Review: THE QUARRY, Johan Theorin

• Format: Kindle (Amazon)
• File Size: 676 KB
• Print Length: 413 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0385619294
• Publisher: Transworld Digital (June 23, 2011), originally printed 2011, translated into English from Swedish by Marlaine Delargy.
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0050OMJ5A
• Source: I bought it

Synopsis (Amazon)

As the last snow melts on the Swedish island of Öland, Per Morner is preparing for his children’s Easter visit. But his plans are disrupted when he receives a phone call from his estranged father, Jerry, begging for help. Per finds Jerry close to death in his blazing woodland studio. He’s been stabbed, and two dead bodies are later discovered in the burnt-out building. The only suspect, Jerry’s work partner, is confirmed as one of the dead. But why does Jerry insist his colleague is still alive? And why does he think he’s still a threat to his life?

When Jerry dies in hospital a few days later, Per becomes determined to find out what really happened. But the closer he gets to the truth, the more danger he finds himself in. And nowhere is more dangerous than the nearby quarry...

My take

THE QUARRY is #3 in Theorin's seasonal quartet set on the island of Oland off the east coast of Sweden, connected to #1, ECHOES FROM THE DEAD, by the elderly character Gerloff Davidsson. In his mid 80s Gerloff decides that he must get away from the retirement home he is living in, and goes back to his summer cottage in Stenvik which isa located near a quarry. Two new houses have been built there since he lastvisited and the only other nearby resident is Per Morner who has inherited an old stone mason's cottage. [Look for the connection too to #2 THE DARKEST ROOM with the fleeting reference to Tilda Davidsson.]

Theorin weaves a fascinating story that binds the residents together. One of the new houses is owned  by a writer whose wife lived nearby when she was a child. Little by little Theorin reveals that there are connections between these people that actually go back decades. And in the background is the constant quarrel between the elves and the trolls, and the coming of Walpurgis Night when the dark powers gather together.

THE QUARRY shows Theorin is a master story teller and the book is well deserving of all the accolades and listings that I have seen.

See also reviews at Reactions to Reading, Euro Crime, The View from the Blue House, International Noir Fiction, and Mary D's Nordic Crime Reviews

My rating: 5.0

I've also reviewed
ECHOES FROM THE DEAD
THE DARKEST ROOM

Review: THE DARKEST ROOM, Johan Theorin

2009 Random House, translated by Marlaine Delargy, 438 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-34222-3

THE DARKEST ROOM is set on the island of Oland of the east coast of Sweden. On the eastern side of Oland are the twin lighthouses of Eel Point, one giving off a red light at night, the other a white light that rarely seems to work. Near the lighthouses just inland is the manor house built 150 years ago from the timbers of shipwrecks.
Katrine and Joakim Westin have bought the manor house and are in the process of moving permanently to the island from Oslo with their two children. Coincidentally Katrine's mother has also lived in this house and extracts from a journal she wrote lead us through the house's history.

Remember, when you take over an old house, the house takes you over at the same time.

This house has many stories to tell, many memories are hidden here, many names are inscribed on its timbers. Some of the stories are as old as the house itself.


On the night that Joakim goes back to Oslo to collect the last of their belongings tragedy strikes and one of their family dies.

But this isn't just the story of the Westins, but also of a young policewoman Tilda Davidsson who has been posted to Oland to provide a policing service. Through her taped interviews of one of the island's residents we piece together some of the episodes from the past.

This is one of those novels which is very difficult to review because there is so much in it. It requires the reader to at times set aside disbelief in the paranormal. You need to accept that there are times when the past can reach out into the present.

One of the fascinating things about this book is the way Theorin has built it from the founding of the manor house, and developed a chronology of the tragedies the house has witnessed from then to the present day. He interweaves historical episodes from Katrine's mother's journal with current chronology. The result is a patchwork of folklore, community memory, and modern day realism. The result is engrossing.

My rating: 5

Other reviews you might enjoy:

• It's A Crime (or a Mystery) 
• Petrona 
• Crime Scraps 
• DJsKrimiblog 
• International Noir Fiction
• Reviewing the Evidence

Read the first chapter of THE DARKEST ROOM online.
Read my review of ECHOES FROM THE DEAD - my rating 4.9

Review: ECHOES FROM THE DEAD, Johan Theorin

Bantam Dell, Delta trade paperback, 2008, ISBN 978-0-385-34221-6, 385 pages, translated from Swedish by Marlaine Delargy.

Julia Davidsson's life fell apart when her beautiful son Jens disappeared one foggy afternoon on the remote island of Oland in Sweden. Jen was just six years old, and Julia's relationship with his father had already collapsed. Her own mother had already begun her decline and never recovered, and Julia under-estimated the guilt her father felt afterwards.

Now, twenty years on, Julia, haunted by the need for resolution, returns to Oland to visit her father, and to find out once and for all, what really happened to Jens. Did he fall into the sea and drown, as so many have tried to say, did someone take him, or, illogical as it sounds, is he still alive just waiting to be found?

Julia's father has been sent a package containing what seems to be a sandal Jens was wearing on the day he disappeared. Gerlof Davidsson, coming to the end of his life, too needs resolution. He has always believed Jens was taken by someone, even though a thorough hunt and investigation at the time revealed nothing. He can't shake the thought that Jens's disappearance was somehow connected with the rumoured return of a notorious local killer, Nils Kant. When his friend Ernst is found dead at the stone quarry, Gerlof becomes even more convinced the killer is still at large.

A child's disappearance is the worst nightmare for any parent, Johann Theorin has captured the nightmare that Jens's disappearance created for both Julia and Gerlof very well. The twists and turns their investigation takes as they question the residents of Oland are both believable and unpredictable. The final denouement caught me by surprise.

I was reading something the other day about how we tend to use hackneyed cliches such as "page turner" far too often in book reviews. This is a book though that just keeps you reading. You want to help Julia and Gerlof to find some sort of closure, as well as reconciliation.

I don't know how you talk about the quality of a translation if you can't read the original, but let me say I think this one is well done.

My rating: 4.9

Johan Theorin is one of a number of new Scandinavian crime fiction authors who needs to be on your reading list. His second novel NIGHT BLIZZARD will be out later this year, and I'll certainly be waiting for it.

Read the opening chapters of ECHOES FROM THE DEAD online.

Other reviews to read

• Maxine Clarke on EuroCrime
• It's a Crime
• Norman on EuroCrime
• Bernadette at Reactions to Reading
• International Noir Fiction
• Scandinavian Crime Fiction

I couldn't help but be reminded of other books that I've read that have the same core topic:

• WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, Laura Lippman
• LITTLE GIRL LOST, Susan Kelly
• THE GIRL OF HIS DREAMS, Donna Leon
• INNOCENT GRAVES, Peter Robinson (My rating: 4.6)
• WHEN THE DEAD CRY OUT, Hillary Bonner (my rating:4.5)
• RAVEN BLACK, Ann Cleeves (my rating 4.6)
• NO TRACE, Barry Maitland (my rating 5.0)
• THE WOODS by Harlan Coben (my rating 5.0)
• IN THE WOODS, Tana French (my rating 5.0)
  
• BLACK SECONDS, Karen Fossum (my rating 5.0)

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