Today I’m joining the blog tour for Scars Of Silence. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to Orenda Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

Twenty-three years ago, a young woman was murdered on the Swedish island of Lidingö.

The island has kept its silence.

Until now…

As autumn deepens into darkness in Lidingö, on the Stockholm archipelago, the island is plunged into chaos: in the space of a week, two teenaged boys are murdered. Their bodies are left deep in the forest, dressed in white tunics with crowns of candles on their heads, like offerings to Saint Lucia.

Maïa Rehn has fled Paris for Lidingö after a family tragedy. But when the murders shake the island community, the former police commissioner is drawn into the heart of the investigation, joining Commissioner Aleksander Storm to unravel a mystery as chilling as the Nordic winter.

As they dig deeper, it becomes clear that a wind of vengeance is blowing through the archipelago, unearthing secrets that are as scandalous as they are inhuman.

But what if the victims weren’t who they seemed? What if those long silenced have finally found a way to strike back?

How far would they go to make their tormentors pay?

And you – how far would you go?

Review:

I absolutely love Johana Gustawsson’s work. Her writing is so compelling and full of drama, yet there is so much compassion in her words. The translation is seamless, and despite the often challenging subject matter, I flew through Scars Of Silence and I really wanted to know what had happened in the small town of Lidingö.

The chapters in Scars Of Silence are narrated mostly by Maia and Aleks, who are involved in investigating the murders both in the past and the present day. They both have difficulties within their personal lives, and I think this helped Johana Gustawsson to convey the more emotional issues in the case, because as readers we are sympathetic to the investigators as well as the victims of the crimes. I was fascinated as I got to know them as the author makes it clear what makes them tick. It is not only Maia and Aleks who are well constructed characters, but the characters around them are also incredibly multidimensional, so we are treated to a really rich view of their lives that really enhances the wonderful storytelling.

As Lidingö is a small town, many of the characters know each other and their connections mean that there is a large number of suspects, both in the past and the present. Johana Gustawsson threads all these strands and connections together brilliantly in such an intelligent way, and in a way that kept me intrigued throughout the story.

The ending of Scars Of Silence delivers a sucker punch, which will leave me thinking about the characters for some time – and I hope we are able to see them again in the future.

Scars Of Silence is available from Amazon.

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