The Forbidden Place

The book thrives on the author's vividly evocative narrative style. Susanne Jansson conjures up images of bleak, endless forests in which people play only supporting roles and nature has the upper hand. The moor, often shrouded in mist and atmospherically impenetrable, defends itself against the people who want to take it over and threaten it. Again and again it is portrayed as a human being with a mind of its own, afraid of the threat, but at the same time using threatening gestures and fear against its opponents.
Alongside the two women Nathalie and Maya, the moor is the third protagonist in this novel. It communicates through changes in the weather, cold, fog and sudden absolute silence. The personification is emphasised by the title show more ‘Opfermoor’ (sacrificial moor). Since time immemorial, people have tried to appease the moor by making offerings to protect themselves from its revenge.
Nathalie and Maya sense that the attack on Johannes is linked to events in the past. Each approaches the problem in their own way. While the artist Maya immerses herself in the myths surrounding the moor, the biologist Nathalie tries to approach the present by understanding the past. Here, too, Jansson manages to portray both women in such a multi-layered and characteristically typical way that you quickly gain access to the characters.
Similarly, all the other characters are presented as unique types, each so distinctive in their own way that they are easily brought to life before the reader's eyes. The quirky ex-physicist who is now a ghost hunter; the inspector who imports strange things from Asia; the somewhat retarded gardener and last but not least Johannes, the student. show less

Everyone is so ominous and fey. Making cryptic remarks and having halting interactions as if everyone is covered in shards of glass. Nobody can give a straight answer, they all have mysterious and pointless agendas. The prose is dreamy and opaque and has lots of navel gazing from the characters. The plot, what little of it there is, is a slow moving mass of nearly dried out paint. The translator used a lot of British idioms, but the narrator is American (or does a reasonable accent) and it rings a really false note. Also, there are a lot of As You Know, Bob moments where too much info is given about too many esoteric subjects, especially what's-her-name's greenhouse gasses field of study. Oy. Returned to Audible.

The marshland is a desolate place with misty meadows, sloping pines, and sinking soils. Once upon a time, sacrifices to the gods were buried here, and rumors say that people still disappear without a trace...

Offermossen "The Forbidden Place" is a thrilling novel about Nathalie who are doing field experiments for her doctoral thesis on wetlands. The thesis is not the only reason Nathalie has rented a cottage to the experiments. She has returned to the place she once grew up. Where she was happy. Before her life shattered. Now she is back and perhaps she will get the answers to what happened when she was a child.

I found the book to be captivating and intriguing. I love the setting of the story. There is something chilly and creepy with show more the marshland and this book really makes you feel that there is something out there, perhaps not something evil. Just something ... inhumane...

Offermossen is a thrilling book, not that thick so you will quickly read it through. It's a book that will leave an impact and I'm looking forward to reading more from Susanne Jansson. show less

Nathalie, a biology major, returned to her Swedish hometown where her parents died in what was believed to be a murder-suicide. She's come to study the plant life in the bog. Things change when she finds a friend seriously injured and left for dead in the bog. Soon bodies are discovered in the bog. I was disappointed in this book. The solution was pretty obvious. While the police are present in the investigation, I never got a real feel for their work on the case. The novel seemed too focused on other aspects. While the author tried to provide a dark atmosphere, she never really achieved it. If you are looking for good "dark" Scandicrime, look elsewhere. I received an electronic copy through NetGalley with the expectation of an honest show more review. show less

The Forbidden Place is an eerie, atmospheric story following a biologist who returns to her hometown years after a childhood tragedy to collect samples from a local bog. Hidden secrets - and bodies - are soon uncovered which begs the question of whether the bog truly does have mystical properties that lure people to their deaths.

I liked this but didn't love it. There were numerous characters and the story seemed to jump around quite a bit. It may have been the translation but I found that I kept being taken out of the story. I enjoyed the history of 'bog bodies' and the addition of the sacrificial murders.

Mossmarken--a place of ancient sacrificial offerings to the Gods, a place of mystery and fear and death. Nathalie Strom returns to the bog lands to complete work on her doctoral thesis in biology and to confront her personal ghosts and the death of her childhood.

Paikoittain hiukan vaikea seurattava, mutta kirjan loppu nosti arvostelun viiteen tähteen.
Kirjassa on mahtava tunnelma. Suimuisine soineen ja kummituksineen voisi sanoa, että "this is right up in my alley".