The Quarry (original Swedish title Blodläge) is the third book in the crime fiction series about the four seasons on Öland by Johan Theorin, the Swedish author who won the 2010 Crime Writer Association International Crime Novel prize for his novel The Darkest Room. As with the previous books in the series, this too is set on the mysterious Baltic island of Öland – an idyllic place where well-to- do Swedes spend their summer vacations, enjoying the long summer nights, the serene beauty of the island and the quiet atmosphere.

In each of the novels, the island, with its history and its legends, plays a prominent part. And so does the retired sailor Gerlof Davidsen, 83 years old and starting to feel his age, but still a very interesting character.

Gerlof lives close to the quarry. The quarry is a place where trolls and elves – according to the old folk tales on the island – once fought a huge battle, and as a result there is a thick red layer in the rocks in the quarry from all the blood that flowed in the battle.

The Quarry is the spring book in the Seasons series. On Öland, the days are getting longer, the sun is shining again, and the people on the island are starting to prepare for the summer. Vendela Larsson has grown up on Öland, and then moved away. Now she has returned with her husband Max, an egotistical fellow who is the author of a series of books about motivation, and a controlling and very jealous character. Vendela believes elves are real – she has believed in them for a long time, for good reasons. And if there is any place on earth where elves are likely to exist, it is on Öland.

Per Mörner does market research and is a newcomer on the island. He has inherited his uncle’s old cottage near the quarry in Stenvik. While he is preparing for his children’s Easter visit, he receives a phone call from his estranged father, Jerry, who wants his help. Per has for a long time tried to distance himself from his father, as he is ashamed of him. Jerry is a former producer of pornographic magazines and used to be one of the big names in the Swedish porn industry.

Now the old man is ill and can hardly talk. Per takes off to help his father and manages to get there in the nick of time. The house has been set on fire, and his father is lying close to the entrance, stabbed by a knife and mumbling something. Per manages to save his father, but two other people die in the fire. It seems the fire has been started to kill his father. Who wants to kill his father, an old man who is now out on the sidelines? What is the motive? There is hardly anything left of his father’s pornography empire, so money is not likely to be the motive.

Increasingly and reluctantly, Per gets entangled in the case and is forced to look into his father’s old affairs. When Jerry dies after being deliberately run down by a car, Per feels compelled to launch his own investigation, despite the fact that his daughter is re-admitted to hospital with cancer, waiting for a critical and risky operation.

Meanwhile Gerlof, curious as always and unable to resist getting involved in a mystery, has been watching his new neighbors and pondering. Soon it is clear to him that all is not what it seems – that there are hidden secrets and lies all around. And Vendela finds that the elves may not be quite the friendly and caring creatures she had assumed. As the net tightens, and as they start to get closer to the truths, the more danger they will find themselves in. And the most dangerous place of all is the quarry.

The plot in The Quarry is intriguing and delightful. Johan Theorin gently, gently pushes the plot forward along several lines of action, all the time masterfully building suspense. As the other books in the series, this too is excellently written with well-drawn and interesting characters. Old secrets, tales and myths are used to create an atmosphere that is full of mystique, is intriguing and feels dense. When the mysteries of past are revealed, they turn out to have deep implications for the present.

I liked The Quarry very much, and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Johan Theorin is a master when it comes to creating striking, “thick” atmospheres in his books. It’s a long book, but still much to short. If you get my drift.

Links to books by Johan Theorin at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

(English title in parenthesis if available)

1. Den farliga leken, Mari Jungstedt
2. De ensamma, Håkan Nesser
3. Blodläge, Johan Theorin (A Place of Blood)
4. Vårlik, Mons Kallentoft
5. Pansarhjärta, Jo Nesbø (The Leopard)
6. Oväntat besök på Star Street, Marian Keyes
7. Drömmen förde dej vilse, Anna Jansson
8. Lobbyisten, Thomas Bodström
9. Utrensning, Sofi Oksanen (Purge)
10. I grunden utan skuld, Viveca Sten

For the moment the Swedes seem to mostly be reading Swedish authors, with some notable exceptions: Jo Nesbo (from Norway), Marian Keyes, and Sofi Oksanen (from Finland, and winner of the Nordic Council prize for the best Nordic novel 2010). Oksanen’s book has already been translated and is available, while Theorin’s and Nesbo’s books are available for preorder and will be released in 2011.

The line-up for the International Dagger Award is quite interesting from a Scandinavian perspective: Among the six shortlisted authors are three from the Scandinavian countries. They are all, of course, excellent authors and great books:

1. Tonino Benacquista: Badfellas
2. Andrea Camilleri: August Heat
3. Arnaldur Indridason: Hypothermia
4. Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest
5. Deon Meyer: Thirteen Hours
6. Johan Theorin: The Darkest Room

Indridason, Larsson and Theorin are all wonderful and write excellent crime fiction. Even so, this time I have to say that I hope Stieg Larsson wins. Not only because The Girl Who Kicket the Hornets’ Nest is superb, but also because this is Larsson’s last chance to win this prize. Stieg Larsson will, sadly, not be competing any more.

PS: Johan Theorin actually won the CWA International Dagger with The Darkest Room. I had hoped for Stieg Larsson, partly for sentimental reasons, but The Darkest Room is an excellent novel too. Our congratulations to Johan Theorin and Sweden!

Johan Theorin has so far only written two books. Both are excellent. As a result, he is a bestseller in his native Sweden (in competition with Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell). The first novel, Echoes from the Dead, has been well received internationally. This novel, The Darkest Room (Nattfåk – which means something like Night fog), the second in a planned series of four, is in my opinion even better. Like his first novel, this too is an intelligent book somewhere in between a crime fiction book and a ghost story.

A couple from Stockholm, Kathrine and Joachim, with their two children – Gabriel and Livia – has purchased an old manor house on Eel Point on the Swedish island of Öland. It has been empty for a long time – apart from the spirits of the dead, that is – and the houses have been neglected, but they want to renovate it and move in. The house has a strange history; it was built on timber from a ship that sunk in 1846. It is rumored to be visited by ghosts.

Strange things are still going on in the house. Before long, Katrine is found, drowned, close to the house. It looks like an accident, but the young policewoman Tilda Davidsson is not convinced that it was an accident. There are many strange things happening, and many houses are visited by thieves during the night.

Tilda Davidsson, who recently started working with the Marnäs police, is the grandchild of old Erlof’s brother (from Echoes of the Dead), and is interested in the history of Oland. She begins to investigate the accident, while also tracking down a gang denuding the uninhabited summer residences of antiques. More and more it becomes clear that somehow, for some reason, the gravitational center of the many odd things that seem to be happening is Eel Point.

The Darkest Room is well written, full of mysteries, and told in a style that evokes a feeling of that there is something mystical, perhaps super-natural, going on. The plot is rich and has lots of neat features, and Theorin very skillfully shows his cards one at a time in order to gradually build more and more suspense. As well, this is a book which displays a deep understanding of human vulnerability and grief. Another good Swedish crime fiction book, highly recommended!

Links to books by Johan Theorin at amazon US, amazon UK, and amazon CAN.

In Echoes From the Dead, A six year old boy, Jens, disappears on Öland. His family, the police and volunteers look for him for weeks. But he is gone, without a trace, and never found.

More than 20 years later, now living on the Swedish mainland, his mother Julia recieves an unexpected phone call from her father, Gerlof Davidsson, a retired sea captain who still lives on the island. He has received a package with a child’s shoe in the mail. He thinks it belongs to Jens.

Reluctantly Julia returns to Öland. She tries to find out more. And now she is told the story about Nils Kant, a man who once scared people on the island. His great joy was the pain of others. Even though he has been dead since WWII, some still claim to have seen him recently.

The story of Nils Kant starts during the summer of 1936, when Nils is ten years old. Nils is the oldest of two brothers, and he has an inflated self-image which makes him unpredictable and dangerous.

Echoes From the Dead is a chilling psychological thriller, and tells a story where the past extends its shadows into the present. The action in the books moves from the current back into the past, to the Second World War and beyond, and from the barren city of Öland to the ports of the Caribbean.

The book is inspired by a real story which took place in Bohuslän in Sweden in the mid 1980s.

Echoes From the Dead is a tale of love, loss and sorrow. Most of all, it is a gripping, engaging and terrifying study of true evil.

Echoes From the Dead is an impressive, fast paced and exciting debut book. It is definitely one of the best crime books I have read after reading Stieg Larsson’s first book, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I do not understand how the Swedes are able to produce crime writers like this, but I am deeply impressed.

It is a masterpiece of a crime novel. The characterizations are strong, and Johan Theorin makes the characters come alive. And the book masterfully expresses strong emotions. It is also very well written, at times almost lyrical. Echoes From the Dead is a new bestseller from Sweden!

Order Echoes from the Dead from amazon UK! or from Amazon US: Theorin at amazon US