#BookReview Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus @NeleNeuhaus @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

On a rainy November day police detectives Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein are summoned to a mysterious traffic accident: A woman has fallen from a pedestrian bridge onto a car driving underneath. According to a witness, the woman may have been pushed. The investigation leads Pia and Oliver to a small village, and the home of the victim, Rita Cramer.

On a September evening eleven years earlier, two seventeen-year-old girls vanished from the village without a trace. In a trial based only on circumstantial evidence, twenty-year-old Tobias Sartorius, Rita Cramer's son, was sentenced to ten years in prison. Bodenstein and Kirchhoff discover that Tobias, after serving his sentence, has now returned to his home town. Did the attack on his mother have something to do with his return?

In the village, Pia and Oliver encounter a wall of silence. When another young girl disappears, the events of the past seem to be repeating themselves in a disastrous manner. The investigation turns into a race against time, because for the villagers it is soon clear who the perpetrator is—and this time they are determined to take matters into their own hands.

An atmospheric, character-driven and suspenseful mystery set in a small town that could be anywhere, dealing with issues of gossip, power, and keeping up appearances.

**********

WOW! What an absolutely stunning thriller! I had planned to read the latest book published here in Sweden (I AM YOUR JUDGE), but before that did I want to read the ones published in Swedish first. I was a bit confused at first before I realized that this actually is books four in the series. Which explained why it felt like you have missed a lot in the characters personal life (and cases they discussed in the book). Personally, would I have loved to read the books from the beginning, but I'm still thrilled to have discovered this series.

SNOW WHITE MUST DIE is a captivating crime novel. I liked the main characters Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein right from the start and I especially loved getting to know more about their personal lives. I felt that giving Pia and Oliver such rich personal lives really gave them depth, not to mention how interesting it was to read about Pia and her partner (he was a suspect in a case when they first met) and Oliver and his what he thinks "happy" marriage.

As for the case, there were many characters to keep track off. That is the hard part of the book, but I never really felt that it bothered me much. I was so engrossed in the case. Wanting to know more about what happened to the two young women that disappeared years ago. Could this case have something to do with the woman that fell from the bridge? Cold cases are my favorite kind of crime novels and I love reading about small towns with many secrets. There were moments when it felt like everyone was hiding something...

SNOW WHITE MUST DIE is a splendid book and it was easy to give it five stars! This is a series that I recommend with all my heart!