ramblingmads

To celebrate the paperback release of Yule Island (just in time for Christmas!) I’m sharing my review from the hardback tour. Get your copy here or in all the usual places!

Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found. Emma must work alone, and with the Gussman family apparently avoiding her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to hide? As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover the secrets of the house and its occupants. When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and memories of his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could this young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key? Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past – Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest winter…

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson has worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press, and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in 23 countries. A TV adaptation is currently under way in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding was a number-one bestseller in France, receiving critical acclaim across the globe, and Yule Island has won multiple awards, including Book of the Year with France’s biggest retailer, Cultura, and has been optioned for the screen. Johana lives in Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.

My thoughts: this is not a Christmas book, despite the title, it’s a creepy, dark read about obsession, murder, and how twisted some minds can get.

And it is also so, so good. Totally compelling, very enjoyable as I like dark, weird stuff, and peopled with very normal individuals, and some very disturbed ones passing as normal. Which of course makes it worse.

There are several narratives that once you realise what’s happening and how they interconnect, build to reveal the total horror that has taken place in the Gussman family’s manor house.

This is the second book I’ve read from this author, and it is deeply chilling but incredibly interesting and her writing (and the excellent work of the translator) just sucks you into the world Johana has created on this island. It’s that good. If you prefer your winter reading to be dark and full of horrors, monsters hidden in plain sight, then this is absolutely for you.

Two years ago, Alexander Blix was the lead investigator in a missing person’s case where a young mother, Elisabeth Eie, was kidnapped. The case was never solved. Blix’s career in law enforcement is now over, but her kidnapper is back, leaving evidence of Elisabeth’s murder in Blix’s mailbox, as well as hints that there are other victims.

At the same time, Emma Ramm has been contacted by a teenage girl, whose stepfather has been arrested on suspicion of killing a childhood friend. But there is no body. Nor are there any other suspects…

Blix and Ramm can rely only on each other, and when Blix’s fingerprints are found on a child’s drawing at a crime scene, the present comes uncomfortably close to the past. A past where a victim has found their own, shocking form of therapy. And someone is watching…

Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger are both internationally bestselling Norwegian authors. Jørn Lier Horst first rose to literary fame with his no. 1 bestselling William Wisting series. A former Detective Chief Investigator in the Norwegian police, Horst imbues all his works with an unparalleled realism and suspense.

Thomas Enger is the journalist-turned-author behind the acclaimed Henning Juul series. Enger’s trademark is his dark, gritty voice paired with key social messages and tight plotting. Besides writing fiction for both adults and young adults, Enger also works as a music composer.

Death Deserved, the first book in the Blix & Ramm series, was Jørn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger’s first co-written thriller, and all five books in the series series have hit no. 1 on bestseller lists worldwide.

My thoughts: Alexander Blix is out of prison and struggling to put his life back together without his job as a police detective, and his daughter. While his friend Emma Ramm has quit her job as a journalist, and is also searching for her next role.

A stranger phones Blix, claiming to be the killer of Elisabeth Eie, a case still unsolved. Although now on the outside, Blix seems to have the killer’s focus, as he leaves messages and calls the former detective, his ex-colleagues are not keen to involve him, but it appears they don’t have a choice.

Emma has been asked by a teenage girl to prove her stepfather, the man who raised her from the age of two, is innocent of the disappearance of his employee and the arson of his business. There’s definitely something off about the case and so she starts to look into it.

Both cases have echoes in Blix and Emma’s pasts, neither of them had particularly happy childhoods to look back on. And while neither of them are officially on the case, they have the skills and knowledge to find the answers. Could this be the answer to their search for new roles?

Another clever and knotty investigation, and an interesting insight into Blix as his personal life develops with a dog (called Terry) and a new relationship.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.