Thank you to the publisher for an advance copy of this book via netgalley!


A book written by grieving parents in order to have their daughter remembered as a smart and upcoming world journalist. And not just a murder victim. What else can be said!

It's hard to review a memoir, but I'll try: This is the story about Kim Wall, a 30-year old Swedish journalist that was brutally murdered while working on a story about a guy who build his own submarine in Copenhagen in 2017. She wanted to write a new headline, instead she became one. Now almost 3 years later her parents wrote down her story.

This is truly heartbreaking, like many others I heard this horrific headlines back then in the news. The parents, family and friends went through hell after this incident in August 2017. Kim just found the love of her life and planned a year abroad in China. Few days before her trip to Beijing she wanted to interview Peter Madsen about his submarine, while her boyfriend and some friends were celebrating just a few meters from the harbour, she wanted to be back within a few hours to join them. "He claims he's a captain, but a true seaman would never have gone out in the ocean alone in a fifty-nine-foot-long vessel, never mind dive to the bottom of the sea in it. The boat requires a three-person crew. There are no navigational lights on it, and rhere's no equipment for surfacing if there's a failure on board. Madsen ignored all of this on that Thursday in August, in the same way that he had apparently done many times before."

Kim's parents want her to be remembered for who she was instead of a victim, that's why they wanted to tell her story themselves. I think I'd have liked Kim if I had a chance to have met her and now I'll try to read about the stories she published about the Marshall Islands, Haiti and many more. "For Kim, her pen was her sword. And she used her sword not for violence, but for something far more powerful: for telling stories. Armed with nothing but her wits, a notepad, and her trusted Japanese gel-inked ballpoint pen, she gave a voice to those who had something important to say."

Her parents started a fund to support other young female journalists, that should give people a voice that normally aren't listened to. "She will never write a single word again. But others might. And that's exactly how we should remember and honor her: by remembering the words that she wrote, what she stood for, and what she believed in, and striving to follow in her footsteps. So let's arm ourselves with our swords and make her proud!" The first girl to have won the support for her research about Greenland and the Inuit who were forced to become Danes says in her thank you speech: "..this memorial grant aims a searchlight on a few painful truths. Men and women are still not equal. Men and women are not equally safe. This is true in Scandinavia as well, where Kim and I grew up. Hate against woman has no ethnicity, no nationality, no religion. Women reporters are in the risk zone not only in areas suffering under armed conflicts." It's unbelievable in how many parts of the world she already did research for her stories and then she ends up murdered just 45 min Drive away from her hometown.

So even though this book might have felt a bit too long at times and the writing could have needed a bit more strucure, it's an important story and if I find out how it works I'll "run for Kim" on the 10th of August.

Thanks to netgalley and Amazon crossing for giving me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kim Wall was a Swedish freelance journalist that followed a story in 2017 to Copenhagen. Unfortunately, she was murdered and the crime garnered international attention. Her family wrote this biography to put a personality to the woman that so many have heard of. Kim's parents not only lost their daughter, but they had to endure interrogation and a trial, all while being scrutinized by the media. This tribute to their daughter is beautifully written and I am thankful to have read it.

💐A parent's tribute to a child's life cut short: loving remembrance🌹

Journalist Ingrid Wall provides a detailed account of her journalist daughter Kim's life and the groundswell of support from fellow journalists, friends and the public from around the world after her tragic death off the shores near Copenhagen in August 2017 in circumstances still not truly known. While the book provides the Wall family's experiences during the investigation of Kim's disappearance and the trial of Peter Madsen, the man convicted for her death, that is not the main thrust of the story. This is rather a loving tale of Kim's thirty years on earth: her joy, curiosity, education, travels, reporting accomplishments, and her search for the stories often ignored. Rather than focusing on her death, this book celebrates her life and legacy. If you are looking for a glimpse into the mind and method of her killer then you have chosen the wrong book.

Thanks to publishers Amazon Crossing and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

This is a must-read for every true crime aficionado as it is an account of a senseless and brutal crime committed in Denmark. Kim Wall was a Swedish journalist who followed a story about a Danish entrepreneur and inventor, Peter Madsen. whom she met in his submarine UC3 Nautilus in order to conduct an interview. Wall disappeared after this meeting and on 11 August 2017 Madsen was arrested and charged with the murder of the young journalist. This book is written by Kim's parents, Joachim and Ingrid Wall, who struggled for the months that followed their daughter's tragic demise. It is a deeply personal book and it is destined to emotionally touch every reader as it is written by two tragic figures who had to face every parent's worst nightmare. It is one of the best Nordic true crime books I've read in a long time and it is worthy of the readers' attention.