The Child Finder/ Rene Denfeld/ 273 pgs

In many ways, this is not an easy book to read. However, the writing is terrific. It's spare but much is said in those few words. Naomi is the titular child finder. A missing child herself--one who was never able to reconnect with her family--has made it her mission in life to find other missing children. Sometimes she's successful, sometimes she's not. In her current case, she's investigating the disappearance of a 5-year-old girl in extremely rural, mountainous Oregon. We also get the perspective of the little girl, and it's unsettling to say the least. This book reminded me a little bit of Room. There is also another story line involving a missing infant. Obviously, the book is full of children in peril and can be difficult to read at times, so fair warning. Nonetheless, I thought this was very well written and quite in depth, despite the spare writing style.

The Hanging/ Lotte & Soren Hammer / 298 pgs

I read this based on one of my colleague's posts here:-) The book is set in Denmark and has been translated. The ebook I read had numerous translation problems but for the most part I was able to skip past those. Konrad Simonson is the main protagonist here. He's a policeman investigating the gruesome murder of 5 men with his team of junior investigators. I found the book a little uneven, especially as the police team seemed to jump to conclusions. I sometimes felt as if I were missing information. However, the story was intriguing (fair warning: the plot centers around pedophilia), the characters were interesting, though perhaps a little incomplete, and the setting was unique. I'd be interested to read more by this author duo.