Blog tour: Into The Dark by Ørjan Karlsson, translated by Ian Giles
This post is part of a blog tour organised by Random Things Blog Tours. I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.
‘When a mutilated body rises from the icy waters off the jetty in Kjerringøy, it shocks the quiet coastal village – and stirs something darker beneath. Not long after, a young woman is found dead in a drab apartment. Suicide, perhaps. Or something far more sinister.
‘Detective Jakob Weber and former national investigator Noora Yun Sande are drawn into both cases. Then a hiker has a terrifying encounter in the nearby wilderness: a solitary cabin… and a man without a face.
‘As the investigation deepens, the clues grow more disturbing – and the wild, wintry landscape closes in. Kjerringøy’s beautiful wilderness conceals a heart of darkness, and Jakob is certain of only one thing: if they don’t find the killer soon, they’ll strike again…’
Into The Dark, by Ørjan Karlsson, picks up soon after the events of Into Thin Air. Detective Jakob Weber and his colleagues – still grappling with unanswered questions from their previous case – are called in when the mutilated body of a man surfaces from the sea at usually-peaceful Kjerringøy. Soon afterwards, a young woman with links to the peninsula is found dead in an apparent suicide in Bodø.
Are the two deaths linked to one another, and/or the exclusive Meile Foundation Treatment Centre – located close to where the man’s body washed up, and whose proprietor is being cagey about his high-profile clients and unorthodox methods?
The investigative team are also facing their own issues, whether that’s adjusting to living with a teenage half-brother while navigating a new romantic relationship, dealing with an injury sustained in the line of duty on top of PTSD from an abusive relationship, or secretly betraying the principles they’re supposed to uphold…
I found Into The Dark a quality read! Even though it’s been a year (and many books) since I read Into Thin Air, it’s a credit to this novel and its predecessor that I quickly remembered key information without any excess exposition or recapping.
In fact, I settled into the story really easily, and was a third of the way through before I knew it: with frequent cliffhangers, switches of perspective between characters, and developments in the plot and subplots, it was difficult to resist the allure of “just one more chapter”.
Typically of Nordic noir, there’s a strong sense of place, and I enjoyed immersing myself in the characterful, starkly picturesque setting of Kjerringøy, as well as becoming reacquainted with the more prosaic Bodø.
The title of this book is very apt. The author certainly doesn’t hold back when it comes to descriptions of gore, violence, or the thoughts and actions of the story’s most objectionable characters! This heightens the tension and reinforces the urgency of the situation, but as with the previous instalment, it is something you might need to know about before picking it up.
Karlsson continually builds upon the story arcs he started in Into Thin Air. The criminal web that ensnared the previous book’s victim continues to exert terrifying influence over its minions, targets, and a yet-to-be-named bent copper.
Meanwhile, Jakob is still adjusting to his guardianship of teenage half-brother Ola André, while Noora’s ongoing PTSD symptoms are realistic and relateable. All in all, this is shaping up to be a magnificent series.
Into The Dark is a compulsive and sophisticated instalment of Nordic noir.
