The Collector

By Anne Mette Hancock

For fans of Katrine Engberg and Lars Kepler, the second chilling novel in Anne Mette Hancock’s #1 bestselling Danish crime series is a psychological whirlwind that explores the nature of truth and what it means when we can no longer trust what we know to be real.

When 10-year-old Lukas disappears from his Copenhagen school, police investigators discover that the boy had a peculiar obsession with pareidolia—a phenomenon that makes him see faces in random things. A photo on his phone posted just hours before his disappearance shows an old barn door that resembles a face. Journalist Heloise Kaldan thinks she recognizes the barn—but from where?

When Luke’s blood-flecked jacket is found in the moat at Copenhagen’s Citadel, DNA evidence points to Thomas Strand, an ex-soldier suffering from severe PTSD. But then Strand turns up dead in his apartment, shot in the head execution style.

What did the last person to see Lukas really witness that morning in the school yard? Was it really Lukas, or an optical illusion? Can you ever truly trust your eyes?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9781639101184

Anne Mette Hancock

Anne Mette Hancock lives in Copenhagen with her two children. Her debut The Corpse Flower introduced readers to journalist Heloise Kaldan and police officer Erik Schäfer, and was longlisted for a CWA Award and shortlisted for the Petrona Award. The sequel, The Collector, led to her being named Author of the Year in Denmark; Ruthless is the third in the series.

Reviews for The Collector

[pomo58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Collector, from Anne Mette Hancock, is a tense and exciting trip through a labyrinthine investigation, culminating in a great ending.While this is the second in a series it can easily be read as a standalone, though I would recommend reading The Corpse Flower as well simply because it is a good book. Plus we can all use more book series to add to our list, right? Though I used the term labyrinthine I don't mean to imply it is a difficult book to follow, it isn't. Though paying close attention to what you read pays huge benefits here. Interconnectedness might have been a better word for me to use, but either works.Every reader has their preferences about the minor aspects of a book, and chapter length is something that I tend to notice. This book worked very well for me. Some good size chapters when needed and plenty of short chapters that seem to propel the narrative when they come into play. Sometimes these things matter and mixing the length does a lot to help a reader focus on detail in some chapters while hold on tight in others.Highly recommended for readers who enjoy suspense and challenging concepts in their crime novels.Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[bfolds_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well-crafted story by an author who is new to me. I look forward to reading more in the series.

[edgoldberg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the second in the Kaldan and Schafer mystery series by Anne Mette Hancock after the Corpse Flower. It is a dark story as was its predecessor but it was not as compelling as the first book. I'm not even sure what the title has to do with the book.The Collector deals with Hannah Kaldan's internal struggles about having a child more than her investigative abilities. Eric Schafer is having trouble making the evidence make any sense. As a result, this mish mash is not overly engrossing.I was disappointed as I really liked The Corpse Flower.

[breakfastatholly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a great follow-up to the first in the series and a really enjoyable thriller that kept me guessing! Although this is #2 in a series, you don't have to have read the first one to understand what's going on - this story and the characters stand on their own just fine, but it is enhanced if you know the backstory from the previous book. The book also didn't do too much filling you in on what happened in the previous book (which I think can be annoying for readers regardless of if they read it or not). [SPOILERS BELOW]I loved that the mystery in this was hard to piece together (for both the characters and the reader) and that in fact it didn't get tied up neatly as the act of only one person. This was a complex story with multiple overlapping mysteries. The ending was also quite chilling - don't drink that vodka, Anne Sofie!!

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my first introduction to author, Anne Mette Hancock. After reading this book, I really want to go back and check out book one, The Corpse Flower. While I was reading this book, I was getting vibes of another Danish author, David Newson. He is the author of The Killing that was made into a television series by the same name. The show is sadly no more.As soon as I started reading, I immediately got sucked into this book. To the fact that I literally finished it in a matter of a few hours in one sitting. Heloise and Schafer both had different ways of investigating the case of the missing child. It was intriguing to get both viewpoints. I honestly had no clue as to where the story was going to take me. In other words, I never saw the ending coming. Which is the biggest reveal of this story. A strong ending to a strong story with The Collector!

[pgchuis · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley.This centres on the disappearance of a child, and switches between the perspectives of the police officers investigating the case and an investigative journalist who finds herself in the middle of things. Handily she is also really good friends with one of the police officers and her best friend's daughter knows the missing boy. I found this a fairly good read, although elements of the plot puzzle me. The ending made sense, but there hadn't been enough clues for the reader to work it out.I found the translation so clunky in places that it took me out of the story: 'he tried to light his lighter'/'he got his lighter lit' and the very non-idiomatic (in English) 'sensing that they were moving out into an opium field packed full of land mines' to mean their conversation was entering dangerous territory, being just a few examples.

[terran_9 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book starts out with an unnamed man seeing someone drop a child from a bridge. Abruptly, the next chapter flips to Heloise Kaldan in her doctor's office, considering an abortion. Her appointment is cut short when the doctor receives a call telling him that his son is missing from school. Another segue to detective Erik Schafer being called by his partner to report to said school to respond to a missing boy. Because I didn't read the first book in this series, I don't know how the friendship between Kaldan and Schafer began. The fact that Heloise is a reporter assigned to write about the case on which Schafer is working turns out to cause problems between the two of them. And Heloise's ambivalence towards her partner and pregnancy is another stressor in her life. In spite of the tension between them, Kaldan provides assistance to Schafer in the solution of the crime, and they maintain their friendship through various personal issues. Although the inclusion of personal crises and problems distracted from the police investigation of the missing child case, I did appreciate getting to know the two main characters and gained an understanding of them. The chapters were short and a little choppy feeling, but that also made it a fast read, especially since there was always something happening. The ending took me by surprise, and I didn't feel like the motivation was entirely explained. But overall I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the next installment in the series.