The Sanctuary (Kørner and Werner #5) by Katrine Engberg

 Nordic crime thriller that brings the series to a conclusion.

A gruesome discovery -- half a body in a suitcase. Some sort of band saw cleaved the man into two complete halves...where's the rest of it and who is this person? 

Anette Werner is tasked with the investigation while Jeppe Korner is off trying to manage his broken heart and working as a lumberjack in nearby island of Bornholm. When clues about the body lead back to Bornholm, Werner calls upon Korner to help look into the case. Also on island, there is another familiar character, Esther de Laurenti, who has come to visit the home of an award-winning anthropologist, Margrethe Dybris. Esther is there with Margrethe's daughter, Ida, and is looking at the deceased anthropologist's letters and papers with the intent to write a biography of the icon. 

Meanwhile, there are a lot of unsavory characters doing bad things and no one can seem to figure out where some missing men have gone or the identity of the person in the suitcase. It seems like there was a lot going on at the island over the years and the relationships of those who lived there became quite intertwined and proved dangerous for some. Anette goes to Bornholm and helps the local detectives track down suspects to try to piece together what had happened. 

I've read 3 of the 5 books in this series featuring Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner. It's been too long between installments, and I could have done with a bit of a refresher perhaps, but this moved at a slow pace and involved a lot of characters in a new setting. The plot was complex and a bit convoluted and it seemed as if all the loose ends weren't really tied up neatly for me at the conclusion. 

I'd like to give this 3.5 stars as I liked it but definitely, I think a person should not attempt this as a standalone. The two books I have not been able to acquire definitely should have been read as well. I always prefer to read a series in order. I never felt this rose to the level of a suspense thriller but seemed more of a police procedural. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this e-book ARC to read and review.

This is the 5th in a series that should be read in order from the beginning.

Genre - police procedural, crime thriller, mystery Nordic Noir