Honestly, I wasn’t originally planning on making this a category, but I realized it gave me an excuse to add not only another favorite thriller to a crowded category for me but also to talk about one of my favorite Swedish absurdist novelists, who I think is still underrated here in the states.

The Winner: The Golden Cage

And coming in second: The Circus by Jonas Karlsson (if you’re just starting out with his books, I recommend you get The Invoice first. It’s surprisingly heart-warming!)

Faye decided when she was young that she would be the master of her own destiny. But back then, as a teenager moving to the big city to go to school and take on the world, she never thought she would see the day where the man she thought of as her soulmate gets arrested on suspicion of murdering their daughter.

Faye met Jack back when they were both students at the School of Economics. There were four of them who were inseparable: Hendrik and Chris, and Jack and Faye. Everyone knew that Jack was going places. He had that personality that just took over the room, so when he and Hendrik decided to open their own company right out of college, no one was surprised. And though Chris and Hendrik broke up, Chris and Faye remained as close as sisters.

While Faye decides to leave school to help finance the early years of the new company, Jack and Hendrik try to make a success of it. They use Faye’s ideas, even her suggestion for the name of the company, but as it grows in success, and Faye has a daughter and stays home with her, Jack becomes more and more distant. He spends more time at work, more time traveling, and misses out on time with Fate and their daughter Julianne.

Finally, Faye comes to a crossroad—does she stay the compliant wife, the beautiful bird in the golden cage, or does she break free and learn to fly?

Scandinavian best-selling writer Camilla Lackberg has created a gorgeous nail-biting thriller that will turn your world upside down. The Golden Cage is a truly beautiful work of Nordic noir, written from a master of the genre. I was blown away by the writing in this juicy novel and loved every paragraph of The Golden Cage. The lifestyles of the rich and Swedish meets a dark, twisty thriller in this phenomenal page-turner, and if you don’t take the time to read it, you’re missing out.

Egalleys for The Golden Cage were provided by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group through NetGalley, with many thanks.