THE ABSOLUTION Children's House, Book 3

Lucy Paterson brings finely honed narration skills to this mystery involving bullying, trauma, and murder. Her very English voice is smooth and expressive, her characters well delineated. In this third installment featuring the Icelandic team of psychologist Freyja and detective Huldar, someone is killing school bullies. The first victim is Stella, who is brutally attacked in a movie theater. Then clips of the murder are shared with her peers on Snapchat. This murder is followed by others. There are layers to the bullying theme--Freyja was bullied when she was younger, and there is a form of adult semi-bullying going on among the police in the form of hostile jokes about gays. Sigurdardottir pulls the pieces into a solid story; Paterson's performance makes it a more satisfying whole. G.S. © AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2020]