl found in a fisherman's net may be the worst yet - especially when the postmortem reveals that this was a methodical murder, not an accidental drowning.

Local detective Patrik Hedstrom has just become a father, and it’s his grim task to discover who could have killed a child both he and his partner Erica knew well. He realizes that the solution lies with finding a motive for this terrible crime. Although Hedstrom is no stranger to the criminal mind, he couldn’t possibly predict how this case will reach into Fjällbacka’s darkest heart, spanning generations and ripping aside its idyllic façade, perhaps forever.

©2012 Camilla Lackberg (Pegasus Books Edition). Translation © 2009 Steven T. Murray. Recorded by arrangement with Pegasus Books. (P)2012 HighBridge Company

Critic reviews

"A perfectly plotted and paced mystery bolstered by strong, realistic characters makes this a must-read for all followers of Scandinavian crime fiction." ( Booklist)

"[Camilla Lackberg] strips conventional veneers from her achingly complex characters." ( Publishers Weekly)

“ The Stonecutter, by Camilla Läckberg . . . continues her excellent series . . . The main narrative is cleverly interspersed with flashbacks from the past, the relevance of which becomes apparent as the novel progresses. 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.” (Marcel Berlins, The Times)

Intelligent, gripping

Exciting, interwoven narratives continue to unfold. Refreshing humor, imaginative storylines--contemporary/historic characters to cheer and fear.

A Wonderful Page Turner

I loved this book. What a complex cast of characters. The ability to have one mystery span decades was brilliant. It was nearly impossible to see the connections till almost the end. the collateral damage to lives and families in mean time was fascinating. I was amazed that the author was able to all of the different stories into one.

Love me some good small town Swedish drama!!

camilla Lackberg does it again. Love these characters. there are quite a few to keep up with in this twisted mystery, and oh so worth it. what's great about this series is you have to read in sequence. I missed this one after reading books 1 &2, but came back to this one after a span of time,,,,, it didn't give anything away. I love how she can make that possible. not an easy task

Too many plots

The story was alright, but I found that there were too many subplots to keep track of.

Interesting but confusing

The book was good but it was hard to follow the story at times. One of the main characters changed her name. The reader does not know this until the end, making the story difficult to understand.

Worst narrator ever

Any additional comments?

This narrator is so hammy and pleased with himself that he rolls his Rs. For the first time in many years of Books on Tape and then Audible, I had to stop listening and go to the public library for a print copy in order to finish the book.

I thought it would never end.

I read mysteries for three things: strong plot, complex character development, and evocation of place. This book fails on all three fronts. While it is an interesting exploration of the myriad ways that women crack and break under the stress of rigid patriarchal systems, the parallel plot lines--one from the past and the main one in the present--are not equal. The characters from the past are flat and stereotypical, while those in the present are better developed but unbelievably dense! Even our hero, the erstwhile detective Patric, "forgets" things that are essential to good police work and misses something in an interview he listens to again and again that the reader catches immediately. Worst to my thinking, is the failure to make Fjällbacka come alive, as Lackberg did with much better success in The Ice Princess. Except for a couple of brief scenes, this story could have happened anywhere (which may be Lackberg's point, but still, Fjällbacka is too colorful and interesting not to play a role in the story).

The reader is frankly terrible. Thorn would be fine if he would just read in a normal voice, but he gives all the characters fake British accents, randomly assigning Cockneyesque, Scottish, and even vaguely Australianesque accents to distinguish among the characters, which polishes off the tendency of the book (especially the storyline from the past) to caricature. The mystery is interesting enough to read as part of the growing body of Swedish mysteries (I finished it, grudgingly), but I would recommend reading this one in print, so you can skim over the slower parts and do your own "voices."

Undeveloped characters and way too many.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. Way too long; too many extraneous characters. Simplistic writing. Maybe it was the translation from Swedish to English, but the charcters were more like caricatures.

What could Camilla Läckberg have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Cut it in half, and leave the good parts.

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

No.

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

Definitely not.

Disappointing...

Loved the narrator, not enough history to tie to the title. Predictable characters.

The story was hard to follow

The story was very hard to follow. There were too many different scenarios going on and the author did not do a good job of making the connections between the various plots. At times is was hard to know which plot the author was writing about because only pronouns were used. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

The narrator was very good.