The Ice Child by Camilla Lackberg

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Wanting something I could apply towards the Books in Translation, European, Cloak and Dagger and Library Love reading challenges I decided to take a chance on Swedish crime author Camilla Lackberg’s 2016 novel The Ice Child after repeatedly seeing it, along with a number of her author novels in the mystery section of my small town public library. At times I’m hesitant to explore an unfamiliar writer but after having good luck with her countrymen Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson I optimistically dived in. It didn’t take long for me to realize I’d made the right choice.

One cold, winter day in rural Sweden a teenage girl wearing nothing more than a blanket is spotted wandering down the middle of the highway. Before anyone can react a speeding car accidentally slams into the girl inflicting life-threatening injuries. Later, at the hospital she’s identified as a local girl who’s been missing for four months. According to attending physicians she’s also been subjected to absolutely horrible physical abuse. To make matters worse investigating Detective Patrik soon suspects whoever abducted and tortured her is also responsible for a string of missing girls across Sweden. If so  they too could be experiencing the same unspeakable horrors.

While this is going on, Patrik’s crime writer wife Erica is busy investigating a decades old murder of an abusive husband by his abused wife. Convicted of stabbing him after years of abusing both her and their daughter something about the case nevertheless continues to bug Erica. After personally interviewing the convicted woman in prison and visiting the crime scene new insights begin to emerge. Much to Erica’s surprise the murder, despite happening years ago has some connection to the case her husband Patrik and his colleagues are currently investigating.

There’s a lot of moving parts to this crime thriller. In addition to a complex plot there’s a number of ancillary characters who at first feel a tad too many. But alas little, if not nothing of this is superfluous since by the novel’s end Lackberg has skillfully woven every apparent loose end together. The result is an entertaining piece of Scandanavian crime fiction that’s inspired me to read more from this talented author.

Library Loot

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Even though I’m working my way through Sheldon Whitehouse’s The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court as well as Christine Mangan’s Palace of the Drowned that didn’t stop me from dropping by the library this week and loading up on five more books. Except for one, all of these books are historical novels by British authors. As always I hope to apply these towards a number of reading challenges, especially the Library Love Reading Challenge. Looks like that towering stack of library books by my reading chair just got a bit taller.

Once Upon a Time in Russia: The Rise of the Oligarchs―A True Story of Ambition, Wealth, Betrayal, and Murder by Ben Mezrich (2015) –  Over 20 years has passed but I still remember a co-worker raving about Mezrich’s earlier book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Knowing I can’t understand today’s Russia without learning about its notorious oligarchs I might end up reading this sole nonfiction book of the bunch for the European Reading Challenge.

The Dark Clouds Shining by David Downing (2018) – After having good luck last year with Downing’s Jack of Spies and One Man’s Flag I figured I’d try another of his Jack McColl novels. Another one for the Historical Fiction and Cloak and Dagger reading challenges.

Dangerous Women by Hope Adams (2021) – A murder mystery set onboard a a women’s convict ship bound for Australia in 1841 sounds perfect for the Historical Fiction, Cloak and Dagger and Immigration reading challenges.

Tyrant by Conn Iggulden (2025) – In one of my earlier posts I mentioned wanting to read historical fiction from periods other than World War II. Since I’ve never read any work of fiction set in Ancient Rome this will be a first.

1979 by Val McDermid (2021) – Every time I saw this one on the shelf I was tempted to borrow it. A few days ago sucked in by its bold, retro cover art  I finally did. Another one for the Historical Fiction and Cloak and Dagger reading challenges.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading to encourage bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write-up your post, steal the Library Loot icon and link your post using the Mr. Linky on Claire’s blog.

Book Beginnings: Egypt by Nick Drake

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 26 in 26 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

I stared down at five severed heads that lay in the dust, at the god-forsaken crossroads, in the small dark hour before dawn.

Last week I featured Camilla Lackberg’s 2016 Scandinavian crime novel The Ice Child. Before that it was Jason Burke’s 2025 The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s. This week it’s Nick Drake’s 2011 historical mystery Egypt: The Book of Chaos.

This week’s selection, like Kim Barnes’s In the Kingdom of Men, Tom Rob Smith’s The Secret Speech and David Bezmozgis’s The Free World I found in the discard bin at my public library. Initially, I found this practice of discarding perfectly good books disturbing. But like I’ve said before if they’re gonna keep throwing out decent books I might as well keep taking them. Especially when it has an opening line like that.

Compared to say, 10 years ago my consumption of historical fiction has definitely increased thanks in no small part to the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge. Like a lot of readers I gravitate towards novels set during World War II, especially in Nazi-occupied Europe. However, for 2026 reading-wise I’ve vowed to explore different periods of history. So far I’m off to a modest start with Kim Leine’s The Colony of Good Hope set in 1720s Greenland and Jane Rogers’s Mr. Wroe’s Virgins set in England roughly a hundred years later. A novel set in ancient Egypt would be a first to me and definitely fits the bill. Plus, being a mystery I can also apply it towards the Cloak and Dagger Reading Challenge.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about Egypt by Nick Drake. 

The future of Egypt lies in the hands of the Medjay’s chief detective Rahotep in the final, gripping installment of Nick Drake’s acclaimed Ancient Egyptian trilogy. Following Nefertiti and Tutankhamun, Egypt: The Book of Chaos puts Rahotep on a high-stakes adventure across enemy empires and rogue states on a top-secret mission to secure the fate of the dynasty. Readers of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra and anyone fascinated by ancient cultures and unspoken secrets will be instantly drawn in by Drake’s magisterial recreation of one of history’s great unsolved mysteries. Incorporating his own research through the sites,monuments, ruins, and museums of Egypt, Drake brings vividly back to life anera long ago swallowed by the shifting sands of time in this powerful novel ofloyalty, ambition, struggle, and destiny.

Library Loot

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Even though still I’m working my way through Moudhy Al-Rashid’s Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History, Alexandra Richie’s Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising and about to start Sheldon Whitehouse’s The Scheme: How the Right Wing Used Dark Money to Capture the Supreme Court that didn’t stop me from dropping by the library late last week and borrowing four more books. As always I hope to apply these towards a number of reading challenges. Looks like that towering stack of library books by my reading chair isn’t going away anytime soon and just got a bit taller.

The Ice Child by Camilla Lackberg (2016) – Like I mentioned in my previous post I’m 150 pages into this one and really liking it. I’ll be applying this piece of Swedish crime fiction towards the Books in Translation, European, Cloak and Dagger and Library Love reading challenges.

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict (2019) – After having good luck with The Other Einstein and The Personal Librarian I thought I’d give Benedict’s historical novel about the amazing life of Austrian-born actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr a try. In addition to the above mentioned European and Library Love reading challenges I’m hoping to read this one for the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Outrage by Arnaldur Indridason (2012) – From Operation Napoleon to The Shadow District to Black Skies I’ve enjoyed the Scandinavian crime fiction of Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason. Like The Ice Child I’ll be reading this one for multiple reading challenges.

The Postcard by Anne Berest (2023) – There’s no shortage of historical fiction set in France during World War II. However,  in the English-speaking world anyway almost all of it is by American and British authors. Berest is French and her award-winning novel received tons of accolades and looks quite promising.

Library Loot is a weekly event co-hosted Claire from The Captive Reader and Sharlene from Real Life Reading to encourage bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library. If you’d like to participate, just write-up your post, steal the Library Loot icon and link your post using the Mr. Linky on Claire’s blog.

Book Beginnings: The Ice Child by Camilla Lackberg

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 26 in 26 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

The horse could smell the fear even before the girl emerged from the woods.

Last week I featured Jason Burke 2025 The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s. Before that it was Christine Mangan’s 2021 historical novel Palace of the Drowned. This week it’s Camilla Lackberg’s 2016 Scandinavian crime novel The Ice Child.

I spotted this one at the public library a few weeks ago but restrained myself knowing there’s already a pile of library books by my reading chair needing to be read. After dropping by the library few days ago to return a few books I happened to see The Ice Child again and this time my curiosity got the better of me. After all, it’s hard to say no to a book I can apply towards the European, Books in Translation, Cloak and Dagger and Library Love reading challenges. I’m familiar with Swedish crime authors Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson but Camilla Lackberg is a new one to me. However, I can tell you I’m already 150 pages into this novel and can’t wait to read more of her stuff.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about The Ice Child.

January, Fjällbacka. A semi-naked girl wanders through the woods in freezing cold weather. When she finally reaches the road, a car comes out of nowhere. It doesn’t manage to stop.

By the time Detective Patrik Hedström receives word of the accident, the girl has already been identified. Four months ago she disappeared on her way home from the local riding school, and no one has seen her since. It quickly becomes clear that she has been subjected to unimaginably brutal treatment. And it’s likely she’s not the only one.

Meanwhile, Patrik’s wife, crime writer Erica Falck, is looking into an old case – a family tragedy that led to a man’s death. His wife was convicted of murder, but Erica senses that something isn’t right. What is the woman hiding? As Erica digs deeper, the past starts to cast a shadow over the present and Patrik is forced to see his investigation in a whole new light.

Mr. Wroe’s Virgins by Jane Rogers

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Years ago I did one of those beach getaways in which a ton of people get together and rent a big house for the weekend. During one of our more quieter and sober moments a few of us wandered into town and did a little sightseeing. As we went from from shop to shop some of us stuck our heads in a little bookstore and had a look around. As I perused the many offerings one book happened to catch my eye. Those days I tended to shy away from historical fiction but nevertheless I was intrigued by Jane Rogers’s Mr. Wroe’s Virgins: A Haunting Literary Novel of Victorian Women, Faith, and Independence. Though I didn’t end up buying it, I did however want to to read it. But like so many books I’ve run across over the years I never got around to it.

Two years ago feeling equal parts curious and nostalgic I bought an ebook of Mr. Wroe’s Virgins for my Kindle. Wanting something I could apply towards both the Historical Fiction and European reading challenges last week I decided to finally give Rogers’s work of historical fiction a try.

Set in the English mill town of Ashton-Under-Lyne in the late 1820s during the later years of the First Industrial Revolution Prophet John Wroe of the Christian Israelite church receives a command from God he be granted seven virgins for his “comfort and succour.” His congregation responds by offering up their daughters (and one niece) and the seven young women move to Wroe’s farm house where they take up shop performing assorted household chores and light farm duties and reading Wroe his evening scripture passages. Our immediate expectation is this arrangement is nothing more than a ruse for Wroe to indulge his polygamous desires. But, at least in the beginning it looks more like a convenient way to conscript domestic labor.

Reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible the novel is told from the perspective of four of the women. Joanna is a true believer and takes on a kind of mother superior role. Leah enters Wroe’s household as a secret single mom after recently having a child with her British soldier lover and sees the arrangement is an ideal opportunity to raise her infant daughter away from the prying eyes of society. Hannah isn’t member of Wroe’s church but has been dumped on him by her uncle, and feels abandoned and adrift after both the death of her father and her fiancé’s decision to leave her for an Owenite utopian community in New Harmony, Indiana. Lastly, Martha thanks to years of unspeakable abuse at the hands of her father possess a demeanor that borders on feral.

Mr. Wroe’s Virgins is set against a chaotic and frequently painful backdrop of an England transitioning from a mostly rural society of peasant farming to an industrial one. Workers (increasing numbers of them women and children)  are forced to work long hours under horrible conditions with less and less pay. Poorly paid, poorly fed and no social safety net to speak these working poor find little choice but to join the growing workers’ movement. Before long Hannah too joins this struggle and end up teaching basic literacy to impoverished workmen. Happy to help improve the lives of others she soon finds a new purpose to her life, one having nothing to do either Wroe’s church or her former beau.

Like so many communities, from Turkish harems to modern office environments among the subordinates of Wroe’s household jealousies and power struggles materialize and alliances form and dissolve. But perhaps most interesting of all is the Prophet Wroe himself. Like the fabled blind men describing an elephant each of the four women see him in a different light. Through their varying perspectives we readers are left wondering if he’s God’s duly appointed prophet, a charlatan, or some sort of hapless victim of his own making, unable to control what he’s put in motion. Or even all three things combined.

Book Beginnings: The Revolutionists by Jason Burke

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 26 in 26 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

This is a book about violence, and people who use it in an effort to bring about radical change. Specifically, it deals with the violent expression of political and religious extremism between the late 1960s and the early 1980s that we have come to call terrorism.

Last week I featured Christine Mangan’s 2021 historical novel Palace of the Drowned. Before that it was David Bezmozgis’s 2011 historical novel The Free World. This week it’s Jason Burke’s 2025 The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s.

Coming of age during the 70s and 80s it felt like every other night on the evening news some terrorist group or another had hijacked a jetliner, set off a bomb or was holding someone hostage. You found yourself glued to the screen, intensely following along with equal parts dread and fascination. Half a century or so later if you’re like me you look back, reminisce and ask just how horrible and prevalent these incident were. Plus, when compared to today’s violent extremists they look like they’re from another world. Yesterday’s terrorists like the PLO and IRA were national liberation movements while radical Marxist groups like the Baader-Meinhof Gang and Japanese Red Army were hellbent on world revolution. Today, outside the USA Al-Qaeda and ISIS draw from a deep well of Sunni religious ideology while domestically, far right and Neo-Nazi groups are our main concern.

After hearing author Jason Burke interviewed on both the Cold War Conversations and Lawfare podcasts I knew I had to read his latest book. Recommended by a host of fine publications including The Economist, Financial Times and The Guardian and its praises sung by notables like Neil MacFarquhar, Lawrence Wright and Rory Stewart last week I broke down and bought an ebook for my Kindle. As always I have a tower of books by my chair begging to be read. But even so, this one has been calling my name.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about The Revolutionists.

In the 1970s, an unprecedented wave of international terrorism broke out around the world. More ambitious, networked and far-reaching than ever before, new armed groups terrorized the West with intricately planned plane hijackings and hostage missions, leaving governments scrambling to cope. Their motives were as diverse as their methods. Some sought to champion Palestinian liberation, others to topple Western imperialism or battle capitalism; a few simply sought adventure or power. Among them were the unflappable young Leila Khaled, sporting jewelry made from AK-47 ammunition; the maverick Carlos the Jackal with his taste for cigars, fine dining, and designer suits; and the radical leftists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang or the Japanese Red Army. Their attacks forged a lawless new battlefield thirty thousand feet in the air, evading the reach of security agencies, policymakers, and spies alike. Their operations rallied activist and networks in places where few had suspected their existence, leaving a trail of chaos from Bangkok to Paris to London to Washington, D.C.

Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime Spy by Ben Macintyre

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For the last couple of years I’ve heard nothing but great things about espionage author Ben Macintyre. So last October I decided to give him a chance and borrowed a copy of his 2020 book Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Daring Wartime Spy. Sadly, after a promising start I got distracted by another book and had to return it to the library after reading just a few dozen pages. Recently, after finding myself in the mood for more spy stuff I gave the book another shot. This time I quickly whipped through Agent Sonya from cover to cover. Not only did I enjoy it, I’m fully confident Agent Sonya will go down as one of my favorite books of 2026.

Born Ursula Kuczynski in 1907 in the Schöneberg district of Berlin by the time she reached young adulthood Ursula found herself passionately at odds with Germany’s Weimar regime. A member of the German Communist Party of Germany (KPD), her participation in a May Day demonstration would get her fired from her position at a Berlin publishing house. But after a brief stint in New York City she returned to Germany where she married fellow party member and up and coming architect Rudolf Hamburger, and later the two relocated to Shanghai. There she rubbed shoulders with several prominent fellow travelers but it was one in particular, fellow German and super spy Richard Sorge who helped put her on the path to being a spy. After undergoing training in Moscow Ursula retuned to Shanghai and served as the Kremlin’s ears and eyes in China. She would spend the following years transmitting coded intelligence dispatches to the USSR while managing to stay one step ahead of Chinese Nationalist, and later Japanese spy catchers.

Over the next few decades she criss-crossed Europe spying for the Soviet Union earning the rank of colonel in the Red Army. She was also married twice and had three children with three different men, all of different nationalities (a German, Baltic Russian and an Englishman). Miraculously, unlike countless others in the Soviet military and intelligence services she was never recalled to Moscow and shot or imprisoned. (However, her former husband wasn’t so lucky and was imprisoned for years in the Gulag.) Indeed luck was on her side, since had it not been for the utter incompetence of a high-ranking MI-5 officer she almost certainly would have been apprehended while spying in England.

It was in England that Ursula pulled off her greatest espionage coup. Serving as spy handler for refugee German physicist Klaus Fuchs she facilitated the transfer of reams of intelligence to the USSR that helped jump start its nuclear weapons program, thus allowing it develop an atomic bomb years ahead of schedule. Eventually, realizing her luck was running out she slipped out of England and resurfaced in East Germany. Ursula lived out the rest of her life in the communist state and even wrote a best-selling autobiography recalling her globe-trotting adventures.

Agent Sonya is a fun read and perfect for spy aficionados and history buffs alike. Please consider it highly recommended.

A Bookseller in Madrid by Mario Escobar

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How could I not resist Mario Escobar’s 2025 historical novel A Bookseller in Madrid when I came across it one Saturday afternoon at the public library?  A piece of historical fiction by a Spanish author set in a Madrid bookstore founded by a German expat checked all the boxes as far as my reading challenges. Therefore, I happily helped myself to it, confident I could apply it towards the European, Bookish Books, Books in Translation, Historical Fiction, Cloak and Dagger, Immigration, and Library Love reading challenges. After reading just a few pages I knew I’d made the right choice.

It’s the 1930s and Berliner Barbara Spiel can see the Nazis are leading Germany to ruin. Daughter of a liberal politician, the intellectually-gifted young woman with a boundless love of books fears for the safety of her family, but also that of other, progressive minded individuals living in Germany. One such person she fears for is Françoise Frenkel, Jewish emigre and owner of Berlin bookstore La Maison du Livre. (Author of whose memoir I featured last month.) Known as the city’s go-to store for French literature it’s here Barbara meets a young socialist parliamentarian from Spain. Romance quickly blossoms and with the Nazi threat growing by the day she follows her new beau to Madrid.

In the Spanish capital she finds refuge with a small community of like-minded German expats associated with a Lutheran church and its school. In Madrid she builds a life a new life by getting married and starting a family of her own. Despite being told “Spaniards aren’t readers” she knows otherwise and opens her own successful bookstore, and like Frenkel’s in Berlin it too becomes a Mecca for intellectuals and progressives. With her husband’s rising political career, a growing family and owner of a celebrated bookstore life is good for Barbara.

However, Spain is rife with political instability and ready to explode. Eventually, arch-traditionalists lead by reactionary army generals with support from the Catholic Church revolt against Spain’s leftist government and launch the Spanish Civil War. For the next few years the young Spanish Republic, with some support from the USSR struggles to stave off defeat at the hands of Franco’s Nationalists, a formidable fighting force well-armed by Germany and Italy. As the conflict becomes a kind of proxy war between European powers agents of both Germany and Great Britain attempt to recruit Barbara. Against her wishes she finds herself an unwitting participant in a deadly cloak and dagger battle. Eventually, after Franco’s Nationalists emerge victorious Barbara and her husband are declared enemies of the state. Spain, once a safe haven must be fled at all costs.

In addition to the above-mentioned Françoise Frenkel several other real historical figures show up in A Bookseller in Madrid including German theologian, anti-Nazi dissident and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Not just a work of historical fiction there’s elements of suspense as well as espionage. Surprisingly, there’s even some religious overtones. (Both Escobar and his American translator are experienced in the field.) This, combined with the novel’s quick pace and great storytelling make A Bookseller in Madrid an enjoyable read and a strong candidate to make my year-end list of Favorite Fiction come December.

Book Beginnings: Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan

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Not only does Gilion host the European Reading Challenge and TBR 26 in 26 Challenge on her Rose City Reader blog but also Book Beginnings on Friday. While I’m no stranger to her European Reading Challenge, a few years ago I decided to finally participate in Book Beginnings on Friday. After taking last week off I’ve returned with another post.

For Book Beginnings on Friday Gilion asks us to simply “share the opening sentence (or so) of the book you are reading this week, or just a book that caught your fancy and you want to highlight.”

MY BOOK BEGINNING

                                    Rome, November 1966
Outside the Roma Termini station, she came to an abrupt halt.

Last week I featured David Bezmozgis’s 2011 historical novel The Free World. Before that it was Alexandra Richie’s 2013 Warsaw 1944: Hitler, Himmler, and the Warsaw Uprising. This week it’s Christine Mangan’s 2021 historical novel Palace of the Drowned.

Something tells me that before the end of the year I’ll have read a half dozen or so historical novels set in Italy. Already next to my reading chair are David Bezmozgis’s above-mentioned The Free World and Virginia Baily’s Early One Morning, both set in Italy.  Keeping with this trend the other day at the public library I borrowed a copy of Palace of the Drowned since it was recommended by the staff. For some strange reason or reasons of all the countries of Western Europe Italy probably fascinates me the most. Germany might be be a close second with the United Kingdom not far behind and Spain rising fast.) Fortunately for me I’ll be able to apply all three of these towards the Historical Fiction Reading Challenge.

Here’s what Amazon has to say about Palace of the Drowned.

It’s 1966 and Frankie Croy retreats to her friend’s vacant palazzo in Venice. Years have passed since the initial success of Frankie’s debut novel and she has spent her career trying to live up to the expectations. Now, after a particularly scathing review of her most recent work, alongside a very public breakdown, she needs to recharge and get re-inspired.

Then Gilly appears. A precocious young admirer eager to make friends, Gilly seems determined to insinuate herself into Frankie’s solitary life. But there’s something about the young woman that gives Frankie pause. How much of what Gilly tells her is the truth? As a series of lies and revelations emerge, the lives of these two women will be tragically altered as the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice ravages the city.