No one does dark and moody quite like the Scandinavians, and these books just go to prove it. You might want to keep the blanket handy to hide under though...
Dark nights spent in waking terror. Creaking doors and moving, breathing shadows. The sound of scratching footsteps in an empty house. Whispering voices and empty, staring eyes. Yep, that's right, it’s spooky season and what better time to curl up on the sofa and grab a good book to keep yourself occupied during the dark nights. And trust us, you're in for a good scare as this list is filled with true Nordic chill and tales of old.
Whether its a heart-in-throat jump scare or a slow, cold build, we’ve got you covered this Halloween. So ditch the Netflix horror fest and get your fear fix in the pages of a sweat-inducing rip-roaring read instead.
The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jónasson
This intense Icelandic mystery will have you gripped in your seat from the very first page until lights out. It centres around Una whose life is at a dead end. With no family and few friends that actually care about her, she finds herself stuck alone in her one bedroom flat which she scrapes by to afford, an empty reminder of the depression she can’t escape. To break the cycle, she takes a job teaching two young girls on a remote island. What she doesn’t know is that the secluded, strange village will only pull her deeper into the shadows. Jonsasson’s chilling prose conjures up sentiments almost too familiar to those intimate with the dark winter here in the Nordics.
For Una, the isolation and darkness closes in until she can no longer distinguish between fact and fiction. Terribly eerie, this slow and creeping atmospheric story is one that will linger with you, long after your fire goes out.
The Resting Place by Camilla Sten
Filled with twists, turns and mind games, the Swedish psychological horror The Resting Place is perfect for those who love to have their heartbeat quickened. After someone close to her is murdered, protagonist Eleanor can’t shake the feeling that she might have come face-to-face with the killer at the crime scene. But her prosopagnosia, the inability to recognise faces, dooms her to walk amongst a sea of strange faces. Every person who passes her could be the murderer...
A chilling and unnerving book, reminiscent of those nightmares where you feel as if you are being tailed. Sten perfectly illustrates the desperation of doubting your own sanity. Not knowing what you’ve seen, who might be following you, or when you might meet your end.
Wolf Winter by Cecilia Ekbäck
Lapland is one of the most beautiful places in the world. But in winter, it is also the darkest. What takes place across the lightless terrain, under the shadow of the mountain that haunts those that live beneath its peak? The year is 1717 and Maija arrives in Lapland with her husband and two daughters, hoping to leave behind the trauma that plagued them in Finland. As winter approaches, strange happenings and buried secrets are uncovered.
With the beautiful but harsh landscape as a backdrop, this Swedish nightmare novel aptly masters classism, mistrust and the uncloaking of true evil. Not one for the fainthearted, it chills you to the bone, a chill that will stick with you many, many reads later.
The Nesting by Carolyn Jess-Cooke
Lexi has just tried to end her life. After proving unsuccessful, she desperately steals the identity and job of a stranger, thinking she’s found freedom from her forlorn existence. After journeying to the remote Norwegian fjords to nanny two charming girls, the family aren't what they first seem, and as their stories begin to unravel, Lexi unravels with them.
Seeped in a gothic aura and filled with glimpses of old folklore, this page-turner and its beautiful descriptions of Norwegian landscape and supernatural influences will keep you bewitched until the very end.
The Sandman by Lars Kepler
This chilling read begins with a young man found wandering the outskirts of Stockholm years after he and his sister first disappeared, supposed victims of a psychopathic serial killer now serving a life sentence. But when the brother materialises and declares his sister to still be alive, imprisoned by a man he calls the Sandman, the case, led by agent Joona Linna, is torn open again.
And so begins the long dive into the inner workings of a psychopath. Detective Linna and partner Saga are forced to go under cover to beat the perpetrator at their own game. Their only hope is that they can get the answers they need before the woman is lost forever. This thrilling novel is bursting with twists and turns and will keep you wanting long into the night.
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