Book Review: “The Forgotten Girls” by Sara Blædel

Feb 4

Håfa adai! Welcome to my review of The Forgotten Girls, the seventh book in the Louis Rick series and first book of The Missing Persons trilogy by Sara Blædel.

This book review consists of two parts: a spoiler-free plot summary and my thoughts on the story. In the second part, I give my personal rating and break down the setting and worldbuilding, storytelling, cast of characters, and themes. There may be some lightweight spoilers—such as how characters interact with each other and the world around them—but I will not give away any major plot twists or endings. I want to share my opinions of the book and maybe encourage you to purchase a copy of your own.

Click on the tags at the bottom of this post to see all reviews with the same tags in the Mystery bookshelf.

Spoiler-Free Plot Summary

A middle-aged woman with a large burn scar extending from her face to shoulder has been found dead in a remote forest in Zealand, Denmark. Detective Louise Rick—recently assigned as Commander of the newly formed Missing Persons Department—has been given the responsibility of identifying the woman and finding her killer.

My Thoughts on The Forgotten Girls: 4 stars

The Forgotten Girls falls into a sub-genre of mystery called Nordic Noir, which are police procedural-oriented crime fiction set in the Nordic countries of northwestern Europe. Sara Blaedel uses a third-person limited narrator to follow Detective Louise Rick as she works to solve the murder of Lisemette.

The predominant theme I took away from The Forgotten Girls is the way we can become complacent with the treatment and abuse against those society leaves behind. Many of the characters throughout this story existed in some proximity to an institution that “took care of” children diagnosed with severe mental and/or physical disabilities, making them unable to live alone. This sort of institution was not unique to Denmark but existed throughout the world for decades. For decades, many families chose not to live with the “shame” of having a disabled child. Their solution was to just drop off their child at one of these institutions and simply never speak about them again. I use quotations because in many (but not all) cases the care these institutions claimed to provide was usually just abuse, and that for shame to be the reason to send your disabled child away and never speak about or see them again is outright cruel.

The nuance in Sara Blædel’s storytelling throughout The Forgotten Girls is the way she approaches the topic of abuse and violence against children (and eventually adults) with severe to profound disabilities. According to the U.S. Department of Justice as well as the Center for Disability Rights, people with disabilities are 2.5-4 times more likely to become the victims of violent crimes than they are to be perpetrators. The terrible reality of this statistic is reflected in much of the backstory—events occurring long before the present-day timeline of the plot—in The Forgotten Girls and is, from my perspective, handled with respect for those who survived it and scrutiny against those who enable it.

All that stated, there are really only two things that seem out of place throughout The Forgotten Girls. Both are technically spoilers, but they do not give anything away in terms of the plot itself. First, a character in the book gets annoyed with her teenage child and makes them walk two miles home from their friend’s house instead of picking them up. This character is involved in the investigation of the ongoing murder, is fully aware that there is a killer on the loose, and yet still made her child walk home alone! I get where Sara Blædel was going with this scene for this particular character. But, in my opinion, it would have been more believable for the context of the story as well as for this character’s growth if the teenager was advocating to walk themself home only for this character to push back and pick their child up.

The second thing that did not quite fit is a sex scene that I feel is completely unnecessary and even detracts from the story. The Forgotten Girls is the first book in a trilogy and the seventh book in the expanded Louise Rick series. As a fan of slow burn attractions, it would have been one thing if these two characters grew closer over time, tried to ignore or resist their attraction to each other, and then gave in several books later. But this scene feels rushed and not necessarily planned for. I have no idea what the editing process for this book entailed, but I cannot help but wonder if Sara Blædel was encouraged to add this scene after the story had already been written.

My overall rating for Sara Blædel’s The Forgotten Girls is 4 out of 5 stars. I first read The Forgotten Girls in 2019, and the story has stuck with me since. I have gifted copies of this book to others and have continuously recommended it long before starting the Bookmarks & Armchairs blog. Sara Blædel’s writing is emotional, her storytelling is suspenseful, and the plot twist is gut-wrenching. I am very interested in reading more stories within the Louise Rick expanded series and learning more about Nordic Noir mysteries.

Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading my review of The Forgotten Girls by Sara Blædel.

Rating Cheat Sheet

4.75 - 5.00 stars: Everyone should read this book! (If you’re into that sort of thing.)
4.00 - 4.50 stars: I appreciated many aspects of this book. I recommend it!
3.00 - 3.75 stars: I liked some aspects of this book. I won’t revisit it, but someone else might really like it.
2.00 - 2.75 stars: There were some things I appreciated about this book, but I do not recommend it.
0.25 - 1.75 stars: I do not recommend this book. I did not enjoy or appreciate the experience of it.