Inspector Conny Sjöberg and his police colleagues are perplexed by the brutal killing of a family in their Stockholm apartment.

With no clues, the murder inquiry starts with working out how was it possible for the mother, who worked as a cleaner, to afford a multi-million dollar property?

Despite a heavily reduced team, with experienced officers ill, injured or mysteriously missing, Sjöberg struggles to keep the investigation on the rails. But Conny has problems of his own – from a woman he cannot get out of his head, to a shocking revelation about his own past – all of which threaten to compromise the hunt for this heartless killer…

I feel like I should start this post by standing up and saying “Hi, my name is Emma and I’m addicted to books by Carin Gerhardsen” because this is third I’ve read in as many months.  Unfortunately, it is likely to the be last in a while as I’ve now caught up with series – a shame as I am officially hooked on the characters and what will happen to them next.  With each book the cast of detectives have become more well rounded and complex as their back stories are revealed, influencing the way they behave and the actions they take, including occasionally distracting them from their investigations.

In the Last Lullaby they are searching for the killer of a mother and her two young children.  When the description above says brutal, it is, though not gory – just shocking.  It also seems to be totally random.  The team can’t seem to find any reason anyone would want to kill the family or any prime suspects, though there is a mystery man they are keen to find.  Adding to their frustration is the fact that a key member of their team has gone absent without giving notice, meaning they are resourced and Sonny is having to do a lot of the legwork himself, rather than leading.

As with the other books in the series, the story is told in days, with each day (or part of a day) being a chapter.  This can make them quite long but they are broken up by looking at what different characters are doing on that particular day/time.  I like how this makes it feel like the investigation is unfolding “real-time” – like I’m discovering things at the same time as the detectives.

The writing style is sparse, though there is probably a better word for it, with not a word wasted and the plot fairly simple, focusing on the one killing and the back story of one detective in particular.  It was, however, no les enjoyable as a result because it is well written and has a good pace – not really letting up till the end.   A real page turner – I liked this one a lot!

Emma