Anne Mette Hancock

Ruthless is my first book by this author, and although it is the third in a series, I thoroughly enjoyed it as a stand-alone book. It begins with Heloise Kaldan, a journalist in Copenhagen, Denmark, visiting a dying man through the Vigil—an organization created so those without family don't spend their dying moments alone. She's become attached to an old gentleman, Jan Fischhof, with terminal cancer and journeys to Southern Jutland to investigate his past. What Heloise finds is a web of lies surrounding the cold cases of several missing girls. It was a suspenseful story that kept building with each page. The characters are well-rounded and endearing. The plot twist at the end was heart-stopping. I'm going to look for more books by Ms. Hancock.… (meer)

Shelf awareness.

This was actually pretty good. I liked the characters - Heloise and Schafer start this series with busy lives and families when they get thrown together to look into a 3yo unsolved murder. Heloise is majorly distracted at her job - her story about a businessman turns out to have been based on a bad source, and maybe she’s having a personal relationship with that source? Uh oh. Is he trustworthy?

And then there are short blips of chapters with Anna Kiel, who was suspected of being the murderer. What is she up to, why is she writing to Heloise? And why has the reporter who looked into the murder dropped out of sight, why is he afraid to talk to Heloise about it?

Anyway, lots happening. And then it starts to maybe be all about something else, and it’s really personal for Heloise. I liked how she and Schafer worked together to figure this out.… (meer)