Dark Pines, by Will Dean

Journalist Tuva Moodyson works at the newspaper of a very small Swedish country town. She moved there from London a couple of years before to be near her ailing mother, but she doesn’t plan to be there forever and needs a big story to boost career options. This sees Tuva turn investigative reporter when a local man is found murdered in the woods; a case with disturbing similarities to unsolved serial killings two decades earlier. This has all the elements of a cracking crime thriller but somehow it doesn’t quite hang together. The stilted style is reminiscent of a poor translation, which is ironic as Dean is an English writer living in Sweden. He has an interesting take on Tuva’s deafness, touching on its advantages as well as disadvantages to her life and work. Unlikely plot elements stretch credulity and although Tuva is an interesting character, she is not a credible one. Her motivations, actions and decisions are often baffling, serving the plot rather than the overall story.