Camilla Lackberg / Alison Sinclair

A local woman is killed in a tragic car crash, but it isn't a clear-cut drunk driving case. The victim's blood contains high alcohol levels, but she rarely drank a drop. Meanwhile, a reality TV show begins shooting in the town, and as cameras shadow the stars' every move, tempers start to flare. When a drunken party ends with an unpopular contestant's murder, all eyes turn to the cast and crew could there be a murderer among them? The ratings spike as the country tunes in to a real life murder mystery. Detective Patrik Hedstrom finds himself increasingly unable to focus on the strange circumstances of the first case, but what if that holds the key to a series of other unsolved cases across Sweden? Under the unforgiving media spotlight, Patrik tackles his toughest investigation yet.

  
Magic dies with the mage, or so the Darkborn believe. That's why Lady Telmaine Hearne has been condemned to death for sorcery. She's escaped but is now bound with her mageborn allies for the Borders and war. Meanwhile, her husband, Balthasar, has learned of his family connection to the Shadowborn-and is fighting for survival and sanity as magic turns him against everything he holds dear.

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Comment: These were the first two books I've read this month.

Gallows Bird is the 4th story in the crime series by the author, she continues the major storyline from the first book, with the same usual cast of characters. I like this because slowly we get to see many characters follow their lives and paths and it gives the reader a certain sense of continuity, which I love in a series. In this book, another crime must be solved and it includes several current themes in the world, like the price of fame, the need to be famous, reality shows among other things. I was shocked by some things plot related, although at some point some things start to look clear to the reader. I wished a certain subject was wrong but it wasn't and it still amazes me how some psychological differences can be so easy and for people, when most our lives we learn to see them as wrong and impossible.This was a great book and I can't wait to get my hands on the following ones.

Shadowborn is the end if the trilogy started with Darkborn and followed by Lightborn. 

The end of the trilogy was the tidying up for all the plots and sub plots in curse. We see changes are coming to the world and it will depend on everyone, from all the different races, to accomplish that. I liked the general things happening and what it meant to the society. What I wanted was a more firm end, I mean, the author herself has said she deliberated left things open ended, but to me it was too much. And I mean in the personal level, where I see too many things done unsatisfying. I even emailed the author about my questions but no answer yet. I know this trilogy isn't a romance but I've seen it through a romance filter and some things weren't clear enough for me in that respect. In the end, I have to confess that ruined the story a bit because I was so sure I'd see certain things and when it wasn't obvious or clear, I ended up disappointed. Still, a great fantasy read, an amazing idea and world development and intrigue to last a week.