Having read The Last Thing to Burn by this author, I was very keen to read his other work which is how I found myself with this one! Tuva Moodyson is a journalist who has moved from her home town some months ago. However, when she learns of the disappearance of her best friend she hightails it back to Gavrik, determined to find Tammy. Someone is sabotaging efforts to find her, and Tuva begins her own investigation but the resident of Snake River are suspicious of outsiders which doesn’t make it easy for her but her determination to save her friend keeps her going. My regret is that, in my haste to read another by Will Dean I didn’t take time to realise that this is third in a series and I think it would have been better to begin at the beginning. However, this is a very suspenseful read which really got my heart pumping more than once. An intricate and engaging read, beautifully written which kept me glued to the pages until the very end. I only wish I had read the series in order. For me, four stars.

Tuva’s new start in the big city (Malmö) has barely begun which she receives a frantic phone call from Lena; Tammy has gone missing. A distraught Tuva immediately gets into her Hilux truck and drives through the night back up north to Gavrik. It being the height of summer, the north of Sweden barely gets dark at night, but Tuva is still exhausted at journey’s end and amazed to discover a lack of interest in Tammy’s disappearance amongst the locals. She is met with comments that she has probably gone away for a break or has met a man and is with him. Even the local police are sanguine about events, hardly considering it to be a missing persons case. Tuva knows Tammy so well, they are best friends, and she intuitively knows something is wrong, she wouldn’t just take off without a word. With nobody else bothering, Tuva takes the lead in investigating the whereabouts of Tammy. Tuva hopes she is alive but fears the worst. Her old boss Lena is there to offer support, but girlfriend Noora is away on vacation and Tuva realises how much she misses her. It falls to Tuva keep up the interest in Tammy, interest that begins to wain when another young woman goes missing. You cannot keep this woman out of small-town Sweden and Gavrik is so well imagined and vividly brought to life. Small towns can appear dull and claustrophobic to their younger inhabitants, but there is no chance of that occurring in this series. There is always a creepy edge brought by the inhabitants of the surrounding villages and small settlements. The oddball troll carving sisters are never far away, with their shocking real-life embellishments to their wares, but there is a new cast of the strange to contend with. There’s a couple of rough and ready wood cutters working deep in the forest together with a near feral cat, more like a lynx, that is spreading its DNA far and wide. A woman is an ethical (as she keeps reminding people) snake breeder, one who eats the flesh of and uses the skin and bones for handy crafts. Those fearful of snakes will find this behaviour somewhat disturbing. There are a couple of cousins who convert shipping containers into habitable spaces and a man who buys scrap cars to breakdown for parts to sell on eBay. So, Tuva has much to contend with and no shortage of potential suspects to investigate. Setting the story in Midsommar is a great idea, a winter search in the long days of darkness wouldn’t have worked as well. As much of Europe have days and nights of largely similar length this something of an alien concept unless experienced. The long days cause a kind of midsummer madness through insomnia and excessive drinking, the sense that tired desperate people might do crazy things. The story is engaging with enough possibilities to keep the reader guessing as we follow Tuva’s progress. The pacing is steady and feels about right, allowing the tension to build and the reader to share in Tuva’s desperation at each dead end and false marker. This is something perfectly conveyed in Maya Lindh’s narration. Friendship is a key theme as Tuva releases how tight the invisible bonds with Tammy are, how much she depends on her and needs her in her life. The feeling of belonging is prominent too, being recognisable amongst most small communities the world over. Many will be familiar with the idea of an incomer taking years or never really being accepted as one of their own by the locals. This is even something Tuva has had to contend with. In the case of Tammy this is even more so because of her Thai ancestry; she is second generation Thai born in Sweden but still regarded as foreign. It all comes to a head when the second woman disappears, with Tuva’s frustration at the varying treatment of the two women being palpable. This is tactfully handled with some sensitivity, being wary of people of different cultures is a natural reaction, one that can be overcome by social interaction.

Thank you to the publishers for this review copy, apologies that it sat in my to be read tower too long, but I'm locked in now... so making some progress with it. I would definitely suggest you read these in order so Dark Pines, Red Snow and then this one. Certainly a series I would like to see continue, each book has you on the edge of your seat. Good characters and plots that would certainly make great TV too. Happy to recommend on to others.

From the early pages of his first novel starring deaf Swedish journalist Tuva Moodyson, Will Dean showed a great touch for atmospheric, absorbing storytelling. Known as ‘the Forest Author’ since he swapped London city life for a cabin in a Swedish forest, Dean’s tales are filled with a host of unusual and kooky characters befitting rural Nordic life. Tuva Moodyson is a fascinating heroine – relentless yet prone to stumbles. In Black River she has escaped small-town Gavrik for clean living and a lonely life among the bright lights of Malmo, only to be drawn back home when her best friend Tammy, proprietor of a Thai food truck, vanishes. Dean has crafted another tense tale that blends the intrigue and social commentary of crime fiction with the deliciously scary soul of folk tales: menacing forests offering both danger and adventure; stories full of characters heroic and grotesque. Dean does a fine job bringing Tuva’s deafness into the story in an authentic way rather than creating a caricature. Overall, a very good read in a very good series.

It so good to catch-up with Tuva again. It’s like getting together with a good friend you haven’t seen for a while. Having read Will Dean’s previous two novels with Tuva as the lead it feels so comfortable to pick up his third novel and off you go straight into the action from the beginning like she’s never been away. Tuva is now living and working in the south of Sweden when she gets an urgent call saying her best friend has gone missing. Tuva rushes back to Gavrik and won’t stop up her friend Tammy is found. This is the best one in the series so far, I got to about half way and I just couldn’t stop until I had finished. There was a point when I thought I might lose interest but then along came the ending and I wasn’t disappointed. Tuva is a great lead character imperfectly perfect with all her flaws but the setting of this series shouldn’t be underestimated and plays an important role, from the small town atmosphere, to the great pine woods all playing their part in creating a great story. Definitely a recommended read.