Thank you Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Anne Mette Hancock for allowing me to read this ARC of The Corpse Flower. First of all it should have come with a trigger warning, but that would have been a spoiler. I loved the title and when Heloise visited the corpse flower and learned more about it. I didn’t like any of the characters though, and I felt like there were so many it was hard to keep them straight. I’m also used to books that get “started” earlier. Heloise gets the letters, but that was not very compelling to me, because it took so long to start to figure out what was going on. The story did pick up but I felt like it took too long for me.

The Corpse Flower was a great Mystery but the writing didnt serm right and it seemed to be a bit confusing. Almost like it wasnt checked for editing. So i couldnt finish it. It does have potential though.

Thank You Netgalley for allowing me to read this arc.

My opinons and thoughts are my own.

A dark and disturbing story with an interesting cast of characters. Some of the subject matters may be too sensitive for readers, but I enjoy a dark and twisted story. This book was hard to put down.

I enjoyed this one! It definitely has the dark, twisted, and creepy vibe! Heloise is a successful journalist who is basically on the brink of losing her job because one of her sources lied. With all of that stress going on she also starts to receive cryptic messages. Now, these cryptic messages are not just from anyone they are from an alleged killer.
Then, we have Officer Erik. He is still working on a fatal stabbing from three years prior. While he has his prime suspect Anna, he cannot connect her to the murder nor find motive for her. However, many of his clues are pointing him towards Heloise as his killer.
Then as Heloise starts digging into Anna's history and background some of her hidden past starts popping up. Now, she is faced with talking to someone she promised that she wouldn't talk to ever again.
I will warn readers there are a lot of twists and turns in this book and many of them are twisted and very dark to the point I think the readers of John Marrs and Caroline Krepnes would enjoy this book! I definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark twisty thrillers!

Jaw dropping. That’s putting it nicely. This book is not for the faint of heart.

The buildup starts slow but definitely pays off a few chapters in. Once the story starts building it doesn’t slow down. I was up until the wee hours reading page after page until I finished.

Reader beware there are some very uncomfortable parts to this book. If you are a trauma victim I would suggest steering clear.

Very intriguing book with descriptive language. The author does a fantastic job pulling in her readers initially. This fast and quick paced suspense won’t disappoint!

I think the disconnect for me with this book was the fact that it was translated and it’s hard for me to get into a book if I’m not in sync with the authors writing style. That being said, I did read this book all the way through and the fact that the storyline was interesting enough to keep me reading says a lot! A little dark at times but in an way that just made the book that much more suspenseful.

This book was very gripping and hard to put down. It did start a little slow, but after the first few chapters it definitely speeds up. I found myself wanting to stay up for just one more chapter! Like others have said, there is some triggering content regarding abuse, but it is crucial to the story. I would definitely read more from this author in the future.

Think of a story which seemingly leads you one way, but suddenly shows a completely different facet to all things that have been happening and ends up making you feel extremely sick and angry at the same time.  That is the Dutch novel 'The Corpse Flower' written by Anne Mette Hancock.

This is her first novel and it came out initially in 2017 and has won many acclaims since. It's not hard to see why. 

What we have got here are regular,  day-to-day people and how they navigate the situation they find themselves in. Almost all characters are cynical but are fairly open people as well. And they all get their space in the narrative while driving the narrative to some extent. 

Anna is one of the characters who is central to the story-line and the story is moved forward by her. But we don't get a conventional protagonist here. She is hardened,  cynical and a fighter. And she is also wanted for murder.  

Why she does what she does and what is primarily her motive form the crux of the story which I am not going to spoil for others. 

I will just conclude my review by saying that this book is a definite must-read for lovers of mystery-thrillers. Thanks to the author and Netgalley for providing the ARC; I truly enjoyed the book.

Firstly thankyou to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books and to Anne Mette Hancock.
I'll be posting my review on my Instagram and Goodreads account in the next few days.. I'll be happy to tag in Netgalley, the Publisher and the Author in my review.
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This book does have some graphic images, abuse, and death so it may cause triggers to some readers.

The novel is woven into three main point of views. Anna Keil, a fugitive wanted for murder, a Danish Journalist Heloise Kaldan, who happens to receive cryptic letters from no other than Anna Keil, and Detective Sergeant Erik Scafer, the lead detective in the Anna Keil Case.
I did enjoy the aspect of this book, I liked that it had a different ending than what I expected.
I thought it was creative to have a journalist doing some of the investigation work. I think it worked well in this book as Heloise didn't have to follow protocol compared to Erik Scafer. It makes the contents rather believable..
My only criticism would be I felt the characters were lacking some depth, personally I couldn't connect with them..

The Corpse Flower has all the characteristics of a good mystery with compelling characters and a story that keeps you guessing even through reveals, but ultimately it fell flat for me. I think some of the character depth was quite literally lost in translation though I’ve enjoyed foreign mysteries in the past.

Without giving spoilers other than a trigger warning for sexual abuse of a minor, the subject matter got much darker and more revolting for me than expected. There were several asides that didn’t quite connect as I feel they were intended to and while it was a very short read, it still felt too long and some of the foreshadowing felt contrived with a poor explanation. I didn’t feel like I was dying to get back to it, but the last 25% did get more interesting and pull it together.

Overall not going down as a favorite despite a plot I feel like should have worked.

Thank you #netgalley and #crookedlanebooks for the ARC

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Corpse Flower.

I love mysteries but I especially love revenge tales so I was pleased when my request was approved.

Told through the POVs of Heloise, a journalist, and the two detectives searching for the woman who murdered a prominent lawyer, the plot is deeply disturbing and complex as Heloise is drawn back into the past, to face the horrible truths of her family and to confront a woman intent on avenging her innocence.

There are horrific triggers here including sexual trafficking, sexual abuse, and pedophilia and the descriptions are for the faint of heart.

I enjoyed the story, especially the characters.

Heloise was likable and relatable and I enjoyed going along for the ride as she followed the clues and pieced the puzzle together.

I also liked Schafer. It was refreshing to read about a non-stereotypical male and female detectives, one who was not an alcoholic womanizer but happily married to a woman he loves and respects.

I did guess correctly as to the motive behind the murder and though the road to understanding the reason why was pretty lengthy (a hard edit couldn't hurt), I did enjoy getting to the ending, which was satisfying.

There were a few difficult to suspend disbelief moments like how the detectives are always one step behind Heloise; why Mossing would hire such an inept killer to protect his reputation (wouldn't someone with his wealth be able to hired a trained assassin?), and how Heloise is saved in the knick of time by her lover.

I was able to put these moments on the back burner because I wanted to see how it was all going to end.

Heloise's secret was jaw dropping and her repeated statements from earlier about not being able to trust made painful sense.

This is a solid debut and I would read the author's next book.

3 stars from me for "The Corpse Flower" by Anne Mette Hancock. It took me a fairly long time to get into this book. There was something about the writing style that made if difficult for me to get fully engrossed. Come to find out, this book was translated, and now it makes complete sense. Parts just didn't flow well and other parts just fell flat.

Putting the writing style, I did enjoy the story line, but again, not fully. I would find myself putting the book down and then not needing to pick it back up. There was nothing there truly pulling me back in. The story had all the right parts to being a good book, but it just did not hold my attention until maybe the last 25 % of the book?

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this novel.

Just okay, acceptable as a first novel, but could use with another round of edits.

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Amazing. What a debut! This novel was emotional and thrilling. Some of the content was hard to read but Anna was easy to champion and you wanted justice for her. Wonderfully written characters who had depth and intrigue. The ending was perfect.

Thank you for netgalley for this arc

The Corpse Flower is the gripping thriller you've been looking for. The book follows journalist Heloise as she receives letters from a murderer on the run. The characters in this book are captivating, and it definitely gave off Girl with a Dragon Tattoo vibes. I really enjoyed this one, even though some aspects were disturbing.

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I found that the premise and the pace of this story was perfect. I liked the overarching twist and was surprised but pleased overall with the conclusion. The most glaring problems I found were of the multiple times unnecissary body shaming was used. I made about a dozen notes of this throughout the book, which really pulled me away from the story and made me want to DNF it a few times. For example, when describing Heloise's "favorite coworker" he was described as, "morbidly obese and permanently sweating," and then goes on to state that he "sounded wheezy and breathless though he never engaged in activities that could cause his pulse to rise." There are several sections like this that I would have expected would have been edited out.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I received The Corpse Flower, but I will say that it was a thoroughly enjoyable book. There are some incredibly dark themes throughout that people should be aware of. This is one of those books that is hard to put down because you just need to know what’s going on. It’s going to be 4 stars from me.

Thanks so much to NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Corpse Flower by Anne Mette Hancock is a book I'd recommend for adult readers who enjoy a mystery/thriller and aren't bothered by some very dark and disturbing turns.

The novel is written in multiple points of view, following Heloise, a journalist struggling with a source caught lying; and Erik, the grizzled detective. There are also letters written to Heloise from Anna Kiel, an alleged killer. These letters are cryptic, to say the least.

The suspense ratchets up as Erik is investigating the original reporter on Anna's first murder, and Heloise is being encouraged by Anna to write about her. Is Anna back for revenge, or is there another responsible for these murders? Heloise finds herself being more and more intricately linked to these cases, and has to confront her past before any resolution can be found.

A fast-paced read, especially for readers who enjoy thrillers. I was a little hung up on terminology at times, but it didn't impede my overall understanding of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

Publish date: 12/10/21
Rating 4.5 stars

This is a really great Danish thriller. It’s the story of 2 female main characters. One a journalist, Heloise, the other a murderer, Anna. Like other books of the Scandinavian crime genre, it’s character driven and atmospheric. I found it to be a page turner and read it in one sitting. This is a very dark tale and there weren’t any trigger warnings preceding the story, so precede with caution if you have issues with reading about murder descriptions, violence and child sexual abuse and rape. I don’t think I have ever wanted a murderer to be so successful, as much I wanted Anna to be in this particular book. This was the first time I’ve read stories by this Author, by it won’t be the last.

Thank you to the Author, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for providing a complimentary digital ARC. I am providing an unbiased review of an eARC.