her husband Alex and their daughter Smilla are all together in a boat rowing across a lake to a small island They are staying at a nearby cabin and taking an outing together Once they reach the shore Alex and Smilla decide to go investigate the island and walk away Greta stays behind in the boat Her husband and daughter never return She waitslooks for themthen rows back to the cabin looking for her cell phone They're gone No trace Greta isn't sure what to do She feels illtries to eatto sleep a littlethinks about calling the police Where are Alex and Smilla As she tries to piece her thoughts together the chilling truth about Greta and her life begin to take form I listened to the audio book version of this novel At nearlyhours long the audio is excellent uality Tanya Eby narrates Her voice is easily understood and she reads at a perfect pace I listened to the entire book even though at times I really wanted to DNF and move on to something else I think if I had been reading the print book I wouldn't have made it to the end For me the story is just too disjointed The strangeness and non linear story is central to the plot it's just how this tale works for its effect But I didn't like it The plot develops too slowly It took so long for hints about reality to really start coming that I lost interest The main character comes off as annoying rather than someone I might sympathize with or care about Her behavior and actions are just too odd The constant whining throwing up and strangeness is off putting I really struggled to get through this story Does that mean it's a bad book No It just means it isn't for me And it could also mean that the story lost something in translation to English I do understand that the story is about a woman's loss of reality and her rambling disjointed memories and understanding of her life and actions It just didn't work for me Too much rambling confusion and just bizarre weirdness from the main character not enough coherent story Three for an exceptional beginning that grabs you from anything else you wanted to do But unfortunately soon it becomes difficult to keep its promises It's not a mystery or a crime novel and it can't stand firmly as a psychological thriller This one was hard for me to get into For being as short as it was it took me a long time to read I was pretty confused for the first half and then things started getting sorted out There was some graphic random sexual abuse of some characters I also thought the whole teenage gang thing random The lastsort of tied it all up and created a sense of understanding but mostly I was glad it was over Not the worst book I have read but not one I will remember either This was one of the options for the Kindle First book this month On reading the synopsis it sounded like a psychological thriller that was right up my alley a woman goes to an island with her husband and young daughter The husband and daughter go exploring the woman stays in the boat the husband and daughter never returnIt promises twists than a labyrinth that much is true
Unfortunately each twist is ludicrous than the last After a really promising first chapter the book descended into pantomime and by the time I got to the part with the children particularly the girl's name I had gone full ChloeThe lead character is one of the most unreliable irritating lying narrators I've ever come across As a result I spent the middle part of the book wondering if any of it was actually happening In fairness it did pick up a little towards the end but at that point I just wanted to finish it Not an enjoyable read at all and definitely not what it seems Ninguém mente Ninguém diz a verdade Todos têm segredosGreta acorda e percebe ue Alex e Smilla ainda não voltaram Saíram do barco para um passeio na ilha no meio do lago Maran enuanto ela permaneceu a bordo a descansar Vai para terra procurá los mas rapidamente percebe ue eles não estão na peuena ilha DesapareceramO marido e filha desapareceram Mas ela não é casada e nunca teve filhos I downloaded this as a free book from The premise of the book had me intrigued even though it's not something that I would naturally have chosen It was a surprising page turner and was almost like a whodunit as I was constantly re evaluating the storyline and what I considered must have happened in the past Thoroughly recommend This is pretty bad due to either the original writing or the translation Don't know which It just screams amateur The story is poorly portrayed the MC is either an idiot or perhaps merely learning disabled in which case please tell us the readers The 'suspense' is all over the place one moment laid on with a trowel the next exemplified by a diving loon Silly Silly Silly A woman loses her child and her husband or lover on a small island Her reaction is to get sick a lot feed her cat go to bed get up and eat then return to the island to look for them It's just not worth writing much than that I got one uarter of the way in and thought nah nothing about this is realistic including and even if it's got a 'supernatural' bent to itDNF but read enough to give it one starYes one star This book is a wild scary ride down a long hall filled with mirrored madnessGreta is a young Swedish wife vacationing with her handsome husband and adorable daughter They take a short afternoon boat ride to a nearby island Then Alex and little Smilla disappear over a hill and never return So Greta returns to the mainland and notifies the police right No she returns to the mainland to retrieve her cellphone When her calls to Alex go unanswered she goes to sleep When she finally makes it to the police station the result is shocking to us but exactly what Greta expected Because Greta's life is filled with mysteriesWhat is it about Scandinavians that we find so fascinating With the predominance of blonde hair and blue eyes glowing complexions and slender athletic figures they look like children from the Dawn of Time True their homelands are cold and barren but their society is well ordered and logical After centuries of producing some of the most fearsome warriors in human history they've denounced violence in favor of peace euality and fairnessBut violence is hard to eradicate and there's plenty of it in this story There's the careless emotional abuse of faithless spouses the mindless brutality of angry teens and the measured deliberate cruelties meted out by a charismatic sadist And as always violence begets violence as surely as night follows dayThe Scandinavians have also proudly promoted gender euality but eual education and professional opportunities can't erase the basic vulnerability of women to abuse And so this book is partly an examination of why some woman are vulnerable than others The narrator during most of the book Greta is a young woman whose family tragedies have left her uncertain and submissive Desperate for the affection she feels was denied her she's an easy targetBut what about her rival who picks up the narrative We never learn what in her life made her agree to become a physical and emotional prisoner Could ANY woman be tricked into an abusive relationship Is it just a matter of meeting the right sociopathIt's also a book about the motherdaughter relationship which seems unbreakable no matter how rocky it looks or feels Motherhood especially of a daughter makes a woman vulnerable to abuse but it can also give her the courage to do what she has to do to get free of an abusive relationship One of the women in this book did just that and has no regrets One is determined to free herself and the fate of the third remains in doubtI don't normally like psychological thrillers and it's impossible to say why this one grabbed me All I know is that I started reading it and when I finished it I realized that I had left my chair four times twice to get tea and twice to visit the bathroom The first few chapters were confusing but once I got into the story I couldn't stop readingIt could be called melodramatic but I'd argue with someone who denounced it as unbelievable It's important to remember that the author is trying to get inside the mind of an emotionally fragile individual Greta bears the scars of childhood trauma and her instability has been heightened by the clever manipulation of the person who now controls her life It's impossible to demonstrate irrational fears and obsessions WITHOUT being over the top dramaticSo could it happen I'm reminded of an incident several years ago when a celebrity marriage imploded and there were rumors of violence Amidst the staunch denials on both sides one of the wife's countrymen commented admiringly She fought back like a brave Swedish girl Sounds like the wild Viking blood lives on.