Blog tour: Scars of Silence by Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner
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.
‘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?’
In Scars of Silence, by Johana Gustawsson, Swedish Police Commissioner Aleksander Storm and French senior detective Maïa Rehn – who’s taking an extended break in the area in the wake of a devastating bereavement – are called into action when two adolescent boys are found murdered in Lidingö, off the coast of Stockholm.
Both teenagers have been dressed up as Saint Lucia – just like 16-year-old Jenny Delanius, who was found raped and murdered on the island after playing the principal role in the traditional 13th December procession, 25 years previously.
Jenny’s ex-boyfriend was convicted of the original crime not long after it was committed, and subsequently died by suicide, so he can’t possibly be the perpetrator this time around. What’s more, there are no immediately obvious connections the detectives can make between Jenny and the two new victims – or between the two boys themselves, for that matter.
Did the police get the wrong man the first time? Is there a copycat on the loose? Or was what happened to Jenny the only visible symptom of a rot that took hold in the archipelago all those years ago, the rest of which is now, finally, coming to light?
I found Scars of Silence a highly compelling, ‘I should go and do [other activity], but one more chapter can’t hurt’ read.
Right from the start, there were so many questions I just had to get the answers to, such as: what’s the relevance of the opening scene? How are the victims connected? Who’s narrating the italicised interludes? And what’s the deal with Maïa’s conspicuously absent husband?
These questions were satisfied – as was I – by an abundance of ‘oh, that makes sense now’ and ‘wait, what?!’ moments throughout the book. With constant developments and revelations, I was certainly not bored at any point!
Scars of Silence is noticeably lighter on the Gothic elements than the previous single-authored books I’ve read by Gustawsson – Yule Island and The Bleeding – but I still got spooky vibes from the nature of some of the evidence that turns up, and the time of year the story takes place.
At the heart of this novel are powerful messages about what consent is and isn’t, the freeze response, and how high-profile, “visible” cases of sexual assault such as Jenny’s are just the tip of the iceberg. While rape culture was particularly toxic in the late ’90s/early ’00s, where this story has its roots, and we’ve learned a few things since then, it remains important to spread these messages, and hopefully prompt more people to examine their preconceptions.
Scars of Silence is a gripping, twisty, and powerful crime thriller.
