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The Darkest Room (2008)

by Johan Theorin(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0552774618 (ISBN13: 9780552774611)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Black Swan

series

The Öland Quartet

review 1: Ghost story more than crime fiction, I think. The real character in these books is the island of Oland - the description of it in the winter is particularly good. This one is set in an old house on the ast coast, built from wood salvaged from a wreck, so tragedy is part of the very fabric of the house and there are many vignettes about the people who have died in or around the house over the years. There are many different strands to the story and some are less well developed than others (it is a little uneven, in other words) - and we never actually find out what happens to the murderer who is revealed at the end. Some parts of the ghost story worked but others were harder to believe in. Good on the background - folklore, geography, climate and old customs and ways of lif... moree on the island, together with some modern aspects.
review 2: A mix of crime novel, thriller, a dash of horror perhaps, blending history and the "present" (well, the 90s - almost present but lacking cellphones) in a setting so far nearly unexplored by literature (and I'm not talking about the old creepy estate thing - it's Öland in general). Some of the characters might've been left, well, slightly flat, but the background, the situations they are put in, the surroundings, the historical bits - all are well executed. The house, its history and its secrets, along with the island itself are the things that keep you going for the best part. Only the finish seemed somewhat rushed - but maybe it was just me rushing towards the end of a book in a language I can read, but not without the help of a dictionary here and there and perhaps inadvertently missing some nuances. In any case, I'd recommend this to anyone. Not flawless, but a damn good book that is quite capable of keeping one on one's toes from time to time. less

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