The Lost Boy

Läckberg executes another exceptional multilayered mystery with this seventh entry in the series featuring Det. Patrik Hedstrom and Erica Falck. The abrupt, ambiguous final chapter to The Drowning is gradually clarified throughout this newest tale, which opens with a terrified young mother who's gone into hiding with her five-year-old son to a remote island called Gråskär (Ghost Isle). While Hedstrom works on solving the disappearance of Mads Sverin, a well-liked, albeit intensely private, financial director, he also has to deal with his own family's tragedies. Three ostensibly separate story lines converge into a stirring conclusion as connections are made between the characters and the island's history. Läckberg continues to craft fully fleshed-out, complicated characters with such telling details as Erica's prickly relationship with her sister or Patrik's questionable driving skills that terrify his coworkers.