Echoes from the dead (original 2007; edition 2008)

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I read Echoes from the Dead as my third book for The Great Transworld Crime Caper. I hadn't heard of Johan Theorin before seeing the book on the list for the challenge, but the synopsis sounded intriguing and the fact that it won the CWA Best First Crime Novel in 2009 encouraged me to make it one of my picks.

The book is set on the Swedish island of Öland, Julia left after the disappearance of Jens, her son, twenty years ago but Gerlof, her father, has remained on the island. When he receives what he thinks is Jens' shoe Julia returns and the two of them get involved in trying to solve the case. Whilst this is going on there is a secondary plot featuring Nils Kant, Gerlof's main suspect. This tells the story of how a young boy grows up to become a man feared by the island, capable of murder.

I have to admit I didn't really like many of the characters in the book. I found them hard to identify with and as a result didn't really feel invested in their stories. Gerlof in particular infuriated me, his habit of keeping secrets made me want to shake him on a number of occasions. I did find Julia to be a well created character, and maybe if I was a parent I would have been able to identify with her more - I certainly saw similarities between her and a family member who lost a child.

I did really like the way the two story lines wove around one another. Nils' storyline was probably more interesting, but I did find that I'd predicted virtually the whole last section of his story, along with the main story. As I've already said I didn't find the characters easy to engage with and so I did at times find it hard to keep going with the book.

I'm really sad to have ended my challenge with a book I didn't enjoy very much. I think it's probably more to do with the fact that I wasn't the right audience for the book than anything else. ( )

I read Echoes from the Dead as my third book for The Great Transworld Crime Caper. I hadn't heard of Johan Theorin before seeing the book on the list for the challenge, but the synopsis sounded intriguing and the fact that it won the CWA Best First Crime Novel in 2009 encouraged me to make it one of my picks.

The book is set on the Swedish island of Öland, Julia left after the disappearance of Jens, her son, twenty years ago but Gerlof, her father, has remained on the island. When he receives what he thinks is Jens' shoe Julia returns and the two of them get involved in trying to solve the case. Whilst this is going on there is a secondary plot featuring Nils Kant, Gerlof's main suspect. This tells the story of how a young boy grows up to become a man feared by the island, capable of murder.

I have to admit I didn't really like many of the characters in the book. I found them hard to identify with and as a result didn't really feel invested in their stories. Gerlof in particular infuriated me, his habit of keeping secrets made me want to shake him on a number of occasions. I did find Julia to be a well created character, and maybe if I was a parent I would have been able to identify with her more - I certainly saw similarities between her and a family member who lost a child.

I did really like the way the two story lines wove around one another. Nils' storyline was probably more interesting, but I did find that I'd predicted virtually the whole last section of his story, along with the main story. As I've already said I didn't find the characters easy to engage with and so I did at times find it hard to keep going with the book.

I'm really sad to have ended my challenge with a book I didn't enjoy very much. I think it's probably more to do with the fact that I wasn't the right audience for the book than anything else. ( )

In the early 1970’s a young boy named Jens disappeared on a remote island in Sweden. Twenty years later his mother, Julia, and his grandfather, Gerlof, attempt to unravel the events surrounding the disappearance.

For want of a better word the book is literary in style, reminding me of David Guterson’s [b:Snow Falling on Cedars|77142|Snow Falling on Cedars|David Guterson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170899934s/77142.jpg|1677615] in the way it depicts very personal events that take place in a wider historical context. It has the same haunting sense of location too. When done badly the kind of descriptive writing Theorin has produced is dull but when done well, as is the case here, it is as gripping as any action-based thriller. I was thoroughly captivated from the moment five year-old Jens climbed the garden wall and headed into the fog.

The structure of the novel is engaging too. The chapters are short and told from several different perspectives. Some are from Julia or Gerloff’s point of view and some take place in the past of Nils Kant, the man who it seems was responsible for Jens’ disappearance. This kind of leap-frogging between times and people can go badly awry but, again, Theorin has demonstrated superior writing skills in achieving a very understandable plot that is beautifully layered. But don’t be fooled: there’s plenty of real drama here too.

As good as all of those elements are, the characters in this book are even better. They’re complex and credible and I have such strong images of them all in my head that it’s like a movie playing. There’s nothing stereotypical about any of them and they continued to surprise me right to the very end. Julia, the middle aged nurse who struggled to deal with her son’s disappearance isn’t nearly as two-dimensional as the blurb makes her sound and Gerlof, her octogenarian father is an unlikely but wholly wonderful hero. The island of Oland too is a character in its way and is just as memorable and just as deftly depicted as the people.

As is often the way with the best crime fiction the book is about much more than solving the mystery. It’s about family and yearning and grief and people finding out that they’re tougher than they think. All of which combined to make it one of those rarest of reading experiences that makes me give thanks to the universe that there are people who write. I feel honoured to have discovered Echoes from the Dead ( )

Beautifully written. I love the descriptions of the landscape and way of living. The characters a almost all well formed a the story is quite beautiful. ( )