It's only the second week of Louise Rick's tenure as
technical manager of the Special Search Agency, but a new
case has grabbed her attention. A young woman has been
found
dead but no one has reported her missing. A tip leads
Louise
and her new partner, Eik Nordstrom, to an old mental
institution, Eliselund. Is it possible that the recently
deceased woman is actually a previous resident who was
issued a death certificate 31 years prior?
THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS is part of Sara Blaedel's series
featuring Louise Rick and her friend/reporter Camilla
Lind.
THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS centers more on Louise as Camilla is
in
the midst of wedding plans. There are a plethora of
characters that make it a bit tough to follow initially as
Louise has a new unit with new characters, along with the
continuing characters that a reader new to the series
(like
me) will also have to absorb. I must admit I didn't enjoy
Camilla as much but perhaps this is because she was in the
midst of pulling a bridezilla with her wedding plans.
Sara Blaedel delves into the dark history surrounding
mental
institutions and the past stigma attached to individuals
with intellectual disabilities. Some of the things Louise
Rick uncovers are just horrifying as the so-called care
received makes me shiver even now as I think about it.
The
entire dismissal of a group of individuals makes the
social
worker in me furious as Sara Blaedel does a marvelous job
at
honing in on the attitude that persisted regarding
individuals with disabilities.
THE FORGOTTEN GIRLS is a dark, deeply disturbing book that
takes readers on a wild and emotional rollercoaster ride.
I
wish I had read earlier books first as I believe I would
have better appreciated some of the nuances regarding
Louise
and Camilla's personal lives better but the overall story
is
engaging regardless. I look forward to reading more books
by Sara Blaedel in the near future.
In a forest in Denmark, a ranger discovers the fresh
corpse
of an unidentified woman. A large scar on one side of her
face should make the identification easy, but nobody has
reported her missing. After four days, Louise Rick—the new
commander of the Missing Persons Department—is still
without answers.
But when she releases a photo to the media, an older woman
phones to say that she recognizes the woman as Lisemette,
a
child she once cared for in the state mental institution
many years ago. Lisemette, like the other children in the
institution, was abandoned by her family and branded a
"forgotten girl." But Louise soon discovers something more
disturbing: Lisemette had a twin, and both girls were
issued death certificates over 30 years ago. As the
investigation brings Louise closer to her childhood home,
she uncovers more crimes that were committed—and hidden—in
the forest, and finds a terrible link to her own past that
has been carefully concealed.
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