Book Review | The Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

When the body of a young boy is discovered in a Stockholm city park, Detective Superintendent Jeanette Kihlberg heads the investigation. She faces pushback from an apathetic prosecutor and a police force unwilling to solve the murder of an immigrant teenager. But when more mutilated bodies are discovered, it’s clear that a serial killer is at large.

She turns to therapist Sofia Zetterlund for help in figuring out the profile of the killer. As their relationship grows closer, the truth behind the murders surfaces and brings light to the darkest parts of society.

Nothing would be left to chance. Fate was a dangerously unreliable accomplice. Sometimes your friend, but just as often an unpredictable enemy. 

The Crow Girl is a graphic crime fiction that will likely disturb you! It’s written by the Swedish author duo Jerker Eriksson and Håkan Sundquist under a penname. The English translation version combines 3 books into 1 so this 700+ pages monster is a lot to take in. Everything including torture, child abuse, sexual violence, dissociative identity disorder, infidelity, war trauma, are all here. It’s not the kind of book you can fly through in a day.

I thought Parts 1 and 2 of the book are interesting, where a detective investigates a series of gory murders of forgotten teenage boys and adults with no obvious connection to each other. The other storyline is about a psychologist who’s having trouble dealing with her patients and her memories. There isn’t a moment’s break from the bleakness so the scenes were tough to digest. But I was intrigued after the reveals hinted at something bigger. The mysteries are brutal, the relationships between the characters are complex. Both Jeanette and Sofia are struggling with their professional and personal lives, which makes their connection more appealing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think Part 3 bring the same quality. The storylines become convoluted and confusing. The book’s ideas about gender, trauma and identity are messy. I feel like the book could have been shaped into a more cohesive flow where the style doesn’t override the substance. After I was done, I looked up reviews and even the New York Times had to do a correction because they had misinterpreted the story. It takes some parsing to figure out the perpetrators and their motivations, which felt anticlimactic after such a great buildup. I also found the sexual assault and murder scenes repetitive, and they felt more exploitative than entertaining.

The Crow Girl is a notable Nordic noir, but it shouldn’t be anyone’s entry point into the genre. However, if you’re used to dark, violent crime books about serial killers, give this a try. Temper your expectations and prepare for a gruesome ride!

CW: graphic violence, child abuse, sexual abuse, rape, suicide, mental illness, animal deaths

About the author: Erik Axl Sund

Translated by Neil Smith

Photo by Luis Dominguez