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kimmkoning's review against another edition
4.0
There is nothing that I love more than a good ghost story. I could easily have finished this story in one sitting but I really enjoyed the atmosphere and mood of this book so much that I read it in mouthfuls, savouring each delicious spooky mouthful.
The main characters in this story is an island and an old lighthouse-keepers house. The people in this story play out their parts but both in the past and the present, the island of Oland and the house direct and influence their paths.
I love stories that build in twists from the past and this story is really many stories within one binding. As you follow one family through this story, your heart is pulled with their joys and their tragedies in equal measure.
I was truly mesmerised by this story and know that it will remain in my memory for years to come. This is the second in a quartet of stories all set on the remote Swedish Island of Oland. I cannot wait to return to the literary landscape of this bleak and fascinating island.
The main characters in this story is an island and an old lighthouse-keepers house. The people in this story play out their parts but both in the past and the present, the island of Oland and the house direct and influence their paths.
I love stories that build in twists from the past and this story is really many stories within one binding. As you follow one family through this story, your heart is pulled with their joys and their tragedies in equal measure.
I was truly mesmerised by this story and know that it will remain in my memory for years to come. This is the second in a quartet of stories all set on the remote Swedish Island of Oland. I cannot wait to return to the literary landscape of this bleak and fascinating island.
ceegreen's review against another edition
4.0
A dour scandinavian crime novel - no surprises there then. What marked this out was the slow, atmospheric build-up.A death occurs,but for about three quarters of the book there's little reason to think there's been a murder. There are secrets, stories, ghosts (perhaps), grieving, and lots of storms and snow. By the time it gets into a more conventional format for a crime novel, it's a little disappointing - too conventional after all that came before. But that's a small gripe, all in all I loved the setting, loved the 'slow burn'and will definately read more by Johan Theorin
trees11's review against another edition
mysterious
slow-paced
2.0
Too much character history not much plot; found it tedious and boring. Characters not very interesting or pleasant in the main
One interesting character (police ) minimum part of the story.
Jumped to the end after struggling with first 200 pages as I couldn't be bothered with the repetition of same plotlines in different words.
One interesting character (police ) minimum part of the story.
Jumped to the end after struggling with first 200 pages as I couldn't be bothered with the repetition of same plotlines in different words.
kurwaczytaj's review against another edition
4.0
Přečteno během prodlouženého víkendu. Čtivý, melancholický mix psychologického románu, duchařských historek a detektivky, ve kterém vystupuje i slavný Aleister Crowley.
yahelavelsnik's review against another edition
1.0
I really don't understand why this book got so many good reviews here and on other sites. Maybe the translator did a bad job and spoiled the effect of the book (I read it in Russian)though I seriously doubt it.
First of all, this book is devoid of any features of a literary style. By this I mean - no metaphors, no stylistic devices, just a mere sequence of events given in the most trivial manner ever. And it's not Hemingway or Kafka, of course. OK, stylistic devices are not so important nowadays. But the whole plot is just...I can't find any other word than trivial: everybody has a dark story in their past, cold desolate islands are scary and full of ghosts, etc. You have seen it in a thousand of 'scary' movies where happens nothing but whispers and strange object movements until the character finds out that his or her house is an ancient grave or altar of some weird cult.
The ending was just hilarious - "I know, you killed Katrin" says Joakim to a character the least likely to kill her. It seems the author analyzed the list of the characters and chose the most insignificant and unmotivated to kill character. Speaking about Joakim - there must be something wrong with him. There is a term - 'hypothymia' - when a person can't experience any emotions. His grief is described in such a cliche manner! The author didn't even bother to give us any details about the characters - that is probably why Joakim thinks about his wife as a woman that doesn't have any specific features. She was an art teacher and used to wind a clock in their bedroom. That's all we know about her. The same is with the other characters - no details, no features of appearance, no hobbies, no particular likes or dislikes or specific manners. Only in memories of Katrin's mother (the only one character who has something specific about her) some former Oland inhabitants were peculiar.
It also seemed to me that Theorin wrote this book in a week or less and the only problem for him was not to make any fact mistakes. He always gives some proves for a goof-looking reader that he didn't forget anything. Well, he didn't but when he writes things like - 'She felt as if an ax was in her bag: other person's happiness depend on her'-it doesn't feel right.
What is also disappointing is the fact that the author could have done something better of the plot: such a great setting, two lighthouses, some references to the ancient Scandinavian religious traditions, weird nature: dense fog, peat-lands, storms, gales, etc. He might have used it properly and make a nice and scary (at least a bit scary) book. But - alas! - he failed at it.
First of all, this book is devoid of any features of a literary style. By this I mean - no metaphors, no stylistic devices, just a mere sequence of events given in the most trivial manner ever. And it's not Hemingway or Kafka, of course. OK, stylistic devices are not so important nowadays. But the whole plot is just...I can't find any other word than trivial: everybody has a dark story in their past, cold desolate islands are scary and full of ghosts, etc. You have seen it in a thousand of 'scary' movies where happens nothing but whispers and strange object movements until the character finds out that his or her house is an ancient grave or altar of some weird cult.
The ending was just hilarious - "I know, you killed Katrin" says Joakim to a character the least likely to kill her. It seems the author analyzed the list of the characters and chose the most insignificant and unmotivated to kill character. Speaking about Joakim - there must be something wrong with him. There is a term - 'hypothymia' - when a person can't experience any emotions. His grief is described in such a cliche manner! The author didn't even bother to give us any details about the characters - that is probably why Joakim thinks about his wife as a woman that doesn't have any specific features. She was an art teacher and used to wind a clock in their bedroom. That's all we know about her. The same is with the other characters - no details, no features of appearance, no hobbies, no particular likes or dislikes or specific manners. Only in memories of Katrin's mother (the only one character who has something specific about her) some former Oland inhabitants were peculiar.
It also seemed to me that Theorin wrote this book in a week or less and the only problem for him was not to make any fact mistakes. He always gives some proves for a goof-looking reader that he didn't forget anything. Well, he didn't but when he writes things like - 'She felt as if an ax was in her bag: other person's happiness depend on her'-it doesn't feel right.
What is also disappointing is the fact that the author could have done something better of the plot: such a great setting, two lighthouses, some references to the ancient Scandinavian religious traditions, weird nature: dense fog, peat-lands, storms, gales, etc. He might have used it properly and make a nice and scary (at least a bit scary) book. But - alas! - he failed at it.
andrew61's review against another edition
4.0
This is one of those books that had me looking over my shoulder with every creak and sound in my house at night. Part ghost story, part thriller it tells of a couple who move with their children into a large house near some deserted lighthouses on an island of the cost of Sweden. I won't say anymore save that the house and family have memories that haunt them while at the same time a bunch of local villains are causing problems and a young female police officer has to manage an investigation as well as her personal life.
Very enjoyable and even though part of a series can be read as a stand alone.
Very enjoyable and even though part of a series can be read as a stand alone.
allymckill's review against another edition
5.0
Spooky Swedish mystery/crime novels might be my favorite thing...