I am an Icelandic writer, best known for crime fiction although I have also written horror and children’s books. From a young age I have been a fan of creepiness and horror. My threshold for the macabre is thus high, maybe best witnessed by me noting that my first crime series featuring lawyer Thora was a cosy crime series, only to be reminded that in the first installment the eyes of a dead body were removed with a teaspoon, in the second a child was killed and the third featured decapitation. Whenever I need a reprise from writing crime I revert to horror, the best received of these being I Remember You.
I Remember You was written as an experiment in running a crime novel and a thriller side by side. In my opinion the difference between the two lies in the propelling event, which in crime fiction traditionally happens at the onset while in a thriller it has not taken place – will it/will it not happen? For the thriller part I chose to write a ghost story as I wanted it to involve fear and there is nothing like fear stemming from something you have no control over. The two seemingly unrelated stories involve a doctor whose son went out to play hide and seek, hid and was never seen again and three friends that go to an abandoned town in the dead of winter and realise they are not alone, a bummer for them as they have no possible way of contacting civilization. The best review I received for this book was from a reader that kept it in his car overnight as he found it so uncomfortable and malevolent.
Anyone obsessing over the disappearance of the Roanoke settlers will enjoy this book. As will those that have never heard of the incident or couldn’t care less. It actually has nothing to do with Roanoke but at its core is the same type of mystery, the disappearance of the inhabitants of a whole town in the past. The pacing of the book is great and the creepiness is all-encompassing while you alternate between two timelines, accompanying a documentary crew in the present trying to make heads of what happened and the past events leading up to the mystery. To be corny, it is unputdownable.
Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed "The Lost Village," since she was a little girl. Her grandmother's entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the dead woman and abandoned baby have plagued her. She's gathered a small crew of filmmaking friends to spend a few days in the quiet village and make a film about what really happened.
There will be no turning back for them.
Not long after they've set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People…
Johan Theorin has received so much praise and accolades for this book that it feels a bit repetitive to heap more on. But here goes anyway. Like most of the books recommended here this one couples a mystery and a ghost story, never leaning completely to one side. The family moving into and restoring an old house is not exactly trailblazing in the ghostly realm but that does not matter at all. There is never too much of a good thing in my opinion. But make no mistake that a haunted house is not all that is being dealt with here, enter lighthouses, past shipwrecks, and drownings. Throw in present-day drug-addicted burglars, a tragedy, and excerpts from an old manuscript and the outcome is a master class in eeriness, drawing from an incredible sense of place and great storytelling.
'The dead are our neighbours everywhere on the island, and you have to get used to it.'
It is bitter mid-winter on the Swedish island of Oland, and Katrine and Joakim Westin have moved with their children to the boarded-up manor house at Eel Point. But their remote idyll is soon shattered when Katrine is found drowned off the rocks nearby. As Joakim struggles to keep his sanity in the wake of the tragedy, the old house begins to exert a strange hold over him.
Joakim has never been in the least superstitious, but from where are those whispering noises…
If small-town creepy mystery is your thing, then the setting of this book´s setting is the mother of all such premises. The book takes place in a small, remote fishing village with only a handful of inhabitants. None of which are exactly warm or welcoming to newcomers. We witness odd goings-on through the eyes of a young teacher, hired to teach the two children residing in the minuscule community. To add to the claustrophobic atmosphere of the situation, the attic room the protagonist is provided is haunted by the ghost of a young girl. This book is atmospheric and best enjoyed in a solitary environment, read by candlelight. Highly recommended for those in need of a creepy, ghostly fix.
THE NAIL-BITING SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
'Is this the best crime writer in the world today?' The Times
'A world-class crime writer . . . One of the most astonishing plots of modern crime fiction' Sunday Times
'It is nothing less than a landmark in modern crime fiction' The Times ________
'TEACHER WANTED AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD . . .'
After the loss of her father, Una sees a chance to escape Reykjavik to tutor two girls in the tiny village of Skalar - population just ten - on Iceland's storm-battered north coast.…
I am not impressed by vampire novels as I always feel as if I am being gypped into reading romance. First off, this book is not that book, although it involves a vampire. A twelve-year-old vampire to be exact, the best kind. I will admit that it will not leave you sleeping with the lights on or weaving a garlic necklace. It is understated when it comes to jump scares but manages to evoke dread nonetheless. What I loved about the book is its fresh take on vampires, the morose setting, and the no holds barred gruesomeness. So many things go sideways in such horrible ways that it is hard to pick the most harrowing scene from the buffet of depravity on offer. However, it is by no means a gorefest written by a nut job. It is extremely well written and does not disrespect the idea of a vampire by shrouding the story in sugar-coated romance.
John Ajvide Lindqvist’s international bestseller Let the Right One In is “a brilliant take on the vampire myth, and a roaring good story” (New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong), the basis for the multi-film festival award-winning Swedish film, the U.S. adaptation Let Me In directed by Matt Reeves (The Batman), and the Showtime TV series.
It is autumn 1981 when inconceivable horror comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenager is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at…
It is only fair that John Ajvide Lindqvist gets two mentions out of my five. He is the Nordic author most committed to the genre and damn good at it to boot. As a result, there was a lot to choose from and yet I decided on the title that is possibly the least likely to hold mass appeal, despite a premise that might seem most horror reader’s cup of tea. Ten people in campervans, plus a dog and a cat, wake up to find the world as they knew it has disappeared. What happens next is presented from a multiple POW and is disturbing, harrowing, gory, and creepy. The part that is not for everyone is that the story is hard to wrap your head around. But for those horror aficionados that do not need a perfect explanation at the end are in for a hell of a ride and therefore the novel is highly recommended.
A supernatural superthriller from the author of Let the Right One In
Molly wakes her mother to go to the toilet. The campsite is strangely blank. The toilet block has gone. Everything else has gone too. This is a place with no sun. No god.
Just four families remain. Each has done something to bring them here - each denies they deserve it. Until they see what's coming over the horizon, moving irrevocably towards them. Their worst mistake. Their darkest fear.
And for just one of them, their homecoming.
This gripping conceptual horror takes you deep into one of the…
Burne’s been hiding out in the forest since deserting the King’s Guard. Each time he tries to return to the village, he begins to panic. And then one day, he encounters a handsome stranger picking flowers and hides behind a tree instead of talking.
He wants to be braver—and he’s about to get another chance. Because the stranger is Gray, a fairy and master of illusions who’s now following Burne home. And Gray’s got more on his mind than talking. Would a fairy that beautiful ever want someone like him? Stranger things have happened.
Burne hid behind a tree. He wanted to talk to the handsome man picking flowers at the edge of the forest, but he'd only flub it if he tried-he'd stumble over his words and blush bright red. And now the man is gone.
He tries to continue on to the village, but the same thing happens as always: his hands start shaking and panic wells up inside him. What if he runs into the bullies who tormented him in the King's Guard last spring? Ever since he deserted, he has hidden out in the…
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