Lykke Andersen used to be many things. A successful editor, the fulfilled wife of a celebrated author, a mother to two teenage boys, and above all: happy. Now she stands accused of murder, refusing to talk to anyone but detective inspector Manfred Olsson.
Flash back eight years earlier when we meet Lykke in her prime, living with her family in a beautiful house in the countryside, nicknamed Eternity. On a sweltering day in August, Lykke and her husband Gabriel are preparing to welcome their friends to a traditional crayfish party. Their sons, seventeen-year-old twins Harry and David are also there, along with their best friend Bonnie. The somewhat odd trio have always hung out together and are thick as thieves, but perhaps Bonnie is more than just a friend to one of the boys.
The crayfish party is a success, and the group stays up talking and drinking into the early hours of the morning. But the next day, Lykke wakes up to her idyllic life in pieces when Bonnie is found dead in the small house the twins share at the bottom of the garden. Both boys claim to have been asleep – someone must have snuck into the cottage during the night and killed the girl. But the door had been locked and the key was left on the inside of the door; no one could have entered from the outside.
Harry and David are both arrested and although Lykke is convinced of both her sons’ innocence, she realizes her husband Gabriel seems to think otherwise. As their perfect marriage starts to crack, Lykke must ask herself the most difficult of questions: has she been raising a monster – or even two?
The boys were released due to lack of evidence, and no one was ever charged with Bonnie’s murder. But eight years later, the wheels that were set in motion that fateful summer night have come to land Lykke in jail accused of murder, facing Manfred Olsson, the man who arrested her sons and broke her family all those years ago. Who has Lykke has killed, and why?
Told through alternate timelines and shifting perspectives, Welcome to Eternity is a nail-biting family drama and an elegant homage to the classical locked room mystery. Master storyteller Camilla Grebe weaves an opaque web of lies and deception, turning the spotlight on the fundamental conflict between choosing to do right by the law or doing the right thing.
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Reviews
“An immersive fatal drama. […] Camilla Grebe is phenomenally skilled at constructing suspenseful – yet strongly relatable – intrigues.”
Dagens Nyheter (SE)
“[Grebe] skilfully tells a story that revolves around family and what you’ll do (and won’t do) for your family members. Camilla Grebe really succeeds in maintaining the interest through shifting the narrative between different characters and timelines.”
Ölandsbladet (SE)
“Camilla Grebe has twice been awarded by the Swedish Crime Writers Academy for the best crime novel of the year […] and the new book Welcome to Eternity is definitely in the same league. Here, readers are given a wonderfully spiteful portrayal of the publishing business, an uncompromising family portrayal, and suspense that has the reader in tight grip until the end. […] An incredibly cleverly constructed crime novel where Camilla Grebe toys with the readers’ sympathies and antipathies all the way through until an ending I never saw coming.”
Skånska Dagbladet (SE)
“Camilla Grebe goes from strength to strength. Her new psychological thriller combines an unsolved murder with a devastating portrayal of a family in freefall, while at the same time offering up razor-sharp reveals about life in publishing. She also pays homage to the classic crime theme: the locked room mystery. The pace constantly intensifies and I read with butterflies in my stomach until the unexpected ending.”
Aftonbladet (SE)
“Camilla Grebe has long been a favorite of mine and she really lives up to expectations with her new book Welcome to Eternity. She moves between different timelines and narrators, revolving around a murder in a locked room, which tears a family apart. Skilled and thrilling about how the greatest betrayal is indifference towards others, and how a someone must always be named the scapegoat.”
M Magasin (SE)
“A very well-constructed plot that unfolds like petals and reveals a reality that bears no resemblance with the beautiful surface.”
Expressen (SE)
“[Grebe’s] books contain everything a crime-junkie can wish for – thrilling plots with unexpected twists and an interesting cast of characters with the ability to move you.”
Linköpings-Posten (SE)
“In her new book Welcome to Eternity Grebe proves that she can still exceed the high expectations readers naturally have of this star. […] The story elegantly shifts between different perspectives, voices, and timelines. […] It’s so clever, so well done, and the language is constantly impressive. Pure joy of reading! […] Camilla Grebe’s words don’t just bring happiness while reading, they last longer than that. One can only bow deeply, say thank you, and long for the next book!”
Kapprakt (SE)
“A moving page-turner about how the selfish evil and indifference of one person destroys the lives of many people before the truth is revealed. […] Grebe portrays the relationships between the characters in the book with skill and psychological acuity.”
BTJ (SE)
“Agatha Christie vibes saturate this delicate mix of classic crime novel, family drama and psychological thriller. […] Camilla Grebe writes exceptionally efficient suspense novels, polished and energetic. She knows exactly what she’s doing. Welcome to Eternity must be near perfect of its kind.”
Arbetarbladet (SE)
“To hold a new crime novel from Camilla Grebe in your hands is thrilling in many ways. Even if you recognize her style and voice, she always ventures down new paths in her genre. […] She skillfully navigates towards the big reveal, the suspense increasing with every page. […] You can tell that Grebe has enjoyed writing this dense page-turner of a crime novel; the joy of storytelling shines even when the family drama is at its darkest, and she cares for all of her characters. And so do we.”
Göteborgs-Posten (SE)
“An elegant crime novel from Camilla Grebe”
Upsala Nya Tidning (SE)
“Few crime writers can, like Swedish Camilla Grebe, weave a poetic plot into a desolate Swedish countryside idyll and construct an intense and authentic suspense drama with solid characters and a chain of climactic cliffhangers. With Welcome to Eternity, she once again shows a level that is far above the average of the genre, and here with an everyday tale of fate that makes this seemingly simple story feel especially sophisticated and present. /…/ Welcome to Eternity is also worth reading due to the lovingly critical portrayal of author and publishing life, and because of the indirect depiction of a woman in crisis and denial, and middle-aged men in various forms of panic.”
Berlingske (DK)
“Camilla Grebe both continues and renews the best of the Swedish crime tradition in a story that keeps the reader gasping for breath.”
Jyllands-Posten, 5/6 stars (DK)
“Is Lykke Andersen guilty of murder – and who is lying dead? That’s the starting point for this original story. /…/ Past and present are portrayed side by side and the suspense increases towards a cleverly constructed climax.”
Adresseavisen, 5/6 stars (NO)