There were quite a few things I liked about this book, and only a few I did not. First, the book is part of a series, and I have not read the earlier books. However, I was able to easily follow the story and figure out the characters and the ongoing relationships. The main character, Inspector Irene Huss, actually has a life- family ( a husband and twin daughters, even a dog) and does not drop everything to focus exclusively on the case. She still has to walk the dog, clean the house, be there for her children. This level of realism was great to see- most 'detective' fiction involves either singles or people who can just never come home for days on end.
The characters were multi-layered and complex, with many red herrings and interesting side stories. There was even a sub-plot involving one of the detectives family members, which added an interesting dimension. The only thing I did not like about this was that I found some of the psychology of the characters confusing, especially in terms of the decisions that they made regarding the case. People hid major information from the police for reasons that seemed unclear to me. If someone is missing and perhaps dead, would you really withhold information about who they are dating from the police, potentially endangering the investigation? Also, the motives of the person who does end up being the criminal are not fully explained, or at least not in a way that made sense to me.
I enjoyed the discussion of social issues that came up over the course of the book- some related to the investigation (like the problems of mental illness and homelessness) and some arising out of other parts of the story, like sexual harrassment and environmental movements.
All in all a very good story, I only gave it 4 of 5 stars because I had trouble with the psychology and motivation issues in a way that made it hard for me to find some characters truly believable.