#16

Call Me Princess by Sara Blaedel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A young woman is brutally raped in her own home and Detective Inspector Louise Rick is given the case. Subsequent investigation reveals the fact that the young woman met her assailant at an online dating website.

The perils of Online Dating are the focus of this story. The ubiquity of the phenomenon and the supposed anonymity of the participants.

I found this to be a good mystery, story wise....but the entire tone of the book was a bit dry, and bloodless. Something I'll chalk up to it being a translation. I did not find it as compelling as Stieg Larsson's work...to which it's been compared. ScandiCrime has become one of the darlings in publishing, lately....and any work containing potential "thrills" seems to be fair game. a pity, that..since this book is pretty low key. The addition of glimpses into Rick"s rocky personal life was a good touch....lacking sentimentality, they, again, proved that high stress jobs wreck havoc on romance.

There were enough plot twists in the story to keep it moving...some good insights into the feeding frenzy of the "tabloid" publishing mentality....and the fact that every job situation has its pompous dead weight.

I did enjoy this book, and would like to read more of Ms Blaedel's work. Recommended, but don't expect heart-stopping thrills...Louise Rick is no Liz Salander...but she works hard and gets the job done.

(3 Stars)