This is a standard police procedural. It isn't remarkable but it is fairly good. The setting in Denmark is good but the phrasing of the English is a little off.

BOOK REVIEW: The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg
Series: Korner and Werner | Book 2
2021 Publication Date: January 5

⭐️⭐️⭐️️

T.I.M.E. Most Anticipated Books Of 2021

♡ T.I.M.E. TIP: Although it is a cumulative series, you can read this book series as standalone books… As for me, I started with Book 1 and recommend doing so. The locations and character names can be a bit of a challenge to retain due to Danish setting. Starting with Book 1 helps to cement that vernacular in your memory... ✨😎✨

--------------------

All my book reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at thisismyeverybody.com/blog/what-book-should-i-read

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

I am a member of the American Library Association Reading List Award Committee. This title was suggested for the 2022 list. It was not nominated for the award. The complete list of winners and shortlisted titles is at <a href="https://rusaupdate.org/2022/01/readers-advisory-announce-2022-reading-list-years-best-in-genre-fiction-for-adult-readers/">

The translated prose is elegant and engaging. However, I've now found both of Engberg's English translated novels just a bit underwhelming. This one has a good eye for character, yet I kept waiting for more breakout moments to startle me, to reveal I was in a new place. I guess this is a book I'd recommend for people desiring a solid read but who aren't deep into crime fiction in general and Nordic Noir in particular. I could see enjoying it more to someone new to the bigger and geographically-specific subset of the genre.

This one was okay. Not my most favorite thriller but also not too bad either! I feel like it dragged a little and the twist was not as surprising as I was hoping it to be.

These books are fun. I appreciate the relationship between the detectives and the twists and turns are engaging.

This book is a little bit of many genres. Crime, murder, thriller, personal crisis, family problems, pretty much everything you could find in a book all rolled up into one. But Katrine Engberg makes it all work together in the end. Copenhagen residents are watching the news as a seriel killer has begun a streak of murders all related to a home health facility, The Butterfly House. This facility closed a few yaers back amid a scandal, but the murders are all related to the facility, staff or resident. In the 2nd English translation of the Korner and Werner series, the detectives face many challenges, both professional and personal. I found the story well written with the back stories carefully crafted to hide the killer until the last pages. The characters grow on you quickly, Werner and her new baby seem pretty familiar as well as the newly divorced Korner as he moves back into his mother's home. An excellent read wether you have read the first book or not. Murder mystery addicts will appreciate an excellent story plot with a couple of twists.

Murder swirls around one of Copenhagen's leading medical centers. One night a man is killed by induced heart medication. A week before that, a paperboy comes across a body ... a dead woman found in a fountain. Medical examination finds that all the blood has been drained from her body. And then a third body is discovered. What connects these cases?

Detectives Jeppe Kørner and Anette Werner are called in to investigate. Both detectives are in the midst of personal issues. Korner has just gone through a divorce and Werner is on maternity leave .... with a demanding infant and demanding husband, both Korner and Werner are anxious to hit the road running.

While Jeppe pounds the streets looking for answers, Anette decides to do a little freelance sleuthing. But operating on her own exposes her to dangers she can’t even begin to fathom.

It's a clever plot, but a little uneven for my tastes. The characters are solidly drawn and I liked the blend of professional and personal lives. It gave the characters another dimension. There's a bit of suspense, with a few twists and turns along the way. There were a few areas that were confusing ... maybe the translation was off .... This is the second in this series, it serves well as a stand alone.

Many thanks to the author / Gallery Books / Scout Press Books / Netgalley for the digital copy of this crime fiction. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.\
3.5 STARS

A murder mystery is a murder mystery right? Finding out it's based in Denmark just does something to it. I guess I prefer my murder mysteries in The States. I can't get into any murder mysteries in different countries, maybe i'm just weird. I think it has to do with liking something familiar. i listened to this book. I just couldn't get into it. I'm sure there will lots of you who will love it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book. It was a pleasure to read this book

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for the preview copy.

I enjoyed The Tenant and now am hoping that the Danish edition of Blood Moon is translated to English and available.

The detective team of Anette and Jeppe, although not officially working together on this case, still won out. Great story line with enough twists to keep you guessing, and of course one at the very end to surprise you again. Love the writing as well as the underlying message- what are we doing for those who need psychiatric help- aside from medicating them?

Definitely a little over thE top with its focus on torture, even if it was a historical method. I’m not quite sure how this added to the story. Disappointing.

I started realizing that this was a series a quarter of the way in to reading. I was a little lost at first but I was able to catch and really enjoyed this book. The story was so intriguing and I felt a connection with the characters. I'm definitely going back to read the first book because I really enjoyed this one.

In the second book by the author of The Tenant, we find Detective Jeppe Korner now divorced and living with his anxiety ridden, overbearing mother. His partner Anette Werner is out on maternity leave after a very surprising pregnancy.

When a paperboy finds the dead body of a naked woman in a fountain with slits all over her body and all the blood drained out of her Korner and replacement partner Falck, a bumbling sort of detective, begin to try and put the pieces of this murder together.

Werner, who is having a difficult time adjusting to motherhood and the whole bonding experience recognizes the name of the murdered victim from the maternity ward where she has just given birth. She decides to investigate the murder on her own, behind her husband’s back and against Korner’s wishes.

Then a second body is discovered with the exact same marks on its body, and once again all the blood drained. As in the first killing, no one saw anything and there is no forensic evidence that could link anyone to either murder. But they do get a significant break in the case. Both victims had previously worked in a private hospital called The Butterfly House. It was a place for children with eating disorders, anxiety and psychological problems. It was a private pay facility and medications were recommended as well as counseling. But The Butterfly House had been shut down a few years ago after after one of its counselors was found drowned and one of the residence, a young woman killed herself. The parents of the dead girl sued the care facility and it shut down soon after.

Could it be possible that someone who use to work or live there had a grudge against the remaining staff and was slowly killing them all? As Korner and Falck begin to interrogate former staff and family from The Butterfly House, unbeknownst to Korner, Werner has come to the somewhat same conclusion and begins her own investigation by trying to find the teens who were at the facility at the time of the suicide. What she uncovers is alarming.

During the same time all this is going on the Coronary Hospital seems to be experiencing a more than usual sudden death count. One of the former Butterfly House nurses just happens to work there. And she is still friends with the psychiatrist from her prior job.

Korner is given an ultimatum by his superior. Find out who is doing all these killings or you will have consequences. Now, not only is he in a race to hopefully prevent more murders, but now his job is in jeopardy. Meanwhile Werner seems to be getting closer to the truth. Flying solo she suddenly becomes the obsession of the killer. With no one knowing where or what she is up to could this possibly be the end of her partnership with Korner forever?

But while suspects are eliminated there seems to be many more questions than answers as to what was really happening at The Butterfly House years ago and why so many people who worked there are dead.

As in The Tenant, Engberg’s explosive twisted ending impeccably ties up all the unanswered questions. Characters from the first story are once again given their own storyline which was a special treat. Overall The Butterfly House is a suspenseful, enjoyable read with characters we all can relate.

Thank you #NetGalley #Gallery/ScoutPress #KatrineEngberg #TheButterflyHouse for the advanced copy.

"No matter how much people desperately want to believe that sickness can be treated and madness controlled, those who work with the seriously mentally ill know that that's not always the case."

"In some cases, recovery is not an option..."

This second book in this Nordic crime thriller series brings back Inspector Jeppe Korner and the other detectives in the Copenhagen Homicide unit. This time, they are focusing on the murders of former caregivers at a now closed residential psychiatric treatment center for children and teens -- The Butterfly House.

There have been a few changes in the lives of the detectives introduced in the first book. Anette Werner, Jeppe's partner, is off on maternity leave after an unexpected pregnancy. Jeppe has moved in with his mother temporarily after he and his wife divorced and sold their home. Jeppe also has a romantic interest that is proving a bit difficult for him to navigate. Meanwhile, the case proves extremely difficult as bodies are found -- 3 murders in 3 days -- and several of the suspects can't be located. Anette isn't adapting to motherhood as expected, and decides to do a little free-lance sleuthing on her own. Jeppe is working his team hard trying to find who is using an antique medical instrument to exsanguinate the victims before placing their naked bodies into city fountains.

I really enjoy this series and getting to know more about the characters. The Copenhagen setting really brings the narrative to life with all the detail. The writing is excellent and makes the story extremely relatable as the reader hears many different points of view. The topic of juvenile psychiatric care and treatment was also quite interesting as so many modalities and medications are of questionable value. There were plenty of red herrings on the way to the reveal and conclusion, and left me with much to ponder. I am looking forward to the next installment in this remarkable series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery/Scout Press for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend.

Jeppe Korner was on his own. His investigative partner, Anette Werner is on maternity leave, so when the body showed up in the fountain in front of the Copenhagen hospital, he was the detective in charge of the case. The woman was found naked. She was a local nurse, whose body had been drained of blood and left in the fountain early in the morning. Local surveillance footage showed a hooded figure and a cargo bike. There were no other witnesses, no other surveillance cameras located in a place where they could show anything.

The next morning, there is another body in another fountain. The day after that, another one in a local lake. They were all naked. They were all exsanguinated, with small equal cut marks on their wrists and by their femoral arteries. And eventually the police discover that they all worked for The Butterfly House.

The Butterfly House was a small, privately owned medical facility for teenagers with psychological issues. The owners and a small group of nurses and a social worker were paid to treat schizophrenia, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders. Now, Korner and his team need to find the owners, the psychiatrist, the patients, and the cook who worked there. If one of them isn’t the killer, then it’s possible that they are the next victims.

Meanwhile, home on maternity leave, Anette Werner is climbing the walls. She hates that there is a big case to investigate and she can do nothing to help. She loves her daughter, but changing diapers and breastfeeding isn’t fulfilling her. When she’d been in the hospital giving birth, she met the woman who was the first victim. The nurse had been there for Anette, and now Anette wants to do something for her, so she starts investigating. Just a little, in a few stolen moments here and there.

As the investigators close in on answers and get closer to their killer, they put everything on the line to find justice. Will Jeppe sacrifice his new relationship as well as his relationship with his mother to bring the killer in? Will Anette sacrifice her marriage and her new daughter? Or will it take even more than that—will they have to lose their lives to get to the truth?

The Butterfly House is the follow-up to The Tenant, Katrine Engberg’s first Korner and Werner novel. Set in Copenhagen, and translated from Danish, these novels follow the police investigators tasked with solving violent crimes. Told through the wider perspective of the many people touched by the crimes, these police procedurals offer up a look into the policework and the personal lives of the detectives and their families. Filled with fascinating characters and laced with humor and pathos, The Butterfly House offers a look at the system of crime and punishment in Denmark.

I am a big fan of these books. While these murders were particularly violent, and that was challenging to read about, the setting and the characters were so intriguing that I had to keep reading regardless. I thought that the treatment of mental illness was honest and sympathetic, and I couldn’t help but be moved by the stories of the characters who got caught up in the killer’s net. There is a lot happening in this book, but the ending brings it all together beautifully. The Butterfly House is a disturbing novel of how those with mental illness are treated in our society, but it’s also a beautiful story of redemption, justice, and the will of the human spirit to survive despite all odds. I strongly recommend it for those who can handle the story line.

Egalleys for The Butterfly House were provided by Gallery Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

It was a good book. I wish I read tenant because this book was interesting. It kept me guessing till the end .

This is the second novel in the Korner and Werner series and I like it even better than the first. It holds up well on its own even without reading the first - I'll be looking forward to translations of the remaining books in the series.

THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE
Katrine Engberg; translated by Tara Chase
Scout Press/ Simon & Schuster
ISBN 078-1-9821-2760-2
Hardcover
Mystery/Thriller

It seems as though Scandinavian mystery novels recently have not been appearing quite as quickly in the United States as they once did, and more is the pity. That state of affairs makes one appreciate all the more the ones that do show up. We accordingly herald the appearance of THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE by Katrine Engberg (with a fine translation assist from Tara Chase). THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE is Engberg’s sophomore appearance in this country (though the third in a series), following 2020’s THE TENANT, and succeeds in meeting and exceeding the promise of its predecessor.

Engberg introduced Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner in THE TENANT. Both return in THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE, though their partnership is somewhat tenuous. Werner is on maternity leave for the entirety of THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE, a state of affairs that leaves her out-of-sorts on several different fronts. Korner’s personal life is a bit in stasis. He is recovering emotionally from a painful divorce and is living with his mother while awaiting a move-in to a new apartment. Korner is also tentatively taking some giant steps into emotional involvement with another member of the detective squad. A puzzling case is dropped into the midst of this cauldron. Someone is committing a series of murders around Copenhagen, draining the blood from each victim and leaving them on successive nights in a body of water. Two things quickly become evident. The first is that each victim is connected to The Butterfly House, a private treatment facility for troubled teens that closed after being in operation for only a couple of years. The second is that Werner realizes that she knows one of the victims. Kerner and his team don’t lack for suspects once they start investigating people with ties to the facility. Their problem is that each possible suspect is also a potential victim. Korner, given the high public profile of the killings, is under the gun to either resolve the investigation quickly or be replaced as the head of the team. Werner, meanwhile, remains uncomfortable with the inaction that comes from being on maternity leave and is not fitting in well with her new role of parenthood. She begins taking a few hours here and there to do her own investigating, something which she does very well even as she puts her relationship with her husband --- not to mention her own life --- in jeopardy. The matter is ultimately resolved, though not without some difficulty, and a surprise or two which will keep readers going until they finish just one more chapter, and then another.

The most impressive element of THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE is the mystery which forms the red-hot core of the book. There is truly no logical way of ultimately discerning whodunit, if you will, prior to the big reveal which occurs near the end of the book, after which a number of the sub-plots which have developed along the way are satisfactorily wrapped up. We will hopefully see BLOOD MOON, which precedes THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE in the Korner/Werner series, to get more of the same. In the meanwhile, it is my fervent wish that author Engberg continues writing and never stops. Strongly recommended.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
© Copyright 2021, The Book Report, Inc. All rights reserved.

This is book #2 in this series of Scandinavian thrillers translated to English. It is the story of gruesome muders by a serial killer. The murders were gruesome and the story was a little confusing for serveral chapters.There were lots of characters to keep track of. Although the story comes together, I would only recommend this to someone who likes to read thrillers with graphic murders.

I received an advanced readers copy of this book for my unbiased review.