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revenge served cold

Faye Adelheim is well known in Stockholm. Those who don’t know of her as the CEO of the company Revenge might know her as the woman whose ex-husband Jack went to jail for killing their daughter. To help recover from that, she spends a lot of time in Ravi, Italy. She has a house there, and no one there knows who she is. Except her mother. And her daughter Julienne, who is still very much alive.

Despite having this secret to keep from the world, Faye continues to be the consummate businesswoman, taking her cosmetics business Revenge and expanding through Europe with plans to get into the market in America. After Jack had taken her ideas to build a company during their marriage and then froze her out of it in their divorce, Faye chose to work with women in starting and building Revenge. Her investors were women, they were friends, they were allies. So it didn’t occur to Faye that there could be a problem with the company.

Until someone started buying up all the stock they can.

Clearly, someone is upset with her for something she had done and wanted Revenge for her or himself. But who would do that? Who would rip her company out from under her, even getting her most loyal investors to sell?

And then she gets more bad news: Jack has escaped from prison.

After two years of finally feeling safe, feeling powerful even, suddenly Faye is worried. Her company is vulnerable. Her financial security is in question. And now her life may be in danger, especially if Jack were to learn that she had faked their daughter’s death to send him to prison.

Can Faye find the strength once again to stand up to the men in her life, or will she find out that her power is not as strong as theirs?

Camilla Lackberg’s Silver Tears is the story of one woman’s fight to keep her own power in a life where she has felt stifled by men. Faye struggles with her own power and limitations, with her relationships and her vulnerabilities, as she does everything she can to keep herself and her family safe. Faye’s story started in the book The Golden Cage, and the ending hints that there will be at least one more volume of her story. While you will have a more rounded idea of who Faye is if you read the books in order, they also work as stand-alone novels.

I was fascinated by Silver Tears and read it in one day. I adored The Golden Cage, my introduction to Lackberg’s work, and I still think the writing in that one is a little stronger. But getting to spend more time with these characters, reading more of Faye’s story, is a journey that I would always want to take. She is a complicated character, and I am completely drawn in by her.

That being said, Silver Tears does have some scenes that some readers may struggle with, so please be warned that there are descriptions of abuse and of complicated intimate relationships.

Egalleys for Silver Tears were provided by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group through NetGalley, with many thanks.