Review by Booklist Review
Modern-day dating proves deadly in Danish crime queen Blaedel's compelling American debut, featuring Detective Inspector Louise Rick. When Copenhagen resident Susanne Hansson is brutally raped by a man she meets online, Detective Rick must track down the cybercriminal before he strikes again. Alas, she's not quick enough, and soon another young woman is assaulted. This time, the attack proves fatal. This clever online stalker, who uses handles like Mr. Noble and Prinzz, targets his victims through dating websites, and Detective Rick must plunge herself into the precarious world of digital courtship to catch him in the act. Alas, the detective, whose relationship with her longtime boyfriend is on the skids, would much rather take a reprieve from romance than dabble in the dating scene (even if only on the web). But when Susanne attempts suicide, Detective Rick must set aside her reservations to crack the case. Blaedel, who founded the first Danish publishing house dedicated to crime fiction, has rendered an eerily realistic thriller that crackles with crisp prose and steady suspense.--Block, Alliso. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Popular Danish crime author Blaedel makes her U.S. debut with this pedestrian procedural featuring Asst. Det. Louise Rick, Copenhagen PD, Unit A. Aggressive, tough-talking, and type A-cold, Rick investigates a series of savage rapes, beginning with an assault on Susanne Hansson, while Rick's workaholism fatally drains her relationship with her wimpish live-in lover, Peter. Since Susanne had met her attacker online, and later encountered him at one of the "real" parties that draw thousands of yearners after love, Rick pursues her subject into that addictive world. The detective's personal tribulations and her predictable problems with police administrators superficially counterpoint Stieg Larsson's "men who hate women" theme, while hinting at current social issues like Muslim immigration. Blaedel is best at probing the burgeoning tendency of the cyberworld to outcompete reality, where online relationships, like drug-induced visions, may seem deeper and far more intimate than genuine ones, only to vanish, leaving behind profound pain and sorrow. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Blaedel is the newest figure in the growing body of Scandinavian crime fiction writers who reach American readers. This is the Danish author's first book to be published in English but the second in her detective inspector Louise Rick series (the first won the Danish Crime Academy's Debutant Award). Rick works for the Copenhagen Police Homicide Squad and is investigating a brutal case of date rape. When she discovers that the rapist is using a popular Internet dating site to select his victims, she goes after him by creating an online profile. Meanwhile, her best friend, a crime journalist, is pressuring her to discuss the case, and Rick must tread the fine line between being a good friend and keeping police information from an aggressive reporter. She is also contending with serious relationship issues with her long-term boyfriend. VERDICT Blaedel has created an original, fast-paced plot featuring a strong female character and the timely topic of what can go wrong when one looks for love online. This will be popular among fans of Scandinavian writers such as HAkan Nesser, Kjell Eriksson, and Camilla Lackberg as well as readers who enjoy police procedurals set in foreign countries.-Jean King, West Hempstead P.L., NY (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Assistant Detective Louise Rick's second case, and the first to be published in the U.S., pits her and the Copenhagen Police Department against a particularly nasty serial rapist.Susanne Hansson leads a sheltered life that would be even more sheltered if her insinuating, domineering mother had anything to say about it. It's only natural for her to look for love online, and when she brings home a man for an after-dinner drink, she has every reason to expect that he'll continue to act like a gentleman. Instead she gets bound, gagged, beaten and raped by her date, who turns out to have given her a false name and address before vanishing into cyberspace. Swinging into action, Louise and lead investigator Henny Heilmann have greater success linking Susanne's assailant to at least one earlier rapethe two-year-old case of Karin Hvenegaard, a day-care teacher who still hasn't recovered from her attackthan rehabilitating the victim, who swallows a bottle of Tylenol in an attempt to escape not so much her traumatic memories as her relentlessly smothering mother. The investigators are even less successful with the next victim, realtor Christina Lerche, who's found dead on her bedroom floor. Stung by her suspicion of the new man her best friend, journalist Camilla Lind, has found online, and the defection of her live-in lover Peter to his pregnant co-worker, Louise creates a profile on the sinister site nightwatch.dk in hope of staking herself out as a Judas goat for the rapist.Middling detection, salty but occasionally clumsy English prose (no translator is credited). What makes this latest Scandinavian import special is Baedel's success in evoking her women's nagging fears about unfamiliar men, unfaithful lovers and bullying mothers.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
