Reviews

The Glass Devil by Helene Tursten

melissa_who_reads's review against another edition

4.0

Read this one fast -- had a clue where this was going before the police detectives did, but then -- you did get the peek into the first victim's head in the prologue. Still, it took them a long time to realize what the motive for the murders were, and I do think there were hints about where it was going that they were fairly dense about -- not gaming out all the possibilities, so they were a bit blindsided when the big reveal happened.

Irene does get to travel to London in this one, and manage on shaky English. She even makes it to Scotland.

Enjoyed it, ready for the next one ... but will take a break to read something else first.

tessisreading2's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed this one, but didn't love the ending, which indicates essentially

Spoiler

that victims of childhood sexual abuse are so wounded by said abuse that they are unable to function as normal adults

.

sandin954's review

3.0

Not one of the best entries in this series, I found it a bit stilted and obvious in spots but still a fairly solid police procedural set in Sweden with some action in England and Scotland.

emjay2021's review against another edition

Good but really disturbing. I like the main character very much, and the author is a good writer. Also, whoever is doing the translating does a great job.

bgg616's review against another edition

4.0

This was a book that kept me engaged and guessing to the end. I like the main character Irene Huss, the police detective who is the mother of 18-year-old twin girls, and married to a chef. As it is Swedish, it is dark, and it is impossible to share too many details without spoiling the read.

amerdale's review against another edition

2.0

Content Note: child abuse, child pornography (not clear vom the blurb at least not in my [German] edition), Satanism (in a way)

+ female detective without any kind of addiction (except coffee) and a healthy family life (I just hated the f*cking dog so much), just a workaholic but I guess that kinda comes with the job

- average crime plot
- female characters are described in sexist and objectifying ways
- latent homophobia and racism
- so many random things happen that have nothing to do with the plot
- this is not how Satanism works

crowyhead's review against another edition

2.0

This was a disappointment. I don't know if it's in part the fault of the translation, but the whole book just seemed SO dead -- there was so little tension and excitement, even when the main character was kidnapped! There were also a lot of unrelated incidents (like the kidnapping) that I think were meant as red herrings but were instead just confusing -- I expected to get to the end and find out that some or all of them were related to the main story, but they just weren't, and moreover were barely mentioned again! Which is kind of bizarre. I read another Irene Huss mystery several years ago and remember quite liking it, but this one was really a dud. Too bad, too; I liked the idea of a female detective with a relatively stable family life who really likes to eat.

kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition

2.0

Not as good as the first book. It felt like there were too many info dumps. Still, it's nice to see a detective who isn't tortured and has a good home life.

honeycomb_system's review

Animal sacrifice and arson were too triggering. Noped on out of there. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Fire/Fire injury

Satanic focus

5wamp_creature's review against another edition

3.0

There's the reality that the rest of each character's world keeps spinning outside the central whodunnit and then there's way too much detail: down to the specific items and preparations of an Easter meal for the family or a new boyfriend's musical career. Or a pointlessly added attempted mugging. I suppose without the added goo this book would be only 110 pages.