Book Review: River Road by Carol Goodman

Nan Lewis—a creative writing professor at a state university in upstate New York—is driving home from a faculty holiday party after finding out she’s been denied tenure. On her way, she hits a deer, but when she gets out of her car to look for it, the deer is nowhere to be found. Eager to get home and out of the oncoming snowstorm, Nan is forced to leave her car at the bottom of her snowy driveway to wait out the longest night of the year—and the lowest point of her life… The next morning, Nan is woken up by a police officer at her door with terrible news—one of her students, Leia Dawson, was killed in a hit-and-run on River Road the night before. And because of the damage to her car, Nan is a suspect. In the days following the accident, Nan finds herself shunned by the same community that rallied around her when her own daughter was killed in an eerily similar accident six years prior. When Nan begins finding disturbing tokens that recall the death of Nan’s own daughter, Nan suspects that the two accidents are connected. As she begins to dig further, she discovers that everyone around her, including Leia, is hiding secrets. But can she uncover them, clear her name, and figure out who really killed Leia before her reputation is destroyed for good?

* Copy provided by the publisher in exchange of an honest review. *

„She hates that road. It took her daughter away. That blind curve is taking her life again, and again.“

Nan is a professor at the university, she teaches creative writing. After a party at the college, she goes home by car, slightly drunk. Driving in the dark, she hits a deer. She sees a deer. When she walks out of the car, the deer is nowhere to be found. She goes into the wood to look for it. Drunk and overwhelmed with the painful memories on her own, she falls asleep under a tree. After a while, she wakes up and goes home. Next morning, she finds out that one of her students died that night in a hit-and-run accident. It can't be her! She hit a deer, for God's sake! But it was dark, and she has been drinking. Nan can not be sure of anything.

Book Review: Snowblind (Dark Iceland #2) by Ragnar Jónasson

Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in the local theater, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life. An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose. Taut and terrifying, Snowblind is a startling debut from an extraordinary new talent, taking Nordic Noir to soaring new heights.

After finishing the novel from Gunnar Staalesen, I continue this week with another Nordic crime noir. This time, I dive into Icelandic waters and I am snow-blinded by another great author, Ragnar Jonasson. He is much younger and this is his second novel, but he has done his job well, like an experienced crime storyteller.

Book Review: We Shall Inherit the Wind (Varg Veum #1) by Gunnar Staalesen

1998. Varg Veum sits by the hospital bedside of his long-term girlfriend Karin, whose life-threatening injuries provide a deeply painful reminder of the mistakes he™s made. Investigating the seemingly innocent disappearance of a wind-farm inspector, Varg Veum is thrust into one of the most challenging cases of his career, riddled with conflicts, environmental terrorism, religious fanaticism, unsolved mysteries and dubious business ethics. Then, in one of the most heart-stopping scenes in crime fiction, the first body appears. A chilling, timeless story of love, revenge, and desire, We Shall Inherit the Wind deftly weaves contemporary issues with a stunning plot that will leave you gripped to the final page. This is Staalesen at his most thrilling, thought-provoking best.

Not so long time ago, I watched tv series that I really liked with the main character, Varg Veum. I had no idea that those series were made after book series. I recently bought a book from the Nordic noir section, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the main character was a private investigator named Varg Veum.I am a great fan of Scandinavian crime noir and shame on me, I haven't read anything from Gunnar Staalensen before. This is my first book from this author, but certainly won't be the last.