Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: November 8, 2022
Anne Mette Hancock brings her Danish detective series, Kaldan and Schafer (first seen in the first novel, “The Corpse Flower), back for a second time with the second novel, “The Collector”.
A ten year old boy disappears from his school in the middle of the day, vanishing without a trace. No one saw the boy being taken, and everyone who knows him swears he is compliant, sweet and loving. When detective Eric Schafer is called to the scene, the boys’ jean jacket is found submerged in a frozen lake, covered in the blood of a war veteran; a war veteran whose dead body was also just discovered. As Schafer scrambles to uncover the connection, investigative journalist Heloise Kaldan is desperate to break the case open, regardless of the consequences.
Hancock’s series is different from other police procedural novels in that the lead protagonists are friends, working in two entirely separate fields, and are not detective partners. Schafer is a detective, sure, but Kaldan is a journalist, and the two are connected by a long-time friendship. Schafer is in a long-term, committed marriage, and Kaldan is involved as well, so there are no obvious romantic intentions between the two, which is refreshing in this genre.
The chapters are short and tantalizing, making the novel a quick page-turner. There is no shortage of drama either; with dysfunctional relationships, addiction and pareidolia (a phenomenon where sufferers see faces in inanimate things) at its centre. Hancock’s characters are well developed, and there are enough background players to make the final whodunit completely unexpected.
Set against the freezing backdrop of a Danish winter, “The Collector” is sure to give you chills.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

The second in a series starring Danish detectives Kaldan and Schafer, the novel begins with the disappearance of a young school child and one thing is for sure, many people are keeping secrets.

I felt that this remained a very slow burn of a novel even though I read the majority of the novel in one sitting. There was a little too much purple prose in some chapters and I really felt the novel worked best when it was just focused on the investigation. There was a lot of sub stories that ran alongside the mystery and I felt some ran perpendicular to a child's disappearance. I felt some of the relationships between characters was a bit strange. Yet I ask myself if it is a translation issue or the fact that I didn't read book one?

All in all, an okay book but not my favorite.






Goodreads review published 03/08/22
Expected Publication Date 08/11/22


#TheCollector #NetGalley

I think the author had the right idea with the plot but the characters were problematic. I’m not sure if it was the translation aspect or cultural differences that were lost in translation. It seems out of date to have middle eastern terrorist characters and frankly offensive and racist. I had to give a lower rating because of this. Thank you NetGalley!

One of last year’s surprise finds for me was The Corpse Flower which was the opening story by Anne Mette Hancock featuring Journalist Heloise Kaldan and Detective Erik Schäfer. The story demonstrated a very confident author and great promise for her future career. Containing some very dark elements, I felt the novel took the reader explore a few areas that other novels have been reluctant to venture too, particularly for the female protagonists.

Following shortly after the events of the previous novel, The Collector is also translated by Tara Chase who also translates Hancock’s fellow Danish author Katrine Engberg, Heloise Kaldan has personal business to attend to at the surgery when the doctor consulting her suddenly receives a very worrying family call. It soon transpires that a 10 year old boy Lukas has disappeared from the school that Kaldan’s closest friend’s young daughter attends. Getting there very early she discovers that Erik Schäfer who has recently returned from St Lucia in the Caribbean is on the case for the Copenhagen police department. While his disappearance was established at pick up time, it soon becomes clear that Lukas has been missing from the moment that he was dropped off at school that morning and nobody needs reminding that the longer a child is missing, the greater the likelihood that they have come to serious harm.

While willing to support Kaldan as a friend, particularly as she encounters problems with her boyfriend Martin, Schäfer is reluctant to share too much police information with a member of the press. However as the police encounter several dead ends Kalden probes her friend Greta on Lukas’ background. Like the earlier story, The Collector explores some people with interesting characteristics who could perhaps be seen as on the fringes of society. Lukas has a fascination with pareidolia – seeing faces in random objects. Another character who becomes a suspect is suffering from severe PTSD. Most peculiar of all is Finn who I assume is the collector mentioned in the title who likes to give fruit to some of the children from the local school. Could this seemingly innocent activity be hiding something more sinister? While the lack of social norms is portrayed by some, these also apply to some extent Kaldan who is single minded and often doesn’t consider the consequences of her actions while, and Schäfer also has trauma of his own that his has to manage. While as some clues are eventually discovered, the investigation is lead is unexpected ways.

The Collector is a very solid police procedural which allows Kaldan and Schäfer to become fuller characters. While perhaps not breaking as much ground as The Corpse Flower, this story will certainly further establish Hancock ass an exciting crime fiction writer. I am very keen to see how her series progresses in future novels.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books for access to The Collector which will be published in the USA on 10 November 2022.

The Collector is Anne-Mette Hancock’s second crime novel. This time a pregnant Heloise Kaldan has to investigate over Lukas Bjerre, a 10-year-old boy missing from Nyholm School with an obsession with pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon in which random patterns are interpreted as faces.

Agent Erik Schafer, after a sweet honeymoon with his wife, is back at work and has to recompose all of the pieces of this intriguing puzzle involving a man with a pathological fixation on young children, a former soldier suffering severe PTSD and found dead in his house, a mysterious and rancorous father and an alcohol addicted mother.

Was Lukas abducted by someone? Was Lukas’s disappearance a voluntary one? Was Lukas still alive? These are the questions that immediately arise after reading the first pages, but we are left completely astonished when we reach the last few pages and discover that our first assumptions were completely wrong. This is what makes this novel a very page-turner. I highly recommend it to lovers of well-written crime stories. 5 out of 5 stars

A boy goes missing and the police are trying to find out what happend. He seems like a happy child from a happy family but the detectives are not convinced.. Then, his school backpack is found, but not the boy. Nice, I did not expect at the ending.

I did not enjoy this book as much as the first in the series and found its handling of domestic violence and portrayal of Middle Eastern people to be highly problematic.

Spoilers ahead, tw: for racism and domestic violence.

I was disappointed in the difference between Martin's characterisation in book 1 vs. book 2. It seemed like Hancock was just looking for an excuse to get rid of him and his violence towards Kaldan didn't add anything for the storyline or her character development. They could have had that exact fight without it escalating to violence for the same level of impact on the plot. It was also disappointing to see Schafer do a complete 180 from trying to help Kaldan recover from Martin's attack to being incredibly aggressive towards Kalden for interfering with his story, all within the same scene. Up until that point Schafer had been a heroic character, one Kalden could trust to seek the truth, yet he didn't bother to find out the full truth of why Kalden went through his files before condemning her. Kalden also didn't appear to be impacted by the physical or verbal violence from the two most important men in her life, which seemed to be an unrealistic reaction from her given her reaction to her father's crimes.

Even more troublesome was that the only Brown people in the books so far, the only representatives of Middle Eastern immigrants, were portrayed as violent terrorists seeking revenge on Danish soldiers. Hancock brings a level of humanity to other side characters, like the old woman Kalden encounters while searching for the missing boy and the man with a learning disability who works at the local grocery, but there was no humanity in any of the 4 Afghani characters. They were just copies of a Charlie Hebdo caricature in written form. To me it revealed more about the author's own attitude towards Muslims and Middle Eastern people than it added to the story itself.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for an honest review.

I was not sure about this book, although I enjoyed it it didn't enthrall me. I thought the whole pareidolia thing could have centered more in the story rather than just being an off the side clue.

I also found that things were mentioned and just glossed over such as alcohol issues and domestic violence/abuse. These could have been explored more deeply.

This is possibly a book best read in the original language. I do feel that the translation possibly let it down. Maybe it's because it was done by an American that the language and grammar seemed so off. The characters were all unlikeable. Heloise with an H spent the whole time whinging. Some seriously awful stereotypes. Issues such as domestic violence, child abuse, addiction are not dealt with very well. Preconceived negative views are pandered to. The detective seemed to be particularly stupid not seeing what was right in front of him that the rest of us could see telegraphed for miles. Ending was OK. A lot of things were left unexplained
If I see anymore of this author's books I will check the translator before reading

This was fast-paced story I had a hard time putting down. I did not read the first book in the series but I plan to do so. Highly recommend!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

My thoughts: This book grabbed me from the first chapter but then really slowed down for me and I’m the type of reader who needs a “go go go” situation happening. The ending was really good and holy crap the way the book ends is insane. It will imply something but doesn’t actually say it and I absolutely loved that part! I think part of the reason I didn’t find it to be one of my absolute favourite books was because it was written with Danish names and streets and I am not from Denmark so that caused a fair amount of confusion.

This book was very fast paced and I love that ! I finished it in two days . I will say it just wasn’t for me , the storyline was ok , characters decent, ending was very good I was a little shocked. But overall it was ok . I would recommend as it’s not bad but just not my favorite

This book is very faced paced and keeps you interested. I saw the twist coming (which I hate but sometimes it is hard to avoid)
I have heard mixed reviews on this and I am afraid that I have to side with the would not recommend crowd. I found the characters a little annoying and while it was easy to read, it might have been too faced paced and left out information.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eARC copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.

This book is a quick read that is enjoyable. Hancock sets out just the right amount of information that kept me guessing, but not frustrated (or feeling like "there's no way that could have happened").

I rated it 4 stars until the last few pages, and then it got bumped up to 5 stars. My gosh, is that going to come up in the next book of the series?!

I've added Hancock to my list of authors I want to read more of. I cannot wait until the 3rd in this series comes out in English!

This was an interesting book. I enjoyed reading about Copenhagen. It was also educational! The science of seeing faces in everyday items.
Lots of action happened in the first half of the book with two mysteries going on. I didn’t know this was book 2 of a series. It seemed to be a good stand alone story.
I did get a bit confused with characters but the characters were described. It was a good mystery that kept. me up. It seemed to have a good conclusion
I rated it 4 out of 5 stars I will look for more from the series now that Ive been introduced to the characters. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for the chance to read the ARC and give my honest opinion

Rounded up from 3.5 stars
I liked this second book in the series but not as much as The Corpse Flower.
Shafer is still the gruff detective but I found Heloise more irritating this time around. The resolution was decent but the ending killed me! I kept scrolling, hoping there was an epilogue or another chapter! Overall, this is definitely a series I will keep reading!

When 10-year-old Lukas disappears from his Copenhagen school, police investigators discover that the boy had a peculiar obsession with pareidolia—a phenomenon that makes him see faces in random things. A photo on his phone posted just hours before his disappearance shows an old barn door that resembles a face. Journalist Heloise Kaldan thinks she recognizes the barn—but from where?

When Luke’s blood-flecked jacket is found in the moat at Copenhagen’s Citadel, DNA evidence points to Thomas Strand, an ex-soldier suffering from severe PTSD. But then Strand turns up dead in his apartment, shot in the head execution style.

What did the last person to see Lukas really witness that morning in the school yard? Was it really Lukas, or an optical illusion? Can you ever truly trust your eyes?

I loved the first book with these characters, The Corpse Flower, and gave it 5 stars. I enjoyed this book too, but maybe not quite as much.
Lukas, a 10 year old boy, disappears from his Copenhagen school. Outwardly Lukas has a good family life, his only quirk being pareidolia, a condition that makes him see faces in random things. Hours before he disappeared he posted a picture of a barn door and journalist Heloise Kaldan thinks she recognises it, believing that Lukas might be held there.
There were several threads running through this book, which kept it interesting. Another good book by this author and I look forward to more.

Thoroughly decent, although some of the relationships read as a little strange. A reasonably satisfying conclusion as well.

Thanks NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read The Collector. I thoroughly enjoyed this book but I felt throughout that I have seen this on tv - deja vu. Who knows. But a great thriller. Love the characters of Kaden and Schaffer- they never give up!!