The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe is a suspenseful psycological thriller in the tradition that has made Nordic Noire as disturbing and addictive as it is today. The body of a young woman is found murdered in the home of a controversial and abrasive CEO, a horrific crime that reminds the detectives of a murder from ten years ago.

In the home of CEO Jesper Orre, a corpse of a woman is found. She lies, beheaded with her head facing the front door, in some sick sort of greeting for all who enter. Orre is a abrasive man, cruel in business and his personal life, but there is nothing that would have led the police to believe he was capable of such a killing. What makes this murder all the more strange, is its resemblance to a murder that had happened ten years earlier. The body of a man was found, beheaded, his head facing the front door of his home as well.

Homicide Detectives Peter Lindgren and Manfred Olsson know that this murder is going to garner a great deal of attention. Orre's profile in the press has reporters creating all possible scenerios about the dead woman and the missing CEO. Hoping to narrow down a possible motive, the Detectives turn to retired profiler, Hanna Lagerlind-Schon. But Hanna has a secret of her own. A tragic love affair with one of the Detectives and a disease that is destroying her memories. It is only through meticulous note taking that Hanna is able to function throughout the day. The mystery surrounding the murder of the girl and the disappearance of Jesper Orre is a needed distraction for Hanna.

Emma Bohman is a young clerk in Orre's company and she has a secret. She is pregnant and the baby is the love child of Jesper Orre. But Orre is not returning her calls and has ignored all her messages. She is going to have to find him and find him quickly. It is one thing if he wants to end their relationship, but she won't let him treat their child this way. Emma is going to show up at Jesper's home and she is going to confront her lover.

Slowly, the pieces of what happened that day in Jesper's home come to light and what the Detectives learn make them believe that perhaps Jesper is not the killer. Maybe, Jesper is another victim.

There must be something in the air when you live in such frigid climates that changes the mindset of the people who live there. Like in Fargo, or in Dragon Tattoo or the criminal mysteries of Camilla Lackberg, there is something different and strange. The violence is darker and the hearts more callous. There is a human condition that is not necessarily evil, but it lends itself to the violence of survival. Not only of the elements, but of the world as a whole around them.

In The Ice Beneath Her, Grebe has carefully constructed a murder mystery through various narratives of a woman obsessed with a man she loves and she believes, loves her in return. Grebe has crafted the characters so well that at times we are more in tuned with their own personal lives than we are with the mystery that ties them together. The Detectives. Hanna. And of course, Emma.

It is Emma and her life that this tale is built around and it is Emma we eventually connect with. The young and naive girl who is seduced by a wealthy business man who convinces her that their relationship must be kept secret. It is Emma, who on that fateful day, goes to Jesper Orre's home that sets all the following events in motion. Events that end up with a decapitated body.

A dark, thought-provoking read.

Detective Peter Lindgren has just left the cemetery where he was visiting his mother’s grave to answer the call of a homicide at an upscale neighborhood in Stockholm. The body of the unidentified woman has been beheaded and the only clue the police have is that the owner of the apartment is the well-known executive Jesper Orre, who is missing. To add another twist, the detectives encountered the same gruesome scene 10 years ago.

As Detective Lindgren and his partner Detective Manfred Olsson begin their investigation there is also another woman trying to piece together where Jesper Orre is. Emma is a sales associate at one of Orre’s trendy clothing shops Clothes & More. She’s been keeping a secret from the other sales associates and that is that she’s engaged to Orre. Their secret affair quickly led to him proposing but Emma has lent Orre an incredible sum of money and now he’s missing.

Before you get too comfortable reading these narratives Grebe introduces Hanne Lagerlind-Schön, a criminal profiler who Lindgren and Olsson have worked with before. Hanne has her own past with Peter that she must reconcile and something else she’s trying to keep secret for a while longer but she is not one to pass up an opportunity to delve into a mystery.

How all three narratives come together was a surprise for me. I thought the author did a fabulous job of going back and forth between all characters to reveal their secrets and come to a shocking conclusion. I certainly will want to read more by this author.

Scandanavian noir is all the rage in mysteries. I've tried several- Henning Mankel, Arnaldur Indrithason,Peter Hoeg, Maj Sjowall,Jussi Adler-Olsen,Liza Marklund and of course Stieg Larsson-and have come to the conclusion that they just aren't for me. I read for escapism, and putting myself into the head of a depressed, often alcoholic person who's jaded about horrible murders just isn't my cup of tea. And it's funny, because I can and do read murder mysteries, sometimes dark ones. This particular kind of darkness isn't comfortable for me.

But I thought I'd try again! Sometimes female authors work better for me, and the premise of the book sounded like it could be interesting.

If I had to describe this book, I'd say it's a combination of "The Girl on the Train" and Henning Mankel, a dash of Peter Hoeg thrown in. There's an extremely depressed and detached detective with requisite tragic backstory. He gets called into a particularly gruesome murder, complete with decapitation. He's one viewpoint character. The other two are female. One is told in flashback, starting 2 months before the murder- a young girl who's both an employee of the murder suspect and his lover. The other is an older woman who does forensic psych profiles who is in the beginning stages of dementia. She's got a big thing for Greenland, hence the Peter Hoeg.

One of these people is not a reliable narrator. I'm actually starting to get a bit tired of this device. It's not shocking anymore because we've seen it so often. I did somewhat enjoy the glimpse into a different way of life in another country. I didn't so much enjoy seeing it through the eyes of three very unhappy people. Didn't some study say that Norway is the happiest country in the world? Sweden, if its mysteries are anything to go by, must be one of the unhappiest.

I loved this book! I love a good book about crazy people! It did not disappoint! Kept me guessing until the end!

Wow! I am so impressed with this author's writing! If you read the blurb, you get a hint at how crafted her writing is but that's just the tip of the iceberg. I LOVE that each character portrayed here talks in first person. I hate when the MC is in first person and then the others are told from the writer. Just turns me off. SO THIS, this novel telling was a breath of fresh air.

I don't want to give away anything critical to the plot so I will remain vague but I just have to say I was so satisfied with how smooth the story flowed. Realistic, yet entertaining and psychotic like. Dark. MY favorite!

It will be hard to follow up with a crime novel as good as this one!

My rating 4/5 stars

Loved this novel! This is a great crime novel which is heavy on characterization and lighter on the actual procedural elements. It switches between three narrators. First is Detective Peter Lindgren who is investigating the brutal murder of a woman found in CEO Jesper Orre's house who is now missing. Second is Hanne Lagerlind-Schon who has worked in the past with the police as a criminal profiler. She is now just beginning to suffer from early onset dementia. Finally, there is Emma, a young woman who is engaged to Jesper. All of these characters are damaged people and we learn a lot about them through their back stories. As with any great crime story, this one keeps you guessing and has a very interesting twist at the end.

Many thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this novel to review.

This was a very good, fast mystery that acts like it is leading you in one direction and then starts dropping little bombs all over that send you searching for other possibilities. I enjoyed the whole story from beginning to end. Highly recommend!

First published in Sweden in 2015; published in translation by Ballantine Books on December 27, 2016

Peter Lindgren is a character in a Scandinavian novel, which means he’s depressed. He feels weak and ambivalent and unable to commit to anything. His marriage to Hanne failed long ago. He rarely sees his 15-year-old son. His mother and sister are dead and his father is drinking himself to death. He blames himself for his sister’s death as the result of family drama during his childhood. He’s a homicide cop but arresting people doesn’t make the victims less dead, so he wonders if his life has meaning. That attitude manifests itself in various hand-wringing passages as the novel progresses. Eventually Peter’s self-doubting personality gets old. It also slows the novel’s pace, as does the hand-wringing of the other depressed characters.

Peter and Manfred Olsson investigate the death of a beheaded woman in suburban Stockholm. Her body is in the home of Jesper Orre, a successful Stockholm clothing retailer, but her identity is unknown. There are similarities to a case that has been unsolved for ten years. That prompts Manfred to call Hanne Lagerlind-Schőn. Now retired as a police consultant and in the early stages of dementia, Hanne reluctantly agrees to study the possible connection between the two cases. Yes, this is the same Hanne who was once married to Peter. Hanne, of course, is also depressed, but she has good reason to be, apart from being Scandanavian.

Point of view changes from chapter to chapter. First person accounts of the investigation (and of the general depression that apparently accompanies all life in Scandinavia) come from Peter and Hanne. Hanne’s depression stems from her current controlling husband and the realization that her slow onset of dementia will eventually lead her to lose her memories and, for all practical purposes, to lose herself.

A third perspective comes from Emma Bohman. Emma’s story starts two months earlier, when Jesper doesn’t show up for her engagement dinner. Emma complains that Jesper has been borrowing money from her, which surprises the reader, given that Emma has a drudge job in one of his stores. Emma spends quite a bit of time wondering why Jesper, her secret lover, has suddenly stopped returning her calls. Her self-doubt, like Peter’s, gets old. And like Peter, Emma has a sad childhood experience that left her a little broken.

Using a technique that has become common in thrillers, Emma’s narrative of the past eventually links up to the present narratives of Peter and Hanne. This lets the reader understand the background to the crime and to guess at its solution while the investigators probe the past. The solution is a bit contrived but it’s not over the top, as is the case with many modern thrillers.

Camilla Grebe builds suspense effectively, although this isn’t a frenetically-paced, action-filled thriller. The novel is more about characters than crime, but the characters are interesting and believable (albeit depressed) and the plot is at least moderately surprising. All of that squeaks the novel into recommended territory, but I would primarily recommend it to fans of Scandinavian fiction who have not grown weary reading about characters who are tired of living.

RECOMMENDED

This was a great suspenseful thriller that had some great characters. The pace was fast and at times I had trouble putting the book down. I hope this is the start of a series because I would like to see more of Hanne and Peter. A good twist too. I gave this 4 stars on goodreads.

My thoughts: I feel like I have been very fortunate with all the thrillers I have been picking up lately - and this one was no exception!!! Once again, Abby from Crime by the Book alerted me to this one and as soon as I heard about it, I couldn't wait to pick it up!

Having this book told from three perspectives is what, in my opinion, really makes this book stand out. Two of the perspectives - that of Peter, the police office, and Hanne, a profiler who sometimes consults with the police - are told in the present; while Emma's is told starting three months prior to the murder. This is such a clever way to tell this story and just hooked me right from the start - once I got used to the time change.

I also loved being able to get inside the different characters heads - I'm always a big fan of that - but in this case, it just seemed to add more to the story. It added more depth to each of the characters and it added more suspense. You know a woman was murdered, but it's not clear who and you are left wondering just who she is and what her relationship is to the narrators. Are they as reliable as you hope and want them to be?

This book is gripping and captivating, pulling you in and taking you for quite a ride. The characters are all deeply flawed, with their own struggles and burdens; there's questions that come up with each twist and you want so desperately to know what is going on. The plot is complex and the mystery will keep you guessing until the end.

This is Camilla Grebe's first solo debut - prior to this, she's written books with her sister, Asa Traff. I don't know if this is book is intended to be a stand-alone or the start of a series, but either way, it's a great start to a solo writing career and I for one will certainly be eager to see what comes next from her!

The Ice Beneath Her is a superbly written, deceptive thriller that blurs the lines between delusion, obsession and reality. A woman is found brutally murdered in the home of a prominent CEO, but her identity is unknown. The hunt begins for the CEO’s whereabouts and speculation runs wild as to who the woman is and what the motive for her death could possibly be. The story is told from multiple points of view and I must admit, moved a little slowly for me initially. However, things picked up midway through and I could not put this book down. Nothing is as it seems in this case, and it takes a team of detectives and an aging criminal profiler to put all the pieces of this puzzle together. I have to say I did not like Peter’s character at all, so that knocked a star off the rating for me. Other than that, I thought it was an excellent tale of obsession and love gone wrong. 4 out of 5 stars. Many thanks to Netgalley and Ballantine Books for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I am now a fan of Grebe!!

The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe is an interesting look ay the difficulties and aberraciones of love as well as a murder mystery.

5 stars

This story is told from the points of view of three persons, all speaking in the first person.

Peter Lindgren is a detective as is his partner Manfred. They see the scene of the crime – a vicious murder – firsthand. A young woman has been beheaded in the house of a very rich man, Jesper Orre. Jesper himself has apparently gone missing. He makes a very good suspect as he appears in the tabloid news constantly with his exploitative business practices and antics with many women.

As they attend the scene, Manfred is reminded of a case that happened ten years earlier.

Emma Bohman is Jesper’s girlfriend. Is she the victim? Her story is told from two months prior and leading up to the murder. She has a very tortured childhood.

Hanne is a behavioral psychologist who has problems of her own. She has helped the police before by profiling criminals. She is drawn into the case of the unidentified woman and begins to help the police once more.

Readers should be forewarned: there is not a lot of police work in this book. It is mainly about the three protagonists and their backstories. It is more a psychological treatise on three tortured souls – with a little detecting thrown in.

This is a powerful book. It has excellent character development. The backstories of each of the primary characters is told in depth. All three of the main characters are haunted by their pasts. They wish things could have gone differently. I think what this book underlines, and maybe one point of it is that we are all products of our environments. We cannot live outside of our past experiences and must make of our present the best that we can.

It is written very well and the English translation flows smoothly. I really liked the book and very much look forward to reading more of Camilla Grebe’s novels.

Thanking Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine Books for forwarding to me a copy of this most thought provoking book to read.

This was a really well done thriller, and made me think of Gone Girl or Girl on the Train. Since the success of Gone Girl there have been many books that have tried to be the next one but so many just fall flat. This book on the other hand was interesting from the start with good writing and character development, good mystery and suspense. I could not put it down all day. It kept me guessing and it definitely is a well done psychological thriller.

THE ICE BENEATH HER
Camilla Grebe; translated by Elizabeth Clark Wessel
Ballantine Books
ISBN 978 0425284322
Hardcover
Mystery

Aficionados of nordic crime fiction will recognize Camilla Grebe. She has become well known in Scandinavia and elsewhere as the result of her commercially and critically acclaimed Moscow Noir trilogy, co-written with Paul Leander-Engstrom, as well as the Siri Bergman novels written with her sister, Asa Traff. THE ICE BENEATH HER marks the debut of Grebe’s solo efforts, and is also the first in what appears to be a projected series. Mystery fans will find it to be the perfect way to ring in the new year.

THE ICE BENEATH HER introduces Peter Lindgren, a Stockholm police detective who is an extremely difficult and easily unlikable protagonist. THE ICE BENEATH HER gets rolling when Lindgren and his homicide partner Manfred Ohlsson are called to the home of Jesper Orre, a extremely wealthy and somewhat notorious CEO of a chain of trendy and popular clothing company stores. The crime scene is posed in a hideous tableau, featuring the beheaded body of a woman as its centerpiece. The woman is unidentified, and the police spend a great deal of THE ICE BENEATH HER attempting to solve that particular piece of the puzzle. Of equal significance, however, is that the murder scene bears an unsettling resemblance to a similar killing which took place a decade previously. Orre, for his part, is also missing, and suspicion slowly begins to turn toward him as the doer for this particularly strange and bizarre murder, and --- who knows --- the similar one which took place so long before. Hanne Lagerlind-Schoen, a renowned criminal profiler, is brought in from retirement to aid the investigation, much to the dismay of Lindgren, who, as it turns out, had been involved with Hanne some years before in an affair that ended quite badly. The pair has some rough and sensitive edges that rub together uncomfortably as the investigation takes a number of unusual turns and the background of the missing Orre is brought more fully to light. As THE ICE BENEATH HER progresses, the narrative shifts perspective and alternates between the present to the past, as the reader is introduced to Emma Bohman, a clerk in one of the stores under the umbrella of Ohre’s company. Emma’s narrative details a chance meeting with Orre in his store, one in which she offers assistance to him just as he is going into a crucial meeting. As Emma’s story unfolds we learn from her that their relationship blossomed from intimacy to love to an engagement, before he abruptly disappeared from her life. Emma’s life begins to spiral out of control at the hand of an unknown assailant who she increasingly comes to suspect as being Ohre himself. She ultimately decides to confront Ohre, and as her account slowly catches up with the book’s present, it gradually becomes apparent that the body in Ohre’s home is that of Emma. The obvious question is “why,” but there are less obvious, unasked queries as well, ones which the reader will race to the conclusion of THE ICE BENEATH HER to discover.

While the plot in THE ICE BENEATH HER expertly twists and turns in upon itself, the fully realized memorable characters help to propel the book as well. Lindgren is a hot mess, an extremely self-centered individual of the type who consistently fails to live up to personal responsibilities with an attitude that would make even the most seasoned frat boy (or his Swedish equivalent) cringe. He is, however, a terrific cop, as his Manfred, his jovial partner, who is not above occasionally jabbing his colleague with his shortcomings. Hanne, for her part, has been trapped in a bad relationship for far too long, and the call of this investigation --- as well as the wake up provided by an incurable illness --- give her the impetus to make some changes. These elements no doubt play out in the sophomore installment of this series which has yet to be seen in this country but will hopefully be published soon, thanks to the yeoman efforts of translators such as Elizabeth Clark Wessel, who does such a fine job on THE ICE BENEATH HER. Those who are eager to begin a new nordic crime series from the beginning can start right here. Recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2017, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

Whew! Just got back to the States from a quick trip to Stockholm Sweden. I had the uncanny ability to peek into the personal lives of 3 very different people and witness (from a safe distance) their meandering paths that soon cross.
That’s what it feels like after finishing this read. Emma really got my attention. She’s the embodiment of an unstable, mentally sick product from a loveless and angry childhood. I clearly understand why she ticks the way she does, thanks to the author’s quick glimpses into Emma’s memories.
Emma was enjoying the perfect relationship with a rich and powerful man, until the fateful night he abandoned her, never showing for their engagement meal. He wouldn’t answer her calls, avoided her at his office, turned off his phone and even moved from the apartment where they had shared so many memorable moments. He stole her money and her valuable painting then turned her pet cat out into the cold night, never to be seen again. Emma is spurned. Emma is hurt. Emma wants vengeance. And you’re pulling for her to get it. He’s got it coming.
Meanwhile, Peter is a detective on a team assigned to solve a gruesome murder. Hanne is a psychologist hired to assist in understanding the murderer. The clues are eerily similar to a 10-year old unsolved crime. Both of these people have issues, nothing nearly as bad as poor Emma, but a history and longing for one another.
These 3 unique personalities (unique being mild in Emma’s case) are quickly heading towards each other. Who does what? How do all the clues fall into place? Will I maintain my shared anger with Emma for being spurned; my frustration with Peter for being an absent father; my sympathy for Hanne as she struggles with a controlling husband and the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s?
If you want a quick escape from your own issues and don’t mind having to stay up late to keep reading, this book is for you. A great read on these cold, rainy and dreary winter days / nights with a blanket and a comfy chair.
(I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Thank you to Ballentine and NetGalley for making it available.)

If you can get past the idea of yet one more unreliable narrator in a murder mystery, you'll find this one is very well done.

The book is told in alternating chapters from the viewpoints of three characters: Emma, a young woman who describes her affair with the CEO of her company followed by her abandonment by the same man; Hanne, a psychological profiler beginning to suffer from early onset Alzheimers; and Peter, Hanne's lover from ten years previously, who abandoned her just as they were to start a new life. Many other characters play key roles, and all characters, whether major or minor, are extremely well portrayed.

The book begins with the discovery of a murder, with the victim beheaded and her head prominently displayed. As the chapters cycle from Emma to Hanne to Peter, each reminisces to fill in the history upon which the plot is based, and each moves forward in the present to describe various aspects of the central murder.

This is a very complex portrayal of mental illness, and Grebe makes one wonder whether all men are not psychopaths given the actions and motivations she gives to her male characters throughout the first 3/4 of the book. However, as the plot swirls and we come to see that the reality presented by her characters is not always objective, it becomes clear that the author has a much more nuanced opinion of both male and female motivations.

This superbly written thriller would have earned five stars from me if I were not getting tired of complex plots build upon unreliable narrators' perspectives. What was once fresh has become somewhat tedious.

I received a copy from NetGalley for an honest review.

This is one of those books that I find difficult to review. There were things I liked and things I didnt. The author really sucked you into these characters lives. I got a clear picture of a lot of neglect and tragedy. Even after I figured out what was going on I wanted to continue to see what would unfold next.
I didn't like the past and present merging from one paragraph to the next. No warning or explanations. It was confusing and slowed down my reading process in the beginning.