39. The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin

Category: 50 Books

39. The Darkest Room by Johan Theorin

More great Swedish crime fic. This is Mr. Theorin’s second novel. His first one Echoes of the Dead was great and this one was even better. I did have one problem with part of the ending, but since the rest of the book was so good and creepy I’ll forgive it.

It had everything I enjoy reading: suspense, a bit of the supernatural, and metafiction. The book within the book was my favorite part to read.

The author did a great job with the creepy, supernatural parts. You’d think with as much as he talked about ghosts and goblins and haunted barns and peat bogs that it would have been more of a ghost story than a crime novel, but he manages to keep the ghosty bits subtle and questionable. And that makes it even more creepy.

The author also does a great job of writing about so many characters, they all have their own story and then he manages to bring them all together. Not once did i get confused with all the characters. Which says a lot. Also! I was so glad that Gerlof was in this one too! He didn’t have as big of a part in this one as the last one, but still had an important part. Great stuff.

This book, like the last book I read, Ice Land by Betsy Tobin, used the landscape a great deal, alomst like another character. In Ice Land it was the volcano, in this one it was the whole of Eel Point as well as the annual blizzard. Just great stuff all around. Very moody and creepy and awesome.

Tags: , , ,

2 Comments