Books that chill

Do you love books that chill you to the core and send shivers down your spine? Then here are two special treats for you!

THE PREY by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

 

Yrsa Sigurdardottir is one of my favourite authors when it comes to Nordic Noir novels, and I just can’t get enough of her own special blend of crime with a liberal seasoning of horror / the supernatural. If you have ever been to Iceland then you will understand how these spooky vibes perfectly fit the wintery landscape, and her latest book is no exception – if you love to be chilled, then this book is definitely for you!

 

As in many of her other novels, the author weaves several separate strands into a multi-faceted narrative. We hear about two couples who have gone missing near a remote glacier. Then we meet Hjövar, who is working on an isolated radar station and is dismayed by strange noises and sightings in the snowy landscape surrounding the building. And then there is the mystery surrounding a pink child’s show found in the childhood home of two brothers, who cannot account for its origin. What do all these stories have in common? You will have to read the chilling tale that unfolds from here to find out.

 

Sigurdardottir is the queen of atmospheric settings, using the adverse weather and bleak landscape to her full advantage to spin a spooky tale. I had the fortune to visit some of the locations in this novel a few years ago, so it was like revisiting Iceland all over again. Lucky for me that my encounters were a lot less scary, and I had enjoyed a great breakfast at the Viking Café, so have fond rather than chilling memories of the area.

 

As usual with Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s novels, THE PREY made for thrilling reading from beginning to end and I couldn’t tear myself away. If you love a good spooky mystery then I can highly recommend THE PREY!

A HAUNTING IN THE ARCTIC by C. J. Cooke

 

Wow, WTH have I just read? Despite its rather unimaginative name, A HAUNTING IN THE ARCTIC was a scary, atmospheric mind-f*** of a read that left me not only scared out of my wits, but also made me re-analyse everything I had just read. A blend between horror and Nordic-noir, it had atmosphere in spades, the kind where the setting is an evil, menacing character in itself. The horror vibe is further aided by the chapters set in the past, featuring a young woman abducted onto a whaling ship and subjected to unspeakable suffering.

 

The very same whaling ship, The Ormen, is now rotting away on a remote beach on the coast of Iceland, about to be towed out to sea and destroyed. Dominique, an urban explorer, has taken this last opportunity to visit the stranded vessel and publish her podcast from there. But that night, she is joined by a group of young scientists with their own agenda.

 

I will leave it at this. There is no way to get into this story without giving spoilers, and I wouldn’t trust myself to keep things straight, anyway. And just when I thought I knew what was going on, the whole theory went down like the Ormen into the unfathomable depths of my psyche.

 

For readers who are squeamish, I would not recommend this book, but anyone looking for a spooky, atmospheric read that will leave you speechless, this one is a definite contender! Weaving together history, folk tales, a bit of the supernatural and a bleak, forlorn setting, this was horror of the best kind.