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The Dark Heart
The Dark Heart: A True Story of Greed, Murder, and an Unlikely Investigator | Joakim Palmkvist
36 posts | 33 read | 45 to read
A chilling true crime story of poisonous family secrets, love gone wrong, and a cold case that refused to stay buried... In late summer of 2012, millionaire landowner Gran Lundblad went missing from his farm in Sweden. When a search yielded nothing, and all physical evidence had seemingly disappeared, authorities had little to go on--except a disturbing phone call five weeks later from Gran's daughter Maria. She was sure that her sister, Sara, was somehow involved. At the heart of the alleged crime: Sara's greed, her father's land holdings, and his bitter feud with Sara's idler boyfriend. With no body, there was no crime--and the case went as cold and dark as the forests of southern Sweden. But not for Therese Tang. For two years, this case was her obsession. A hard-working ex-model, mother of three, and Missing People investigator, Therese was willing to put her own safety at risk in order to uncover the truth. What she found was a nest of depraved secrets, lies, and betrayal. All she had to do now, in her relentless and dangerous pursuit of justice, was prove that it led to murder.
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WorldsOkayestStepMom
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Pickpick

Low pick, but because the first half was bogged down with other cases and back story. In the end, it was really interesting to see how the police were able to get their conviction.

39 likes1 stack add
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KristiAhlers
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Mehso-so

For #travelthroughbooks we visit #sweden in this true crime read. I will say it was interesting to read how criminal investigations are done in other countries. With that said I just personally think it got bogged down in details that I just didn‘t think a reader would need. Or at least personally I didn‘t think I needed it. #truecrime #springread

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LibraryCin
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Pickpick

The book gave a lot of info about police procedure -- what the police need to do and how they need to do it while investigating -- which I found quite interesting. I did think Therese took a few too many chances, though! Yikes! Overall, I found this really interesting and quite enjoyed reading it.

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Addison_Reads
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Mehso-so

#BookSpinBingo Another bingo! @TheAromaofBooks

Perhaps something was lost in the translation, but this was not the best example of true crime writing. The story veered off on tangents that didn't really add any substance or background to the crime or the people involved. Over half of the book just felt like filler material. Some parts were well written, suspenseful, informative, and intriguing, but too much was boring to make this a pick.

wanderinglynn I felt the same way. I got the impression there really wasn‘t enough material to fill a book, which is why there were the parts about the volunteer group and the other tangents. 4y
TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 4y
33 likes2 comments
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wanderinglynn
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Panpan

Kindle unlimited book. This really should have been a long article because to get it to book length, he threw in what I thought was a lot of extraneous information, such as how the missing persons volunteer group got started. I also thought he jumped around too much, back and forth in time, which caused me to have to flip back to remember what had happened.

#readingrush book 3/7 and got 2 more badges for a total of 6/17

Texreader I read this one awhile back and gave it a thumbs up. I found my post here on Litsy and I laugh because you and I seemed to agree on what I said in the post about the details: “It‘s an odd style or odd translation (from Swedish) with an awful lot of detail/history about what appears to be unrelated facts.” 4y
wanderinglynn @Texreader I wondered if the translation had something to do with it. 4y
86 likes1 stack add2 comments
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wanderinglynn
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#talkaboutittuesday

Thanks for the tag @Klou ☺️

Tagged. 🥱 boring.

I don‘t read a lot of nonfiction true crime, but this one seems to be stretching to fill a book as there‘s a lot of extraneous info, like how the missing person volunteer org came to be.

Chrissyreadit Did you get my email? It‘s not showing up in my sent folder. 4y
51 likes1 comment
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SW-T
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Mehso-so

I don‘t read a lot of true crime, but this sounded interesting. It was okay, but felt repetitive and like there was a lot of filler in it. The parts about actually investigating and solving the crime seemed buried in miscellaneous wandering. So, interesting enough, but definitely not hard to put down. To be fair, it was a translation, so that might have something to do with it.

#truecrime

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CoffeeK8
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Pickpick

A fascinating story of a missing millionaire and the quest to get him justice

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CoffeeK8
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Today‘s #audiowalk, I love Fall weather 💕🍂

alisiakae Enjoy! I‘m still waiting for fall weather to arrive. Looks like I‘ll be waiting at least another week! 😩 5y
CoffeeK8 @4thhouseontheleft I feel like that was my Fall last year, straight from Summer to endless winter 5y
57 likes2 comments
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MelKelsey
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Panpan

A true crime book about solving the murder of a Swedish, multimillionaire, farmer, land owner, and pipe company owner. The story is D.R.Y.! It begins by revealing the motive and the suspects, so reading the book is to learn how the case is solved. Many chapters are needless. Only true crime lovers should attempt The Dark Heart.

8 likes1 stack add
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Beatlefan129
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Mehso-so

I feel like the goal of a good true crime story, in my opinion, is to feel like you‘re following along with the investigators and peeking over their shoulder as they uncover the clues that lead them to the killer. I wanted to feel some suspense and tension. This story finally got there about 1/4 of the way from the end. In the meantime, it was bogged down with a lot of extraneous detail that just felt like filler.

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Shibbyfruitfly
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Reading recap for July. Not too bad considering I had trouble focusing enough to read a lot this month (thank you audiobooks!)

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OrangeMooseReads
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Pickpick

Excellent book. A millionaire goes missing, there is no activity on his bank accounts, his family and friends say he wouldn‘t just vanish without contact. What happened? Where is he?
#truecrime

squirrelbrain I really enjoyed this one too... 5y
OrangeMooseReads @squirrelbrain even though you know who did it from the start it‘s really interesting to see how the investigation played out and all the other details of the story. 5y
squirrelbrain Exactly, you wouldn‘t imagine it would keep your interest, knowing who did it, but it certainly does! 5y
39 likes2 stack adds3 comments
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OrangeMooseReads
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This is an interesting book. #truecrime

47 likes1 stack add
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ireadpastbedtime
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Current read for the popsugar challenge

3 likes1 stack add
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laceyannea
Mehso-so

I think a lot of this book was super repetitive. It definitely is an interesting case but I‘m not sure it needed an entire novel to explain what happened.

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laceyannea

“Prejudice, suppression, reevaluations, and wishful thinking affect our memory. Gaps are filled with conscious or unconscious confabulation, because humans crave logic and connections.”

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laceyannea

“This was Göran Lundblad‘s last known conversation. When he put his phone down for the night, he didn‘t know there was a hole in the ground ready and waiting for him, not far from Ställe Farm. It was freshly dug, at that point probably no older than six hours.”

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laceyannea

“Live in the now and be happy about what you do have, not about what you could have.”

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laceyannea
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“Justice is a slow-grinding machine.”

Starting this e-book on kindle! I haven‘t read a true crime book in quite awhile.

4 likes1 stack add
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aa_guer2021
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Mehso-so

Between the book sale (??) and Netflix with my family, I only managed to finish this first book in the #24B4Monday readathon.
On top of that, it left me wondering how an author could make a murder investigation feel so dull and procedural? ? Perhaps the third personal narrator and the "after the fact" storytelling just wasn't my cup of tea. Point in favor: I know more about Swedish jurisprudence now. #nospoilers #truecrime
@TheReadingMermaid

BeansPage Haha I feel that way reading Baby Teeth too because they talk in Swedish a lot and that book. Like now I can say certain phrases in Swedish. 6y
9 likes1 comment
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aa_guer2021
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Having recently visited the library, and downloaded the free books from #WorldBookDay, I have compiled a list for the #24B4Monday readathon that is hosted by the lovely @TheReadingMermaid and @Andrew65. The #ReadingJar has chosen #7. Let's see how it goes. #currentlyreading 😊📖

BeansPage #PopJarGame awesome for number 7! I'm excited to hear what you have to say about it. 6y
aa_guer2021 @TheReadingMermaid a third person narrator is an interesting concept, but it's going well so far. 😊 6y
10 likes2 comments
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Kathrin
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Pickpick

Wow... truth is stranger than fiction.

This is one of the free books for World Book Day. Good start to this year's selection.

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OrangeMooseReads
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I‘m sure someone has posted about this already but don‘t forget! There are only a few more days to get your free Kindle book. It was kind of hard to pick, but true crime and buried family secrets ... yes please!
EDIT: it‘s been a week and it was pointed out that ALL NINE can be downloaded. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️

8little_paws You don't have to pick, you can download them all! 6y
Hestapleton Oh girl. I totally downloaded all of them! 6y
WorldsOkayestStepMom Wait. What?! How does this work?! 6y
See All 6 Comments
OrangeMooseReads @8little_paws well dang I‘ll be downloading the rest when I get home 👍🏼 I thought it was just one. (Edit) Upon better reading of my own picture posted I now see it says all nine 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ it‘s been a week. (edited) 6y
OrangeMooseReads @WorldsOkayestStepMom go to Amazon and look for or search for world book day. As long as you have a Kindle or the (free) Kindle app you can get free books 6y
37 likes6 comments
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shmreads
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One of those rare true crime bookish moments where I don't want the book to end so quickly...

2 likes2 stack adds
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Texreader
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This book (a Kindle first pick awhile ago) is strangely addictive. It‘s an odd style or odd translation (from Swedish) with an awful lot of detail/history about what appears to be unrelated facts. But it is really hard to put down.

66 likes2 stack adds
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Well-ReadNeck
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My #KindleFirst Read pick this month!!!

suvata Mine too. 6y
Ava_Black Beautiful cover art! 6y
107 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Sace
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My first reads choice from Amazon.

ErinC I was considering this but went with River Bodies instead. I might go back and buy this one too! 6y
Sace @ErinC I'm a sucker for true crime. 6y
ErinC @RestlessFickleBookHoarder me too! I added the hardcover to my cart! You talked me into it... ;) 6y
Sace @ErinC I apologize for being an enabler 🤣 6y
71 likes2 stack adds4 comments