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The Gingerbread House

By: Carin Gerhardsen
Narrated by: Candida Gubbins
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Summary

Penguin presents The Gingerbread House by Carin Gerhardsen, a sensational new crime-writing talent from the same Swedish editorial team and publisher as Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy. Read by the actress Candida Gubbins.

Ingrid Olsson returns home from a Stockholm hospital to discover a man in her kitchen. She's never seen the intruder before. But he's no threat - he's dead. Criminal Investigator Conny Sjoberg takes the call, abandoning his wife Asa and their five children for the night. His team identify the body as that of a middle-aged family man. But why was he there? And who bludgeoned him to death?

Lacking suspect and motive, Sjoberg's team struggle until they link the case to another - apparently random - killing. And discover they face a serial killer on a terrible vendetta.... The Gingerbread House is the first title in The Hammarby Series, novels following Detective Inspector Conny Sjoberg and his murder investigation team - a gripping feast for all fans of Jo Nesbo, Camilla Lackberg, and Henning Mankell.

Carin Gerhardsen was born in 1962 in Katrineholm, Sweden. Originally a mathematician, she enjoyed a successful career as an IT consultant before turning her hand to writing crime fiction. Carin now lives in Stockholm with her husband and their two children. She is currently working on the seventh title in the series.

©2014 Carin Gerhardsen (P)2014 Penguin Audio
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Critic reviews

"Carin Gerhardsen writes so vividly, like she is painting with words, gripping your heart and soul in an ever-tightening tourniquet" (Peter James)
"Gerhardsen brings a timely perspective to the serial killer genre, as her characters are engulfed by the worst possible consequences of their childhood cruelties. The pages turn themselves, right up the final startling twist" (John Verdon)

What listeners say about The Gingerbread House

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Best Read In A While

Got this as part of a 2 for 1 offer, which usually include books with a little lower than perfect star score, but I was pleasantly surprised. I would have happily paid full price for this. A very different type of crime story, with excellent narration. One of those stories where you can't wait to hear the next bit. Will probably carry on and purchase the rest of this writer's offerings. The only quibble I have, and I'm niggling here, is that it's a bit gory in places, but I'm stretching to find fault really.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A sad but unfortunately true tale

Which character – as performed by Candida Gubbins – was your favourite?

Thomas was such a sad human being, without ever really experiencing love, joy or laughter in his life, nor the feeling of security.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The prologue brought me too tears, I found it exceptionally moving and fatefully truthful even as today our children suffer through this form of abuse

Any additional comments?

This is the first book of Carin Gerhardson's that I have read, found it to be well written, with plenty emotion strewn throughout.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Predictable but enjoyable

I enjoyed this book but guessed very early on what the outcome would be. That's not to say it wasn't well-woven or enjoyable just much more predictable by comparison than other similar crime writers. Overall a decent story that really connects you to the characters emotionally.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Lost in the middle

Started off great....lost it a bit in the middle!!? Then bang nice little twist at the end

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Possibly ok story marred by poor narration

I don't think the plot is more than average but I think I would have enjoyed this more with a better narration. The reader's use of poorly deployed, bizarre UK regional accents (it's a translation of a Swedish novel) were very off-putting. The vocal characterisations were generally poor and distracting.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A well written mystery

Well written, captivating story with twists and turns leading to an unexpected ending. Thoroughly enjoyed it!

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3 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The Gingerbread House

A good story. A good plot that made you not want to stop listening. I would recommend this book to add to your wish list.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Terrific story,

Wonderful twisting turns all the way - who dunnit.? You won’t know till the end for sure. If you like murder mystery and like living on the cliff edge, then this is for you.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Gripping

A very well written book keeping the reader enthralled right to the end. The setting being in Stockholm adds to the interest. Would highly recommend this book to lovers of crime fiction. I will be looking out for more of this authors books.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Low on tension but great police characters

This is an interesting story that invites you to have some compassion for the killer. This works to a degree but the downside in that the plot lacks tension because it is hard to feel a great deal of sympathy with the victims. Naturally they don't deserve to die in such a heinous way but they really are a pretty unpleasant bunch.

The best parts of the book are driven by the various police officers in the case. Each one is an interesting character in their own right, and there is a very good sub plot, plus a clever twist at the end. I am not certain, but this appears to be part of a series, and I would be tempted to carry on reading to find out more about this team.

The narrator does a good job involving multiple accents and characters.

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4 people found this helpful