Echoes from the Dead (The Öland Quartet #1)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Echoes from the Dead (The Öland Quartet #1)

by Johan Theorin, Marlaine Delargy (Translator)

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 1,934 ratings · 225 reviews

'Can you ever come to terms with a missing child?' Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found.

Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia's father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of...more

ebook, 400 pages

Published November 25th 2008 by Delta (first published 2007)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Add this book to your favorite list »

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jan 11, 2010 Karen Duff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: nobody

Shelves: mystery, scandanavian-author, sweden, ebook, crime, world-lit

I'm just under half way through this book and I am struggling.It doesn't grip me and I couldn't care either way about the characters.Really don't care if Julia finds out what happened to her son when he disappeared 20 years earlier,did he drown or was he murdered I really don't care.However once I've started a book I need to finish it,maybe not right away but assuming I'll live for a few more years then I will finish it.Did finish it and it did improve slightly by the end.The problem could be th...more

like 1 like · see review

Aug 29, 2012 David rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, favorites

Absolutely loved it. Beautifully written. Great misterious scandinavian atmosphere. No hot shot detectives, no fancy investigations, no boring clichees.

like 3 likes · see review

Jan 24, 2009 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was the book that I won last year through a Goodreads contest. I just now got around the reading it and wished I hadn't put it off. This is an exceptional thriller with twists and turns around every corner and an ending that you don't see coming.

In 1970, on a day when fog covers all, a little boy disappears never to be seen again. Years later his grandfather, now living in an assisted living establishment, receives one of his sandals in the mail. Just that and nothing else. So begins the j...more

like 3 likes · see review

Nov 27, 2008 Jmm rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jmm by: librarything.com

Shelves: highly-recommended

Twenty years ago Julia Davidsson's 5-year-old son Jens disappeared into the fog on the remote Swedish island of Öland and was never found. Everyone except Julia believes Jens wandered down to the shore and drowned. Unable to accept that her son is dead, Julia withdraws from her family and stumbles through life using alcohol and medication to deaden the pain of not knowing. Then, after all these years, her father Gerlof calls to tell her that someone has sent him one of Jens's sandals in the mail...more

like 1 like · see review

Apr 12, 2013 Ingrid Verschelling rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

Schemeruur is het debuut van Johan Theorin.

Op een mistige dag aan het eind van de zomer verdwijnt Jens, een jongetje van vijf jaar op het Zweedse eiland Öland. Een grote zoektocht volgt, maar er is geen spoor van hem te vinden. De moeder, Julia, is radeloos en wordt erg depressief. Het is het begin van een nachtmerrie voor haar. Iedere dag vraagt ze zich af wat er met Jens gebeurd is. Twintig jaar later worstelt ze nog steeds met de gevolgen van de verdwijning van haar zoon. Hij is nooit gevonde...more Schemeruur is het debuut van Johan Theorin.

Op een mistige dag aan het eind van de zomer verdwijnt Jens, een jongetje van vijf jaar op het Zweedse eiland Öland. Een grote zoektocht volgt, maar er is geen spoor van hem te vinden. De moeder, Julia, is radeloos en wordt erg depressief. Het is het begin van een nachtmerrie voor haar. Iedere dag vraagt ze zich af wat er met Jens gebeurd is. Twintig jaar later worstelt ze nog steeds met de gevolgen van de verdwijning van haar zoon. Hij is nooit gevonden. Ze ontloopt haar ouders, die niet goed genoeg op haar zoontje pasten en stoot andere familieleden af door haar langdurige rouw. Ze gaat zich te buiten aan alcohol en wordt steeds eenzamer.

Plotseling krijgt ze een onverwacht telefoontje van haar 80- jarige vader, een zee- kapitein, die na zijn pensionering nog altijd op Öland woont. Er is bij hem een pakje bezorgd met daarin een kinderschoen. Julia keert met tegenzin terug naar het eiland. Gerlof, haar vader, wil samen met haar en een paar vrienden de zaak onderzoeken.

Pas nu hoort Julia het verhaal over Nils Kant, die ooit het eiland onveilig maakte. Nils Kant kwam uit een rijke familie op Öland. Hij liet een spoor van doden achter. Maar hij is allang gestorven, lang voordat Julia's zoontje verdween. Toch vertellen eilanders elkaar in het schemeruur verhalen over Nils Kant. Ze geloven, dat hij nog weleens gezien wordt als hij over de velden dwaalt. Gerlof denkt, dat Nils Kant te maken heeft met de verdwijning van Jens. Samen met twee vrienden bespreekt hij keer op keer de gebeurtenissen van destijds met als doel een aanwijzing boven water te krijgen. Zit Nils Kant achter de verdwijning en is Jens eigenlijk nog in leven? Je vraagt je het hele boek af of dit inderdaad het geval is.

Dat ‘roeren in de mierenhoop’ van Gerlof heeft wel effect. Als, na wat een ongeluk lijkt, de eerste dode valt te betreuren, wordt het al snel duidelijk dat er nog steeds iemand is die niet wil dat de verdwijning van de kleinzoon wordt opgelost. Gaandeweg het verhaal blijkt dat Gerlof meer weet dan hij wil loslaten en dat de doodgewaande Nils nog in leven zou kunnen zijn. Op het einde van het boek blijkt dat mensen je recht in je gezicht kunnen voorliegen en dat werkelijk niks is wat het lijkt.

Schemeruur is een indringend verhaal en heeft een trieste sfeer. De schemering is de overgang van licht naar donker, van goed naar kwaad. De personages hebben stuk voor stuk last van eenzaamheid. Het speelt zich voornamelijk af op Öland, een desolate omgeving, die het eiland wordt in de herfst als alle toeristen zijn vertrokken. Johan Theorin weet de sfeer van het eiland prachtig te beschrijven, maar ook de sfeer van melancholie. De karakters van de hoofdpersonen, het zoeken naar de waarheid en de vragen die dat opwerpt worden meeslepend beschreven.

Het verhaal wordt in twee hoofdlijnen verteld. Allereerst speelt in het heden het verhaal van Julia, die vergeefs hoopt op een wonder rondom haar verdwenen zoon. Daarnaast wordt het verhaal van Nils Kant verteld, welke begint in 1936, wanneer Nils tien jaar is. Nils is de oudste van twee broers en is onvoorspelbaar en gevaarlijk. Hij is het zwarte schaap van de familie, die aan het eind van de jaren dertig voor de nodige opschudding zorgde. Hij is toen naar Zuid-Amerika gevlucht. Allerlei wilde verhalen doen over hem de ronde. Beide verhaallijnen wisselen elkaar af, aan het eind grijpt alles mooi in elkaar.

De personages komen bij Theorin tot leven. De hoofdpersonen Gerlof en Julia spreken tot de verbeelding. Hun ontmoeting is niet gemakkelijk, daar beiden verdriet hebben. Schuld speelt daar een belangrijke rol bij. Julia heeft het verlies van haar zoon nooit verwerkt en is lam geslagen. Dit uit zich op velerlei manieren. Johan Theorin beschrijft haar en haar worsteling overtuigend. Je hoopt zó, dat ze nog een beetje geluk vindt in haar leven, vooral als ze kennismaakt met Lennart, een politieman, die ook een tragedie heeft meegemaakt. Gerlof, haar vader, is een gepensioneerde zeekapitein en weduwnaar. Hij woont in een bejaardentehuis en heeft last van artritis, waardoor hij moeilijk kan lopen. Hij heeft vroeger een leidinggevende functie aan boord gehad en voelt zich bemoederd in het bejaardentehuis. Hij gaat toch koppig door met zijn onderzoek. De zoektocht is zijn manier om toch wat respect te krijgen. Nils Kant is een rijke, verwende jongen. Er is hem verteld, dat hij speciaal is en hij vertelt zichzelf dat Öland zíjn eiland is, wat verschrikkelijke gevolgen heeft voor hem en een aantal mensen op het eiland.

De spanning wordt goed opgebouwd. De plot verrast en de lezer wordt nog al eens op het verkeerde been gezet. De ontknoping is verrassend. Er is een zweem van geheimzinnigheid rond het verhaal, die me heeft geboeid. De sfeer van het eiland wordt zo goed beschreven, mistig en verlaten. Het eiland Öland is eigenlijk de hoofdpersoon van het boek.

Johan Theorin is geboren in 1963 in Göteborg. Hij is journalist en scenarioschrijver. Het boek won in 2007 de prijs voor Beste Spannende Zweedse Debuut. Het is geïnspireerd op een echt gebeurd verhaal, toen een kind werd vermist in Bohuslän in Zweden in het midden van de jaren tachtig. Johan Theorin is een regelmatige bezoeker van het Baltische eiland, waar zijn moeders familie eeuwen hebben gewoond.

We hebben nog drie misdaadromans te goed van deze auteur. Elk boek zal gaan over een seizoen op het eiland Öland. Schemeruur is het herfstboek. Ik kijk al uit naar de volgende seizoenen.

tags: aangrijpend, intrigerend, spannend(less)

like · see review

Apr 02, 2013 Julie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Je n'ai été qu'à moitié emballée par ce roman.

En effet, le thème m'inspirait beaucoup et je trouve que l'idée de départ est vraiment excellente.

Je crois que le thème principal n'a pas été suffisamment exploité. Finalement, "L'écho des morts" est bien peu présent, du moins à mon goût. Je m'attendais à un peu de surnaturel, à une atmosphère plus lourde. J'aurais adoré que les légendes racontées soient plus exploitées aussi.

Malheureusement, j'ai aussi trouvé que l'auteur s'est un peu éparpillé, j'a...more

like · see review

Feb 23, 2013 Katia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tout d'abord la forme de ce livre me plait beaucoup. Il y a alternance d'un chapitre dans le présent et d'un chapitre dans le passé, ce dernier éclairant celui-là. L'écriture est simplement belle, jolie et plaisante. Les personnages sont nombreux car il y a beaucoup de personnages périphériques. On se prend d'affection pour Gerlof (à prononcer Yer-Lof). Etant en pleine période de devoirs entre fin avril et début mai je lisais très peu, et j'ai eu du mal à entrer dans le roman, mais malgré tout j...more

like · see review

Aug 15, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found the character of Julia to be pathetic. Quite possibly one of the saddest, most pathetic literary characters I've read. She lost her son, at 5 years old, over 20 years ago. but she makes no effort to get over it and get on with her life. She drinks too wine, and wallows in self pity. Then her father - who's in an old person's home tells her he has a sandal, possibly the one her son, Jens wore the day he disappeared.

The story revolves around two people, who may or may not be dead. Nils Kan...more

like 1 like · see review

Nov 29, 2011 Ellen Keim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scandinavian

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The strongest element of Echoes From the Dead was its sense of place. One reason why I read Scandinavian novels is because of their atmosphere. And crucial parts of that atmosphere are the climate and the topography of the respective countries. This book painted a picture of Oland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea, that is particularly vivid and as much a character in the story as the human ones.

The main characters are well-drawn, but at first the one I was most interested in was Nils Kant, w...more

like 3 likes · see review

Jun 29, 2011 Xirxe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, krimi

Ach menno, manchmal denke ich wirklich, man sollte Klappentexte verbieten, soviel Unsinn wie da verzapft wird. 'Eine feine Mischung aus Krimi und Gespensterroman. Zum Gruseln gut.' meint die Für Sie über das erste Buch 'Öland' von Johan Theorin. Wetten, dass wer immer dies auch geschrieben hat, lediglich die Inhaltsangabe gelesen hatte? Von Geistern und Gespenstern ist in dem ganzen Buch nämlich weit und breit keine Spur zu finden. Und zum Gruseln ist die ganze Geschichte nun sicherlich auch nic...more Ach menno, manchmal denke ich wirklich, man sollte Klappentexte verbieten, soviel Unsinn wie da verzapft wird. 'Eine feine Mischung aus Krimi und Gespensterroman. Zum Gruseln gut.' meint die Für Sie über das erste Buch 'Öland' von Johan Theorin. Wetten, dass wer immer dies auch geschrieben hat, lediglich die Inhaltsangabe gelesen hatte? Von Geistern und Gespenstern ist in dem ganzen Buch nämlich weit und breit keine Spur zu finden. Und zum Gruseln ist die ganze Geschichte nun sicherlich auch nicht geeignet.
Aber spannend ist es, spannend bis zum wirklich überraschenden Ende, das mit einigen unerwarteten Wendungen aufwartet. 1972, ein kleiner Junge von fast sechs Jahren verschwindet, alle Suche bleibt vergebens. Es scheint, als ob der damals herrschende dichte Nebel ihn verschluckt hätte. 20 Jahre später hat seine Mutter Julia noch immer nicht ins Leben zurückgefunden. Psychisch krank quält sie sich durch endlose Tage, als sie ein Anruf ihres Vaters erreicht. Man hat ihm per Post ins Altenheim eine Sandale zugesandt, die Sandale eines kleinen Jungen. Er bittet Julia, zu ihm zu kommen, um die Suche erneut aufzunehmen. Gemeinsam mit zwei alten Freunden glaubt er zu wissen, wer hinter dem Verschwinden seines Enkels steckt: Nils Kant, ein mehrfacher Mörder, der jedoch schon Jahre zuvor beerdigt wurde.
Die Geschichte wird in zwei Strängen erzählt: Zum einen begleitet man Julia und ihren Vater auf der Suche nach dem, was damals wirklich geschah. Und zum andern nimmt man teil am Leben von Nils Kant, der bereits als Kind den Tod seines kleinen Bruders verschuldete. Man glaubt schon früh zu ahnen, was damals vorfiel, wird aber immer wieder eines besseren belehrt.
Auch wenn Ortsbeschreibungen und Ähnliches nicht allzu viel Raum einnehmen, gelingt es Theorin, die Einsamkeit und Verlassenheit der Sommerferienorte wie auch die besondere Stimmung der Alvar (so heisst die Gegend dort) überzeugend darzustellen. Ein rundum gelungener Krimi mit wenig Blut und viel Atmosphäre. Und weshalb nur vier Punkte? Weil es auch noch spannendere Krimis gibt :-)(less)

like · see review

Dec 02, 2010 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Many years ago a small boy disappeared. He climbed over his parents’ garden wall and disappeared into the mist.

Now, twenty years on, the first piece of evidence has come to light. A new investigation begins.

A simple story, but Johan Theorin builds on it very well indeed.

He builds characters.

First there’s Julia. it was her son, Jens, who disappeared. She has never come to terms with her loss, never learned to live with it. She was already separated from her husband, and her refusal to accept that...more

like 1 like · see review

Aug 10, 2010 Beth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Johan Theorin’s ECHOES FROM THE DEAD is Swedish noir that builds its story on events from 1936 to the 1940′s to 1972 to 1992, periods connected by suspected murders and the memories of the residents of a remote area of Sweden, the island of Oland. On a very foggy morning in September 1972, 6 year-old Jens Davidsson walks out of his home and disappears without a trace. Twenty years later, his mother, Julia, depressed and overwhelmed by the disappearance, receives a phone call from her father, sti...more

Johan Theorin’s ECHOES FROM THE DEAD is Swedish noir that builds its story on events from 1936 to the 1940′s to 1972 to 1992, periods connected by suspected murders and the memories of the residents of a remote area of Sweden, the island of Oland. On a very foggy morning in September 1972, 6 year-old Jens Davidsson walks out of his home and disappears without a trace. Twenty years later, his mother, Julia, depressed and overwhelmed by the disappearance, receives a phone call from her father, still a resident of Oland. After fleeing to Stockholm so many years before, Julia has had little contact with her father, Gerlof, but now he is asking her to come back, to help him renew the search for Jens. For Julia, Orland is the source of her desperation and her unhappiness but when Gerlof tells her that he has received a package containing one sandal, the same sandal Jens had been wearing when he disappeared, Julia is reluctantly pulled back to the island. The book alternates Julia and Gerlof’s search for Jens with the story of the drowning of Alex Kant in 1934 and the murders of people during the Nazi occupation of Sweden. Orland has its own myth, the island’s own figure of fear, Nils Kant, the older brother of Alex. Did Nils stand-by and watch Alex drown? Did Nils kill the German soldiers in the 1940′s? Was Nils Kant responsible for the deaths of some of the residents of Oland? What role did he play in the disappearance of Jens? How could he have played any role? Nils Kant died 40 years ago so who is the dark figure people see wandering the island at night? Back in her childhood home, Julia observes that, “Within the sunlight there was a sense of sorrow that not everything was as beautiful as it seemed to be….” (ECHOES FROM THE DEAD, p. 74). There is a sense of sorrow that permeates this story; a community has lived for 60 years under a cloud that formed with the death of one child and a family is destroyed by the disappearance of another. ECHOES FROM THE DEAD is not light reading but it is a compelling story of damage wrought by loss, fear, and suspicion. Johan Theorin is another master in the circle of Swedish masters of the genre(less)

like · see review

Mar 09, 2010 Kat Hagedorn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, mystery

http://tinyurl.com/63cpzn

Finally, I get a decent book from LT-- one in which I'm not rolling my eyes at the writing every few pages or wishing the themes were less yawn-inducing. And, actually, I have no idea how well written the original book was since this is a translation of a Swedish murder mystery. Because it climbed to the top of the charts over there, I expect the decent writing is coming through in the translation (especially in terms of the descriptions of the island of Öland and its co...more

like 2 likes · see review

Dec 17, 2012 Cphe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: atmospheric-and-moody

I liken this Swedish thriller as a "slow burn". I thought it was understated, bleak and dour but also very, very compelling.

It starts with the disappearance of a young boy Jens on the island of Orland. It is foggy and bleak when he disappears on the alvar which I thought of as a moor. The story leaps forward 20 years and to the aftermath suffered by his mother Julia who resorts to alcohol and pills to dull the pain of not knowing what happened to her child.

One day out of the blue her father Gerl...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 03, 2012 Marco rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, thriller

Het zou me niets verbazen als ik zo vroeg in 2012 al de ontdekking van het jaar heb gedaan. Skumtimmen (ik las de Engelse versie: Echoes from the Dead) is absoluut één van de beste debuutromans die ik tot nu toe heb gelezen. Johan Theorin heeft een sfeervolle en indrukwekkende thriller geschreven. Richting het einde wordt het wel iets minder, maar zeker voor een debuutroman is het nog steeds hoogstaand.

De start van het verhaal gaf mij echt kippenvel. Het begint allemaal vanuit het oogpunt van Je...more Het zou me niets verbazen als ik zo vroeg in 2012 al de ontdekking van het jaar heb gedaan. Skumtimmen (ik las de Engelse versie: Echoes from the Dead) is absoluut één van de beste debuutromans die ik tot nu toe heb gelezen. Johan Theorin heeft een sfeervolle en indrukwekkende thriller geschreven. Richting het einde wordt het wel iets minder, maar zeker voor een debuutroman is het nog steeds hoogstaand.

De start van het verhaal gaf mij echt kippenvel. Het begint allemaal vanuit het oogpunt van Jens, het zesjarige jongetje uit Öland die stiekem bij zijn oma ontsnapt en een mysterieuze man tegen het lijf loopt. Op de volgende pagina's staat Nils Kant centraal. Tijdens die passage verrichte hij een daad die ik nog lang zal herinneren. Dat stuk heb ik echt met walging zitten lezen. Er vloeide geen druppeltje bloed, maar de manier waarop de jonge Nils zijn daad voorbereidde en uitvoerde, zorgde er in ieder geval voor dat ik helemaal in het verhaal zat.
Naast Nils Kant spelen nog twee personen een belangrijke rol: Julia, de moeder van de verdwenen Jens en Gerlof, de vader van Julia. De twee hebben nauwelijks contact met elkaar, maar wanneer Gerlof een sandaal opgestuurd krijgt die opvallend veel lijkt op die van de verdwenen Jens, veranderen de zaken. Het is inmiddels twintig jaar na de plotselinge verdwijning van Jens en iedereen neemt aan dat hij niet meer leeft. Volgens de politie is hij de nabij gelegen Baltische zee ingelopen en daarin verdronken. Kwade tongen beweren echter dat Nils Kant verantwoordelijk is voor de verdwijning en wellicht de dood van Jens. Die geruchten worden echter niet al te serieus genomen: Nils was ten tijde van Jens' verdwijning immers dood...

Er is dus genoeg mystiek in het verhaal en Theorin weet de spanning goed op te bouwen door veel hoofdstukken af te sluiten met flashbacks vanuit het oogpunt van Nils Kant. Hij blijkt een in en in slecht mens te zijn, waardoor zijn karakter wel eendimensionaal en niet erg realistisch is, maar voor het verhaal wel heel erg waardevol. Nils verdween richting Zuid-Amerika nadat hij twee Duitse soldaten op Öland om het leven bracht. Volgens de verhalen is hij daar gestorven; zijn lijk werd ook begraven op Öland, maar er blijven mensen twijfelen aan dat verhaal.
Aan de andere kant zijn Julia en Gerlof samen met nog wat andere personages op zoek naar de waarheid. Hun zoektocht is mooi beschreven en vindt voornamelijk plaats op Öland. Ook Öland krijgt voldoende uitdieping en is een mooie setting voor dit verhaal. Het is er rustig, er wonen weinig mensen, maar Julia en Gerlof zijn er zeker van dat de waarheid bij één van de inwoners op het eiland op de tong ligt. Julia bezoekt bijvoorbeeld het huis van Vera Kant, de overleden moeder van Nils, en dat is echt de meest spannende passage in het hele verhaal. Ik hoorde het oude huis bijna kraken en die scène gaf echt een onprettig gevoel.
Gerlof en Julia groeien ook meer naar elkaar toe en worden gedurende het boek alleen maar sympathieker. Ze krijgen voldoende uitdieping zonder dat het verteltempo hinderlijk onderbroken wordt. Er zit zowel voldoende vaart als voldoende aandacht voor de karakters in het verhaal.
Langzaam maar zeker kruipen de flashbacks van Nils steeds meer richting heden en de vraag is of Nils het pad kruist met Julia en Gerlof of dat hij echt gestorven is. Theorin komt met een heel duidelijk antwoord. Het einde zelf valt niet echt heel goed te herleiden uit de rest van het verhaal, maar het is ook niet heel erg onlogisch en voelt dus niet geforceerd aan. Het had misschien net iets intelligenter aan elkaar geschreven kunnen worden. De meeste plottwists zaten wel goed in elkaar, al zijn sommige twists net iets te ver gezocht en te toevallig, maar dat hoort ook een beetje bij het genre.

Het leesjaar 2012 had ik eigenlijk niet veel beter kunnen beginnen. Echoes from the Dead is een heerlijk eerste deel in het 'Öland-kwartet' en ik ga de overige drie ook zeker lezen. Dit eerste deel is heel sfeervol, heeft twee sympathieke hoofdpersonen en een ietwat eendimensionale maar wel hatelijke bad-guy. Het Zweedse eiland Öland past perfect bij het verhaal en daar wil ik gerust meer van weten. Op het einde zakt het boek iets in, maar een vlekkeloos debuut schrijven lijkt me ook een utopie. De meeste twists waren geloofwaardig en werkten ook goed. In amper drie dagen ben ik door dit boek gevlogen, dus dat zegt wel voldoende.
De Nederlandse editie van dit boek (Schemeruur) kost trouwens maar vijf euro (hint, hint)!

* * * *(less)

like · see review

Mar 01, 2009 Lourdes Fernandez Venard rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Twenty years ago, Julia Davidsson's 5-year-old son slipped out of his grandparents' garden and vanished into the fog of this Swedish island, his body never found. But now, his grandfather Gerlof, who lives at a home for the elderly, has received one of the boy's sandals in the mail. He calls his daughter, and together they begin to try to solve the mystery. Their main suspect is the notorious murderer Nils Kant, a man who killed three people (or four, if you count his own brother's accidental dr...more

like · see review

Sep 12, 2009 Spuddie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Translated from the Swedish, this compelling story mingles past and present very skillfully. Julia Davidsson has been mourning the loss of her five-year-old son Jens for twenty years. He disappeared into the fog one day and was never seen again, presumed drowned, but his body was never found and Julia is haunted by the fact that he may still be alive and wants to know what happened to him. She has, over the years, distanced herself from family back on the Baltic island Öland because it's just to...more Translated from the Swedish, this compelling story mingles past and present very skillfully. Julia Davidsson has been mourning the loss of her five-year-old son Jens for twenty years. He disappeared into the fog one day and was never seen again, presumed drowned, but his body was never found and Julia is haunted by the fact that he may still be alive and wants to know what happened to him. She has, over the years, distanced herself from family back on the Baltic island Öland because it's just too painful to continue seeing people who were in her life when Jens disappeared. Now she is simply existing and working as a nurse in a city some distance away, drinking too much and spending much time brooding over Jens.

When her father Gerlof calls her and says that he has received one of the sandals that Jens was wearing when he disappeared in a parcel in the mail, Julia extends a work leave and is off to Öland to once again take up the quest for knowledge. While there, she reacquaints herself with Gerlof, now elderly and living in a care home, suffering from Sjögren's syndrome, which causes much pain and difficulty with movement. She really knows no one else, and has plenty of time to confront the past and her own demons as she spends time in the places of her childhood. When one of Gerlof's friends who had been working on the mystery of Jens' disappearance with Gerlof is found dead, crushed by one of his stone sculptures, Gerlof (who has been rather reticent with Julia about some of his thoughts and findings) realizes how real the danger of knowledge about the past likely is.

Has the past come back to haunt the whole island? Is the mysterious Nils Kant, a felon who shot three people--including a local police superintendant--with a shotgun and then fled to South America still alive and coming back for revenge? His body was returned and is presumably buried in the cemetery, but some believe he is alive. The local policeman, who was the son of the one Kant shot, thinks this is nonsense and tells Julia so as they begin striking up a friendship. As the story is unveiled in bits and pieces--told from several points of view including that of the young Nils Kant--clues are dropped here and there.

I admit I did figure out most of the mystery well ahead of time, but it made the story no less compelling. You just had to read on and find out what happens to Julia and to Gerlof, too. Dark and brooding (which seems fairly typical for Scandinavian mysteries) and very well-written--and thus, presumably well-translated also--I was thoroughly enthralled with this story from beginning to end and would highly recommend it. (less)

like 1 like · see review

Mar 15, 2010 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scandinavian-mystery-thriller

Another strong Scandinavian mystery. The father-daughter protagonists who come together to solve the mystery of little Jens' 1972 disappearance really grow on you, and the pace of the book is awesome. Theorin goes nonlinear, even in the present, which is quite a gift. The book, which addresses many key issues such as old vs new Scandinavian culture, island village vs mainland, etc is quite atmospheric. You can really feel the old shipping days and the lively Orland community that sadly got repla...more

like 2 likes · see review

Jul 21, 2011 Minna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Crime-readers

Shelves: mystery, owned, crime

I was going to do a comparison between this book and John Ajvide Lindqvist's Människohamn (Harbour) because the description of them were so similar and they were published at roughly the same time. The premise for the book is that a child went missing during a visit near the sea and that one parent (in this book the mother, in Harbour the father) can't get over the tragedy and seeks comfort at bottom of every bottle. In the now the parent has returned to the scene, trying to get closure and to f...more

like · see review

Dec 05, 2008 Jim Coughenour rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bleakfiction, crime4connoisseurs

The new word in this book is alvar, the limestone pavement habitat on the Swedish island of Öland – a topography that plays the same role in this story as the Yorkshire moor does in Wuthering Heights. And if this is an odd way to begin a review, well, it's an odd book.

Echoes from the Dead is another Scandinavian crime story riding in on the crest of Henning Mankell's deliciously cheerless Wallander novels – but it's less a policier than a sometimes whimsical, mostly sad family drama. I could ade...more

like 6 likes · see review

Mar 04, 2013 João Carlos rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

1 - “Det Grovmaskiga Natet/La Tosca Red – Un Caso Del Inspector Van Veeteren/The Mind’s Eye” do escritor sueco Hakan Nesser é o primeiro livro da série Van Veeteren. A acção decorre em Maardam, um cidade fictícia, localizada num País do Norte da Europa, entre 5 de Outubro (sábado) e 5 de Dezembro (quinta-feira);
2 – Um homem acorda na escuridão da sua sala de estar. Está de ressaca, confuso, desorientado e com muitas dores. Não sabe o seu nome. Dirige-se à casa-de-banho que encontra fechada. Arro...more 1 - “Det Grovmaskiga Natet/La Tosca Red – Un Caso Del Inspector Van Veeteren/The Mind’s Eye” do escritor sueco Hakan Nesser é o primeiro livro da série Van Veeteren. A acção decorre em Maardam, um cidade fictícia, localizada num País do Norte da Europa, entre 5 de Outubro (sábado) e 5 de Dezembro (quinta-feira);
2 – Um homem acorda na escuridão da sua sala de estar. Está de ressaca, confuso, desorientado e com muitas dores. Não sabe o seu nome. Dirige-se à casa-de-banho que encontra fechada. Arromba a porta com uma chave de fendas e encontra a sua mulher Eva Maria Ringmar, com quem tinha casado há 3 meses, deitada na banheira, morta. O homem – Janek Mattias Mitter (JM) é um professor catedrático de História e Filosofia. Telefona para a polícia e limpa o apartamento;
3 – O inspector Van Veeteren é um detective de idade “avançada” (a 10 anos da reforma), cansado da vida e do seu relacionamento com a mulher e os filhos – Jess (filha – com 2 gémeos) e Erich (filho – preso por venda de droga). A nível profissional Van Veeteren mostra um relacionamento despótico nas relações com os seus colegas de trabalho. Com tendências para a depressão e com uma abordagem metódica do processo de investigação criminal Van Veeteren resolve os seus casos com base numa intuição e metodologia excepcional ;
4 – O professorMitter durante o julgamento não se lembra rigorosamente nada sobre os acontecimentos fatídicos ocorridos naquela noite. Tem apenas uma certeza de que não foi ele que matou a sua adorável mulher – Eva;
5 – Com o julgamento a decorrer Van Veeteren começa a duvidar das evidências que sustentam a acusação e, posteriormente, a condenação de JM, confinando-o ao cumprimento da pena de prisão num hospício psiquiátrico;
6 – Quando ocorre um segundo assassinato, com ligações evidentes ao caso do professor Mitter, o inspector Van Veeteren convence-se imediatamente que alguém, directamente relacionado com Eva, causou este duplo crime. O detective Van Veeteren em face dos acontecimentos promove uma alteração na investigação criminal, suscitando a participação de todos os investigadores envolvidos, mas acabando invariavelmente por decidir de uma forma autónoma e solitária;
7 – O escritor Hakan Nesser descreve de uma forma admirável a angústia e o estado de espírito do professor Mitter e faz uma conexão entre as personagens de uma forma inovadora;
8 - A introdução do inspector Van Veeteren, na narrativa do género policial nórdico, é original, porque introduz-nos um personagem antipático, irascível, jogador de badminton, apreciador de música clássica com preferência de Bach e Handel, atormentado pelo seu passado, com o tique de “palitar” os dentes mas possuindo um instinto e perspicácia verdadeiramente excepcional para os resultados da investigação criminal;
9 – Para Hakan Nesser e Van Veeteren é mais importante compreender alguns dos aspectos sociológicos relevantes de uma sociedade culturalmente evoluída do que a busca incessante da justiça. Qual é a motivação do crime?
Com diálogos brilhantes e comentários incisivos que nos motivam um sorriso irónico “Det Grovmaskiga Natet/La Tosca Red – Un Caso Del Inspector Van Veeteren/The Mind’s Eye” é um excelente policial;
10 – Hakan Nesser nasceu em 1950 na Suécia. O livro “Det Grovmaskiga Natet/La Tosca Red – Un Caso Del Inspector Van Veeteren/The Mind’s Eye” foi editado na Suécia em 1993. Hakan Nesser é o único escritor sueco a ter recebido por três vezes o prémio Best Swedish Crime Novel Award (1994 – 1996 – 2007). A série com o Inspector Van Veeteren tem dez livros publicados.
11 – O livro “Det Grovmaskiga Natet/La Tosca Red – Un Caso Del Inspector Van Veeteren/The Mind’s Eye” do escritor sueco Hakan Nesser, permitiu-me o contacto com um dos melhores e mais originais escritores de policiais nórdicos, infelizmente não editado em Portugal.(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jun 12, 2012 Klara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bibliotheek, thriller, scandinavisch, read-2012

Op een mistige dag verdwijnt de 6-jarige Jens op het Zweedse eiland Öland. De zoektocht die daarna gestart wordt levert niets op. Als 20 jaar later per post een schoentje van het verdwenen jongetje wordt bezorgd, keert zijn moeder terug naar het eiland om te achterhalen wat er enkele decennia geleden met haar kind is gebeurd. Langzaam maar zeker komt beetje bij beetje de schokkende waarheid aan het licht.

Schemeruur is het eerste van vier misdaadromans die samen de Vier seizoenen van Öland worden...more

like · see review

Mar 28, 2011 Jenni rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

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 wha...more

like · see review

Nov 05, 2012 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a Swedish mystery novel which of course makes it the hottest thing going right now. In this one, a new clue turns up in the long-ago disappearance of a young boy named Jens, and his mother and her elderly father run all around the beach towns of Sweden trying to figure out what happened. I found the story entertaining, but I didn't really understand what all the buzz was about—this one was just a decent mystery story for me. If you've read a few mysteries before, you'll figure out how th...more

like · see review

Mar 31, 2013 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I am currently on a Scandinavian mysteries kick, and just discovered Johan Theorin's books, which are police procedurals with some supernatural overtones. They are set in Oland, a part of Sweden which Theorin knows intimately, and this is the first of a planned quartet of novels, one set in each season of the year.

Oland is a small community, and although I didn't know it when I read this first book (I've read two so far), the characters continue from book to book. This first book deals with the...more

like · see review

Feb 18, 2009 Linda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"When her father, Gerlof, rang one Monday evening in October, for the first time in almost a year, he made Julia think of bones, washed up onto a stony shore.
Bones, white as mother-of-pearl, polished by the waves, almost luminous among the gray pebbles at the water's edge.
Fragments of bone.
Julia didn't know if they were actually there on the shore, but she had waited to see them for over twenty years."
— "Echoes From the Dead"

I've managed to start the year off with my goal of following the re...more "When her father, Gerlof, rang one Monday evening in October, for the first time in almost a year, he made Julia think of bones, washed up onto a stony shore.
Bones, white as mother-of-pearl, polished by the waves, almost luminous among the gray pebbles at the water's edge.
Fragments of bone.
Julia didn't know if they were actually there on the shore, but she had waited to see them for over twenty years."
— "Echoes From the Dead"

I've managed to start the year off with my goal of following the reading pattern of Becky's blog: "A Book A Week." And if I concentrate on books read — rather than the weather — then February is proving to be a stellar month.

First up is the captivating debut novel, "Echoes From the Dead," by Swedish author Johan Theorin, translated by Marlaine Delargy. Twenty years ago, a five-year-old boy walked out of his grandparents' garden into the fog and was never seen again. No trace of the boy was ever found leaving his mother, Julia Davidsson, in a half-world of alcohol and grief. Now, one of the boy's shoes is mailed to Julia's elderly father, a retired sea-captain who still lives on the desolate island where the tragedy happened. Together, the estranged father and daughter try to piece together what happened so many years ago.

As might be expected, most of the characters we meet have secrets and have been scarred by events in their own pasts; this leads to the book covering two concurrent timelines: past and present. The tone is dark and foreboding, yet never melodramatic. If, like me, you live in a place like Wisconsin and Minnesota, the names, the Nordic gloom, the waterside towns that now depend on tourists instead of fishing and shipping: all will strike a familiar chord. As will the evocation of the landscape — a depiction as strong and vibrant as any character in the book. A friend of mine says you're imprinted by the place where you are raised; much of this story revolves around the fierce love such place engenders in the people raised there.

The ending — though ultimately life-affirming — is still surprisingly stunning and heart-wrending. A page turner til the end, I made it last two days but could not slow myself down. A nod must also go to Marlaine Delargy for the lyrical and evocative translation that draws you in from the opening sentence.
(A final aside: I noted the Euro cover depicts the child while the American version depicts what looks more like the mother to my eye).

Julie S. — you would probably like this for the setting and characters having been to Sweden often ...(less)

like · see review

Dec 01, 2008 Charlotte rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people depressed about the economy, so they can see their lives aren't so bad

Shelves: mystery

What is going on with these depressed Scandinavian writers? The guy at Aunt Agatha's was telling me last week that he met a crime writer from Iceland who said that setting stories there is really limiting because they only have like five murders per year. So a serial killer plot is sort of out. Then we speculated about whether the murder rate would increase now that Iceland's entire economy has collapsed. All of which is to say, if you like drawn-out, sort of subdued murder mysteries that take p...more

like · see review

Nov 18, 2012 Sara rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Spoiler***

Wow. What a ride! This is not something I would've chosen myself at library but my friend in Sweden recommended it and our library had it. She was concerned the suspense may have been lost in translation but.....not the case. Every chapter made me want to keep reading. I'd stay up til 2 or 3a losing sleep hoping to get to the end to see if Julia would find peace in her sons disappearance. Yet my heart would race a lot it was creepy.

This book was great. I now know why Helena read it 4...more

like 1 like · see review

Mar 13, 2009 Laren rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries

This book is actually an English translation of a Swedish author's work. Julia is a nurse still so griefstricken after the disappearance of her son many years earlier that she is on disability. She still holds out hope that he is alive, which puts her at odds with her family. Then one day her father calls her to say someone mailed him a sandal - one just like the one her son Jens was wearing the day he disappeared. Julia pulls herself together enough to go back to the island where it all happene...more

like · see review

Oct 15, 2009 Michele Weiner rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At last, a real mystery. It is the story of a little boy who disappeared one day, and how his grandfather and mother found his murderer twenty years later. There were plenty of twists and lots of very annoying missed opportunities for communication. in the first pages, the author tells you that the grandfather's name, Gerlof, is actually pronounced Yair-loff, which distracted me so much that I could hardly attend to the plot.

Every time the name appeared, I would need three tries (Ger-loff, Hair...more

like 1 like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Scandinavian Myst...: Johan Theorin	4	22	Oct 14, 2011 09:05pm

combine
Other Editions (42)

More editions...

Genres

Mystery

73 users

Mystery > Crime

48 users

Thriller

22 users

European Literature > Scandinavian Literature

20 users

Cultural > Sweden

17 users

European Literature > Swedish Literature

12 users

Suspense

8 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

7 users

Novels

4 users

Horror

3 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Death Angels
by Åke Edwardson
Detective Inspector Huss
by Helene Tursten
Mind's Eye
by Håkan Nesser
Missing
by Karin Alvtegen
Unseen
by Mari Jungstedt

About Johan Theorin

Throughout his life, Johan Theorin has been a regular visitor to the Baltic island of Öland. His mother’s family – sailors, fishermen and farmers - have lived there for centuries, nurturing the island’s rich legacy of strange tales and folklore. A journalist by profession, Johan now lives in Gothenburg.

Echoes from the Dead (originally published in Sweden as Skumtimmen) is Johan’s first novel. In 2...more

More about Johan Theorin...

Books by Johan Theorin

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Hora De Las Sombr...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Echoes from the Dead
avg rating	preview: Echoes from the Dead Goodreads rating: 3.79 (1934 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7158796-echoes-from-the-dead?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1333195354l/7158796.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7158796-echoes-from-the-dead?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin[/url]

Echoes from the Dead (The Öland Quartet #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website