"Farewell To Freedom" by Sara Blædel / Thursday, April 11, 2013 / Reviewed by Clay Stafford

Sara Blædel was voted as Denmark’s most popular novelist three times in a row. That’s no surprise. When it comes to police procedural, she’s always been one of my favorites.

“Farewell to Freedom” is from #1 international bestselling author Sara Blædel. Unlike a good number of writers I read in the crime genre who try to sex-up the victimization of women, Blædel’s portrayals are straight-on ugly. The story opens with a violently murdered woman and, across town, a found newborn. Though set in Copenhagen, the crimes could happen anywhere; there is a Kodboderne Street in every city of the world. As usual, Blædel handles multiple storylines well and eventually blends them together. Blædel’s portrayal of the slimy underworld side of humanity reads so realistically – syndicated crime, child abandonment, human trafficking – I found myself pondering at moments how active (or safe) she was in her research. She writes with the authority of first-person observation.

This novel is part of the series featuring Detective Louise Rick and reporter Camilla Lind. These two make a great partnership in crime fighting. “Farewell to Freedom” is the fourth Rick / Lind novel, but only the third to be published in the United States. Though part of a series, I think reading it as a standalone works as well as reading it in chronological order.

Kudos to Erik J. Macki and Tara F. Chace for an excellent translation from Danish.
– Clay Stafford, author, filmmaker, and founder of Killer Nashville

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