If you love dark revenge stories, this one, about a woman who gave it all up for love only to be traded in for a younger model, might be just the thing. Check out my plot summary and Spoiler Review for The Golden Cage!
The Golden Cage by Camilla Läckberg. Translated by Neil Smith. Published July 7 2002 by Knopf.
Plot Summary of The Golden Cage
Even though The Golden Cage has an alternating past/present format, I’m going to summarize the past and then the present.
THE GOLDEN CAGE: PAST
Faye is actually “Matilda,” and arrived in Stockholm from a small town in 2001. She was leaving behind a tragic past: an abusive father who was sentenced to life in prison for killing Faye’s mother.
Faye reinvents herself in Stockholm and meets Viktor. When he finds out she’s seeing a new guy, Jack, he snoops in her room and finds out about her past. After he confronts her, she kills him by starting a fire when he’s sleeping.
Faye and Jack are inseparable. Both of them are students in business school. Jack’s family was poor and he’s determined to succeed. When Jack and his friend Henrik start a company, Faye is supportive. When they are running out of money, she takes a leave from school and works as a waitress to support them.
The company succeeds. Faye and Jack marry and have a daughter, Julienne. He pressures her to be a stay at home mother and trophy wife.
THE GOLDEN CAGE: PRESENT
Jack has become extremely controlling about everything. Faye is planning his birthday party and decides to invite an old favorite musician of his to perform. Jack finds out, yells at Faye for being so embarrassing and hires an event planner to take over the party.
Faye meets the musician at a movie theater and has sex with him.
Faye finds out she’s pregnant. She doesn’t seem to consider the possibility that the baby is not Jack’s but okay.
Jack says he doesn’t want more children and tells her to terminate the pregnancy. He doesn’t show up at the clinic to pick her up, so Faye calls her female friend Chris to come and get her.
Faye has been monitoring Jack’s internet history and knows he likes porn. But she believes he’s faithful, or wants to believe it.
Faye decides to take Julienne on a trip. But when Julienne gets sick, Faye returns home to find Jack having sex with Ylva, a colleague.
Jack wants a divorce. He and Ylva move in together and share custody of Julienne with Faye. He enforces their prenup, which says that Faye gets nothing beyond child support.
Faye find a place to live and befriends Kerstin, her landlady. She starts a dog walking business to make money.
Faye gets Chris to help her start a beauty business called Revenge – dedicated to women who’ve been betrayed by men.
Faye gets Julienne to help her install spyware on Jack’s computer. She anonymously sends information she finds to a journalist, which derails the IPO that Jack’s company is planning.
Jack is fired. Faye sleeps with him and sends photos to Ylva, who is pregnant. Faye continues to spy on Jack and when she finds naked photos of Julienne on Jack’s computer, she frames him for their daughter’s murder. Then she and her daughter flee to live a new life elsewhere.
Spoiler Discussion for The Golden Cage
So this was a really fun, page-turning revenge story. But it was also one of those books that raised more questions than it answered. Was it the translation? Was it me? Let’s figure this out.
Why did Faye kill Viktor?
He read her diary, in which she must have written about her mother’s death, her father being in prison and her brother’s suicide. And he threatens to tell Jack. She didn’t want her past exposed. But…
What actually happened to Faye’s Mother?
She disappeared and her body was never found. Because of Faye’s father’s history of abuse, it’s assumed that he killed her. But did he? Faye is rather vague on this. Or did Faye’s mother run away and Faye decided to frame him? Or did Faye kill her mother and brother to “save” them, like she (sort of) did with Julienne? Hmmm….
How does Faye manage to create an empire out of dog-walking money?
Yeah, this was a hard one to swallow. I think maybe she should have had a secret stash of money somewhere. And why did she sign a prenup that gave her nothing after years of marriage?
Faye: feminist heroine or psychopathic villain?
Faye grew up in an abusive home, but stays with Jack even though he’s gone from the man of her dreams to extremely controlling (and a probable cheater). When she has proof that he’s cheating on her, she suddenly flips out and begins the revenge plot. In the midst of punishing him, she discovers photos of Julienne on his computer and decides to frame him for Julienne’s murder. This discovery changes the revenge plot to a desire to protect her daughter at all costs.
In addition, Faye murdered Viktor (to protect her secret) and also her landlady Kerstin’s husband (because he’s also abusive and might be let out of his nursing home).
In the end, this all got kind of muddled for me: Faye’s past is terrible and I understand that she wants to put it behind her. But did Viktor really have to die so Faye could be with Jack? Then Jack is so terrible that it’s hard to believe Faye stayed with him.
Goodreads seems to suggest this is the first in a series. Is Faye coming back for more revenge? Is her father getting out of prison and telling us a different story? Will Jack prove his innocence and track them down? Anything seems possible.
Join Our Discussion of the Golden Cage!
What did you think? Please tell me in comments! If you want to see my reply to your comments or other people’s thoughts, just click the tiny envelope icon above the comment box and add your email.
I agree I do not understand why Faye had to kill Vicktor…. At the end we know that her mother did not die even though her father is in jail for the crime. Was this in her diary? Is that what Vicktor knew? And even if he did know that was it really necessary to kill him??
It did not make sense to me!
I loved your detailed review of the book. I just finished it….and was surprised by the end to find her mother alive. Thank you for your great review. I’m on hold for the next book
Glorianne! Is there another book? Thanks so much for letting me know. I’m going to get it and we can discuss!
Hi! yes, there is a sequel called Silver Tears. and a 3rd one but not in English yet…..
I had no idea. And my library has a copy of Silver Tears – I am so happy you told me this 🙂
I’m looking forward to your review of the sequel. Iim on hold at my library so I won’t read your review (if you post soon) until after I read the book. Have a good day
Glorianne
I’m not clear as to how she framed Jack for Julianne’s death. I obviously missed something. Where was all the blood from? Whose body? I must have skipped something. Please enlighten me. Thanks.
So sorry – I now take notes and save them but did not for this book, so if my summary doesn’t have that information, I don’t have it either. If you subscribe to replies and someone answers this, you will get notified.