Title: DEVIL'S FJORD
Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Book Description:
New District Sheriff Tristan Haraldsen uncovers a series of
dark secrets when he investigates the disappearance of two boys in the remote
Faroe Islands.
Newly-appointed District Sheriff Tristan Haraldsen and his wife Elsebeth are looking forward to a peaceful semi-retirement in the remote fishing village of Djevulsfjord on the stunningly beautiful island of Vagar. But when two boys go missing during the first whale hunt of the season, the repercussions strike at the heart of the isolated coastal community.
As he pursues his investigations, Tristan discovers that the Mikkelsen brothers aren't the first young men to have vanished on Vagar. Determined to solve the mystery of Djevulsfjord, yet encountering suspicion wherever he turns, Haraldsen comes to realize he and his wife are not living in the rural paradise they had imagined, and that the wild beauty of the region hides a far darker reality.
Newly-appointed District Sheriff Tristan Haraldsen and his wife Elsebeth are looking forward to a peaceful semi-retirement in the remote fishing village of Djevulsfjord on the stunningly beautiful island of Vagar. But when two boys go missing during the first whale hunt of the season, the repercussions strike at the heart of the isolated coastal community.
As he pursues his investigations, Tristan discovers that the Mikkelsen brothers aren't the first young men to have vanished on Vagar. Determined to solve the mystery of Djevulsfjord, yet encountering suspicion wherever he turns, Haraldsen comes to realize he and his wife are not living in the rural paradise they had imagined, and that the wild beauty of the region hides a far darker reality.
My musings:
My heart skipped in delight at the promise of both a wild,
remote location and a new mark on my armchair travel map with this new mystery
by David Hewson. When I heard the author describe it as a “kind of gentle
Scandi noir with a tough edge to it”, I was sold!
However, be forewarned – the book may start gentle enough,
as ex-policeman Tristan Haraldsen and his wife Elsbeth arrive in the remote
fishing village of Djevulsfjord on the Faroe Islands looking for a peaceful
semi-retirement, but any illusion of that is soon shattered when two young
children from the village go missing. The rest is a rather bleak and eerie
tale, and very typical of the genre. Which is a long-winded way to say that I
loved it! Not only do we have the perfect remote setting, but also a wild,
mystical landscape and the intricate dynamics of small village life where some
villagers harbour a deep dark secret. Hewson certainly knows how to write, and
creates a fictional place that unfurled in my mind like a real world location.
If you are looking for, in the author’s own words (from his
website), “a riveting and unusual story set in a wonderful location that hovers
between the real and the mythical”, then this is definitely the right book for
you. Hewson has achieved that and much more, with a mystery that seeped into my
subconscious with stealth and tenacity and kept me firmly anchored in this
armchair location long after the final page had been turned. The eeriness of
the bleak landscape made for the perfect backdrop to a dark mystery involving
the mysterious deaths that have befallen the village, even if no one wants
anyone to take a closer look – especially not an outsider.
Even though Hewson freely admits that he has never set foot
on Faroe soil and Djevulsfjord is strictly his fictional creation, his
background research and skilful writing manage to perfectly evoke the lives of
poor and simple fishing folk who depend on their annual whale hunt to bring in
some extra money to survive the brutal winters. And for whom, if their
circumstances may not be so lucky, there is no escape from the daily grind of
poverty. Readers who are sensitive to certain triggers, such as scenes of whale
hunting and killing livestock, or the death of a child early in the book,
should be forewarned that Hewson is not afraid to tackle the harsher realities
of island life. I admit that some of it was disturbing, but as a privileged
reader living a comfortable life in a safe country and a meat eater, I would a
hypocrite to hide away from facing up to such issues, so I took them in the
context they are provided.
Summary:
All in all, DEVIL’S FORD was an atmospheric and thoroughly engrossing story by a master of the genre, and armchair travel of the best kind! If you like wild and remote locations, then you cannot pass this one by. I look forward to treading more from this author in future and will make sure to look up his earlier books.
Thank
you to Netgalley and Creme de la Crime for the free electronic copy of this novel and
for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.
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