As unsettling as it is impossible to put down, this is brilliant Swedish crime fiction.
This is incredibly dark and disturbing, with the bond between Liv and her father Vidar being more than it seems - it’s a very strange dynamic and as a reader it’s hard to understand why she and her son Simon don’t leave. As is quite often the case with Scandi crime novels, none of the characters are especially easy to warm to, yet their coldness makes them completely compelling to read.
This is a suspense novel written as if it’s literary fiction - that’s why, despite thinking you know what’s happened from the beginning, you can’t help but keep reading until you realise you never had a clue. The writing and setting are beautiful and eerie elevating this to so much more than its genre would suggest.
With a strong focus on father/daughter relationships, this is a harrowing read which may be too much for some, but I found myself turning the pages like a mad woman desperate to see if something better could come out of the darkness.