I remember reading the first in this series and not being into it, but I enjoyed this one.

The main case in this book is a missing child, and there are also bits and pieces of Kaldan’s personal life that get fleshed out. I enjoyed getting to know her better while also following Schafer’s work on the case. Some of the reveals in this book as they work to solve the case made me so sad, so clearly I was emotionally invested.

I recommend this to readers of crime thrillers and police procedural novels.

I didn't realize this was the second book in a series when I requested it. However, I did enjoy it for what it was, but I think I would've liked it better if I had read the first book in the series before this one.

Book 2 in a series. I actually like this series. I really enjoyed the first one. Just like the first one, this was a slow burn, but the pieces all fall together in the end.

The Collector: Kaldan and Scháfer Mystery Series, Book 2
It shows how little parents know about their child’s actions on the internet and how misleading appearance can be.
The disappearance of a 10-year-old gets everybody on high alert. Suspicion falls on the local store clerk and on an ex-soldier suffering from severe PTSD.
Not everything is as clearcut as you would think. Lots of twists and turns that get you second guessing yourself several times.
The various characters are presented in good and bad, which is the typical nature of most human beings.
The question is will they find the child alive or a body.
Heloise Kaldan a journalist with a local paper gets pressured by her boss to use her friendship with the investigator to get a jump on the news story. This causes some understandable friction between the two which might create an end to the friendship. At the same time her longtime romantic relationship seems to be heading off the cliffs. She manages also to alienate her best friend, Gerda.
I do not consider it a fast read. I read the book first and a couple of months later I listened to the Audio book. I was amazed by some of the details I had missed the first time. The Narrator did a great job in presenting the story.

This book was good. Detailed well, let me wanting to know more and really enjoyed it.i also found it creepy and weird. Maybe alittle
too much for me personally.

I did not finish this one, it was not for me, I couldn't relate to the characters, and just did not care for the story.

Journalist Heloise Kaldan attends an appointment with Doctor Bjerre when he receives an urgent call concerning his 10-year-old son Lukas who has been missing for the last eight hours. Lukas seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Erik Schäfer and his partner Lisa Augustin of the Violent Crimes Unit are sent to Nyholm school where Dr Bjerre has dropped Lukas that morning. The story unfolds via the alternating perspectives of Kaldan and Schäfer.

This is the second book in the Kaldan and Schäfer series and it doesn't disappoint. The characterisation of the two lead protagonists is excellent and the story and plot is compelling and engaging.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for sending a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Second in the series but easily read as a stand alone. This will be a hit for those who enjoy Nordic Noir and the likes of Nesbo, Blaedel and Lars Keplar and are looking for something a touch less dark and gritty but still atmospheric.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane publishing for the ARC.

Didn’t realize this was the second in a series but it worked out fine as a standalone in my opinion. Nordic noir is a new genre for me. Overall I liked this one and can’t wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

This is the second book in this series and is an excellent example of a Swedish crime procedural which I always enjoy. I think I liked the first one a little better. Definitely would read more. Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for this copy for review

I did not read the first book but found it was easy to navigate the second book nonetheless. Well written story and a nice premise for the plot. I enjoyed it.

This book was a great and addictive thriller. I enjoyed the twists and it was such an easy book to binge read because I just really wanted to know what was going to happen next.

I have no idea why I waited so long to read the second book in the Kaldan and Schafer series, especially after I read and loved The Corpse Flower so much. I'm glad I finally got to The Collector because I ended up loving it just as much as book 1. I love the way Anne Mette Hancock writes, and she has a great talent for sucking the reader into her stories and making them not want to put the book down. After listening to The Corpse Flower right before it, I listened to this in one sitting, and I was thrilled that it was the same narrator, Laura Jennings. While the quality of the audio was a little off for this book, I still loved Jennings's narration and would listen to it again for sure.

While book 1 had more of a focus on Kaldan, this installment focused more on the investigation through Schafer's viewpoint, and I don't think you would actually have to read The Corpse Flower prior to The Collector since they are basically unrelated besides the characters. However, I love having character backstories and it was helpful to a certain extent so I would still recommend reading in order. The last chapter of this book was wild and a little heartbreaking and will probably be a little tough for some readers. I loved the mystery and had no idea where it was going to go which was a win, and I was just happy to be back in this world.

This is a new author for me which I enjoyed and look forward to seeing what is next for her. I found this book to be well written and hard to put down. A fast paced, engaging story that has twists and turns that had me sitting on the edge of my seat just waiting to see what would happen next. A story about a missing boy and the witnesses that may have seen something or did their eyes play tricks on them. I enjoyed how the characters pulled me into the story. They are relateable and added so much to the story. I also enjoyed watching their growth throughout the story which made it easy and entertaining to read. I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it.

I really wanted to like this book, I did!

I felt like some of the writing was a little clunky, as I had not read the 1st book, I did not feel too connected to the characters... oh, well! maybe it's all me!

I did not feel totally taken by the book, but I would like to give this author another try :)

Thank you for the ARC, NetGalley!

4.5 stars!
A 10-year-old boy, Lukas, goes missing after school. He has a strange fascination with pareidolia - seeing faces in random things. There is one lead suspect, but he is found murdered execution style in his home. The clock is ticking for Schaefer to find Lukas.

The second book in this series was a hit for me! I liked it even more than the first. I love a nordic noir as the setting is always adds something different from American/British thrillers. The journalist and detective relationship is super interesting to me and a pairing we don’t see explored often. The character development for Heloise and Schaefer was stellar and I got sucked right into their personal lives. It was short and sweet with just enough action!

The Collector was a nice follow up to the Corpse Flower, it was nice to see the evolution of Kaldan and Schafer's characters. However, I felt like the mystery aspect was not as strong was it was in the Corpse Flower and it felt disconnected from the lead characters. I also think some of the emotional aspects of the book would not be well understood without reading the Corpse Flower first. Still it was a solid effort. I will be reading the next installment.

This was an intense read for me. This is a part of a series. Though I hadn't read the book #1 in series, I could follow this - but would have been a better read if I had read the previous.
Overall a very good read.

This is such an interesting story. I had never heard of pareidolia before but I find it an interesting condition to build a story around. The journalist in this story is kind of an intense difficult character and I struggled to like her. (Upon further research into this series it would appear her background is explained more in the first book). This book has a very small town, everyone knows everyone vibe so you can see where there is more investment in a case and story. Definitely a twist worth reading for! Didn't see it coming! Great book.

This book will stick with me for a while. I definitely like the writing style and it was a very quick read for me. Highly recommend reading it.