| Author(s) | Camilla Läckberg |
|---|---|
| Translator | Steven T. Murray |
| Language | English |
| Subject(s) | Popular Fiction-Contemporary Thrillers |
| Genre(s) | Crime |
| Publisher | Harpercollins |
| Publication date | 2003 |
| Published in English |
April 1, 2008 |
| Pages | 400 pages |
| ISBN | 0007269854 |
| Followed by | The Preacher |
The Ice Princess is a 2003 crime novel by the Swedish author Camilla Läckberg.[1] It was originally published in 2002 in Swedish, titled Isprinsessan.
Family dynamics are once again at loggerheads with each other and the reader bears witness to multiple conflicting portrayals of family life.[2] The difficulty of parent/child relationships is a recurring obsession in The Ice Princess (perhaps echoing Camilla's relationship with her own children), from Erica's frustration with her icy mother, to Vera's fierce enveloping of Anders, to Julia's intractable vitriole toward Karl-Erik and Birgit.[3] True to the genre of Scandinavian crime fiction heavy emphasis is given to characterization and (especially in Lackberg's instance) building up the small-town minutiae in which the crime occurs; so that the claustrophobia is such even a seemingly inconsequential break in the social-infrastructure is a capital felony.[4][5] A cinematic analogy might be Chabrol - dissecting a small community where dark problems lurk in every corner.[6] The importance of the location is emphasised by the inclusion of a map of Fjällbacka, and the depictions of the landscape are both colorful and inextricably woven into the plot; even of the subplots concerns tourists and incomers from Stockholm buying up ostensibly residential homes just to use as fashionable holiday residences.[7]
The droplets of H20 have turned to icy crystalline in her hair. Her lower torso is frozen solid, forever in the bathtub of ice-so begins The Ice Princess.[8] Genius is suffering-the characters that we all take for granted did not come easy; In Camilla’s initial synopsis for her first novel, Detective Inspector Mellberg was described thus: “Particularly unpleasant and incompetent".[9] Erica Falck has returned to her family home in Fjällbacka after her parents demise-she is sorting through the effects whilst trying to work on a biography of Selma Lagerlöf, a Swedish author-the first female writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.[10] This barely registers either in the plot or in Erica's cold-heart beyond an occasional tear - a walloping deus ex machina-but she continues nonetheless.[11] Police tests show that the young woman’s demise occurred long before she was propped in the tub so that the liquid would freeze around her as the temperature dropped far below freezing inside her apartment( A Swedish domicile without central-heating would quickly lose heat in such a subzero climate (-29 max) being by the coast would lower the temperature even faster). In this particular fiction, exactly when the furnace became out-of-order is a timely hubris to the alleged suicide.[12]
At the prompting of Alex's parents Erica embarks on a writing project about their daughter but Erica's serious breakthrough comes when she meets a police officer who is also investigating the mystery; together the two uncover secrets that many in the town would prefer never came to light.[13] Erica and Patrik’s fascination gives way to deep obsession—and their dalliance grows into uncontrollable magnetism.[14] Erica visualizes a memoir about the beautiful but tragic Alex, one that will answer questions about their missing friendship.[15]
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