3.5/5 If you've ever shaken your fist and vowed to get revenge on a man who has cheated on you, have I got a book for you! This book is full of women who turn their lives into taking down a man- even starting a company called Revenge. While this is a fun read, it's also pretty predictable and follows the path that many psychological thrillers run: husband is a cheat, wife is super clever, we get to cackle as the husband gets what is coming to him. I didn't think this book necessarily brought anything new to that set up, but it was still fun to read.

This book is about a young woman who grew up in an abusive home. When she becomes an adult, she leaves her home town and goes to college to study business. She meets a charismatic man there and they fall in love. She slowly falls into another abusive relationship and the stripping of her self worth. And then... she gets revenge.

This was my first time reading Camilla Lackberg. I’ve already purchased two of her other books to read.
Lackberg may just be my new favorite - psychological - suspense thrilling author *discovery*.

Faye Adelheim is an interesting protagonist- two dimensional- an anti-heroine.....in “The Golden Cage”.
Faye shares a few things in common with Lisbeth Salander from Steig
Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) ....
Both women were outsiders. Both had evil fathers.
Both women were out for revenge. And that’s where the differences end.

In “The Golden Cage”....
Faye was hardly the first woman in the world to be humiliated by her husband, to be treated like an idiot, to be replaced by a younger model.
However...Faye had a tortuous past life that she was running from - a past that nobody knew about - and by golly she was determined to never let anyone humiliate her ‘again’. She even changed her name. Matilda no longer existed. Two years after Faye graduated high school she left Fjallbacka behind -both mentally and physically and moved to Stockholm.

Faye says in the beginning...
“It was me against the world. Far from home, in a city I had dreamed about my whole life. I hadn’t merely wanted to get away. I had been desperate to come here. Slowly I made Stockholm my city. It gave me hope that I might be able to heal and forget”.
“I was free. Free to do whatever I wanted. To be whoever I wanted. Without the past messing up everything around me, inside me. Without all the people who have been pulling me down. I was slowly turning myself into someone else, little by little”.

Faye was smart! ( not always wise) - She had been accepted to an MBA at Stockholm school of economics. It’s where she met Jack, ( aristocracy golden boy), from a family with a tarnished reputation). Jack’s father had an alcohol and gambling addiction. His parents fought constantly - but Jack was determined to shine - and succeed far beyond his father. Faye was determined to marry him

Jack’s and his close friend, Henrik, both graduated from Stockholm school of economics. Henrik with top grades Jack with average ones.
It was Faye who gave Jack and Henrik the business idea - she helped them launch a telemarketing company ( different and more brilliant than all others). The company was called “Compare”.
Faye told Jack that she was willing to take a sabbatical from college… a year off....work... so that Jack could focus on his dream and get his business off the ground. Faye believed that Jack was going to make millions and he could pay her back then. He did make millions.
Jack tells Faye:
“And I will! Everything that’s mine is yours, darling. Ours!”
Faye ( the knucklehead was blinded by love), signed a prenuptial agreement when she married Jack. She didn’t get it amended after their daughter, Julienne was born.
Does that sound like, “what’s mine, is yours to you?”
Not for us readers, either.
Security? what’s that? Ha!

Jack and Henrik hit it HUGE...’Compare’ became an instant success. They achieved results unmatched by anyone before.
Faye got none of the credit - but she was happy to be the submissive humble unworthy wife - anything to please her man.
NOTE....if sex scenes bother you ( they don’t me), then be aware - there are explicit sex scenes.

Mr. Jack-Billionaire turned into a total dickhead....and started treating Faye like scum.
Lackberg sure can write...stimulating a full range of emotions from some outrageous original memorable scenes.
Jack’s hottie charms never fooled us, by the way, at anytime, but things went from worse to worse.

CRAZY FUN PAGE TURNING SCENES AND DIALOGUE....with an intriguing cast of characters- both main and supporting.
I admit to cringing, laughing, swearing, empathizing, cheering, unifying, questioning, calculating, and simply enjoying Lackberg’s great acuity about the hazards and rewards of the magnificent vindictiveness that builds as the story unfolds.

Funniest & yuckiest scene - involves an eggyoke....[ I’ll never get the visual out of my head]....
AND....
I laughed silly when Faye caught Jack butt naked with Ylva in their bedroom doing the naughty!
Faye’s first thought was....
“He was bound to be frustrated by the fact that he hadn’t been able to come. He hated to be interrupted. He used to say that a ruined orgasm stayed in his body all day”.
Poor poor Jack! 😂

A ‘few’ other noted characters:
....Chris Nydahl...is Faye’s best friend... ( a likable powerhouse successful businesswoman and character)...loved this woman.
....Ylva Lehdorf —trouble for Faye...
....John Descentis - is trouble for Faye - in a different way than Ylva is.
....Alice Bergendahl .... married to Henrik.. At age 31, she had a waist like a ten year old and long ( f#@king), legs like Heidi Klum.
....Victor Blom.... a man Faye dated who actually treated her ‘decent’...( God forbid)
....Sebastian... he had been Faye’s brother who haunts her dreams
....Julienne- Jack and Faye’s seven year old daughter.
....Kerstin - a good friend to Faye ( with her own past history)...
....etc etc.

Taken directly from the blurb.....this line speaks TOTALLY TRUE:
“In this splashy, electrifying story of sex, betrayal, and secrets, a woman’s revenge is a brutal but beautiful thing” ( kudos to the person who wrote that sentence)

LOVED IT! Perfect for readers in the mood for an intelligent enjoyable psychological thriller who introduces us to a new textured anti-heroine.

Hoping for a sequel.

Thank you Knoph Doubleday Publishing Group, Netgalley, and Camilla Lackberg. I’m a new fan.

Thank you, thank you to the publisher and NetGalley!
The Golden Cage kept me up all last night! It is a page-turner, but with so many twists that I couldn't wait until the end. I normally don't want a book to end, but The Golden Cage is different you get so invested in Faye's life that you can't help, but want to see where she will end up. I can't gush over this novel enough. A vengeance tale that becomes so much more by the end of the novel. A MUST READ!

The story left me breathless, a read-it-all-in-one-night deal. She did bad things, he did bad things. He was rich and powerful she became rich and powerful. The female empowerment marketing campaign seemed over the top but not impossible to imagine in 2020. Thanks for the great read!

“The Golden Cage” is a psychological thriller by Camilla Lackberg set in Sweden.
The main character,Faye, is the wife of millionaire Jack who treats her terribly. The novel is about Faye’s revenge after he throws her aside for a younger woman.
I had a hard time putting this book down even though it was rather soap opera-ish and campy.

Delicious new ready from Camilla Lackberg. Always a "can't put it down" story. Different kind of plot with a very satisfactory ending. Highly recommend.

There was something about the time frame and the characters in The Golden Cage that I just could not empathize with them. Don't get me wrong, I love a good woman scorned novel. However, this one fell flat for me since I just was not able to become emotionally involved in the story. I felt it moved around a lot in location and time and I just was not able to keep up. I think this book will be an enjoyable read for many others, just not me.

I've been a fan of Camilla Lackberg ever since I read The Ice Princess years ago. While I haven't read all ten books in her Fjallbacka series, I have managed to get through quite a few, most recently The Drowning. Like The Ice Princess, The Drowning features writer Erica Falck and detective Patrik Hedstrom; it's an engaging, well plotted mystery set in a small town in Sweden. Lackberg's 11th novel, The Golden Cage, is an entirely different type of psychological thriller, one that features a protagonist who is nearly the polar opposite of Erica. From what I've read, it is the first of a two-book series that will feature Faye, a woman with a shadowy past who falls in love with a man destined to become one of Sweden's sexiest, most successful businessmen.

The Golden Cage begins near the end of the story, with a dark, brutal scene. Faye's seven-year-old daughter Julienne is missing and it looks as if her ex-husband Jack may well have murdered the young girl. The narrative then circles back in time, to the point where Faye leaves the small town she grew up in to start a new life in Stockholm. For the rest of the novel, chapters alternate between Faye's story in the immediate past with flashbacks to the more distant past. This is a revenge tale that is influenced by the #MeToo movement and I don't think I'm giving much away if I say that Jack is unquestionably a bastard. Though Faye is a brilliant economics student, she leaves school and works as a waitress so Jack can make his new business a success. Before long, he and his partner do indeed achieve their dreams. As the wife of one of the country's wealthiest men, Faye is soon living the sort of life she's always wanted. But she eventually comes to realize she's little more than a beautiful bird in a gilded cage: her marriage is nothing but a sleekly decorated prison. As bad as that is, things are about to get worse.

Faye is more than a victim, however. Not only does her childhood complicate that characterization, but her recent past and present do as well. It's hard to avoid spoilers but suffice it to repeat: this is a revenge tale. And for me, that is where this review gets difficult. While I appreciated that Lackberg didn't write a simple tale of victim and victimizer, I disliked almost all of the characters in this book. The author has touted this as a tale about sisterhood, but I simply don't buy it—Faye may have women she cares deeply about but she can also be utterly self-interested and callous toward others, some of whom are women. Yet as I write about Faye, I hear echoes of Lisbeth Salander, one of my favorite Nordic characters. There are definite parallels between the two – I even wondered at times if Faye could be considered a sociopath, a term Stieg Larsson once used loosely when referring to Lisbeth. But whereas I find Lisbeth compelling and sympathetic (and most certainly not a sociopath), Faye has the opposite effect on me. Despite her strength and her plight as Jack's unlucky wife, she is more of an anti-heroine in the Gone Girl sense of the term.

For some readers, that may be a good thing. Also, not all readers will dislike Faye—some may admire her intelligence and her ability to raise herself up again. There were times I felt exactly the same way. And I will say I found The Golden Cage oddly enthralling, though it's not a whodunit in any sense. I read it over a couple of days and could not put it down during certain sections. Lackberg is clearly a very talented writer who can craft a story and will no doubt continue to produce strong books in the future.

Much thanks to Knopf and NetGalley for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Golden Cage by author Camilla Lackberg is a dark and twisty thriller that does not disappoint! Full of characters with a greatly developed plot line, this is a book you won’t want to miss!

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a smart, sexy novel about a woman intent on taking her whole self back from a man who never really appreciated her talents outside the bedroom, and doing it with a flourish. The characters are memorable, the details of their lives fascinating, and the narrative well-paced. There's a modicum of brand name dropping, and enough foreign flavor to see how the privileged entrepreneurs of Scandinavia live. Revenge may be a dish best eaten cold, but in this case it's still sweet.

This book reminded me of a modern day Jackie collins. It was a sexy thrill ride about revenge being dished out by a woman scorned. How do you get even when you have been betrayed by the man you gave your everything to? Well, you do it while wearing stilettos and sipping on a glass of wine. Hell couldn't even keep up with Faye even if it wanted to. A good book to get lost in. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

DAMN...what is that saying about a woman scorned, lol?

Lackberg nailed it. Getting through Part 1 of the book was a little slow, but by the time you get to Part II this book really picks up. Now that I have finished, I can understand Lackberg's thought process for Part I.

By the time I had reached the last third of this story, I was surprised how much I enjoyed the character development.

I will definitely have to look up some of her previous novels and get in there.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to review this Great read.

Thank you SO much for this ARC!

I have been a huge fan of Camilla Lackberg for a long time! I love the Ice Princess series, so incredible.

BUT THIS, was spectacular and literally combined every aspect I love to see in a book - intrigue, glamour, revenge and suspense. I loved this story and love Camilla Lackberg even more than I thought I already did!

Please keep more stories like this coming!

A compulsive sexy thriller about revenge, lies, and getting even. Faye comes from a secretive background but builds a fairy tale empire with her husband. Until she finds out his secrets. Revenge plays a huge role in this sexy thriller. This is unlike Camilla Lackberg's other novels but a fun read.

Did this go off the rails a bit from time to time? Well, sure. Do I care at all? Actually, no, not even a little.

How does one reclaim their life when they have absolutely nothing? Faye learns how throughout her life. She certainly solidifies the skills when her beloved husband, Jack, humiliates her and leaves her life in shambles. The man she thought was her perfect soulmate was not who she thought and may end up even worse than suspected.

Thank you to Knopf Doubleday and Net Galley for an e-ARC of this title in exchange for my honest review. A tale as old as time: A woman helps a man get to the top, and then he dumps her for a newer model. In this case, being dumped was even colder than most. Faye, the main character, actually had some of the ideas, gave her husband the support and even the name of the business, and then she was essentially left to the side. Instead of wallowing in what used to be, she got back to the woman she used to be and played the long "get even" game. The only thing I didn't love about this was some of it was unrealistic. Entertaining, but not realistic. That said, it's a fun read, and I really enjoyed it. This was translated from I believe Swedish, but it seamlessly weaves the story in English. Definitely recommend this one.

I have never read anything by Lackberg, but this was a great introduction. The story of Faye who becomes the victim of her cruel, unfaithful husband, but, turnabout is fair play. This is really well plotted and, if we follow the news, quite timely.

The characters are well drawn and the twisty plot kept me engaged. This is a perfect summer mystery.

Thank you Netgalley for introducing me to this terrific author.

Wow a book that drew me in from the first scenes dark dark an anti heroine a wife betrayed out for revenge Add in sex a complex cast of characters a multilayered plot an author whose words pul you in.This has bestseller written all over it a delicious read,#knopfdoubleday#netgalley