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The Darkest Room (The Öland Quartet #2)

3.88 of 5 stars 3.88 · rating details · 1,297 ratings · 154 reviews

'The dead are our neighbours everywhere on the island, and you have to get used to it.'

It is bitter mid-winter on the Swedish island of Oland, and Katrine and Joakim Westin have moved with their children to the boarded-up manor house at Eel Point. But their remote idyll is soon shattered when Katrine is found drowned off the rocks nearby. As Joakim struggles to keep his sa...more

Paperback, 480 pages

Published 2010 by Black Swan (first published 2008)

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Apr 12, 2013 Ingrid Verschelling rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

Nachtstorm is Johan Theorin’s tweede roman in een serie van vier, die samen 'De Vier van Öland' vormen. Zijn roman Schemeruur, waarvoor hij de prijs voor het Beste Spannende Zweedse Debuut ontving, vond ik al een fantastisch boek. Voor Nachtstorm won hij de prijs voor Beste Zweedse Thriller. Ik ben een grote fan van Scandinavische Thrillers. Genoeg reden om vol spanning aan dit boek te beginnen...

Een Zweeds volksverhaal uit de negentiende eeuw begint als volgt: "De doden verzamelen zich elke win...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Lukasz Pruski rated it 2 of 5 stars

Johan Theorin's "The Darkest Room" will be a very good read for people who like mysteries with a slightly supernatural bent. The novel takes place in northern Öland, Sweden, and the author aptly conveys the "barren and fatal" landscape of the place.

A couple with two small kids moves in to a huge manor house next to a lighthouse on the coast of Öland island. Then the grim events from the past begin to affect the present. We learn about a string of several deaths and disappearances connected with...more

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Sep 09, 2012 Lisa Lilly rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book follows Katrine and Joakim Westin, who move with their children to an old manor house off the coast of Odland, Sweden, and begin restoring it. After tragedy strikes, Joakim struggles to cope not only with grief but with strange sounds and happenings in the manor itself. His experiences and sadness lead him to start believing some of the ghost stories he's heard about the house and the ships that wrecked near it many decades ago. Interwoven with Joakim's story are those of other charact...more

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Feb 20, 2012 Mysterytribune rated it 5 of 5 stars

Johan Theorin is a journalist and author, born in 1963 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Throughout his life, Johan Theorin has been a regular visitor to the island of Öland in the Baltic sea. His mother’s family–sailors, fishermen and farmers–have lived there for centuries, nurturing the island’s legacy of strange tales and folklore.

The Darkest Room is the author's second novel (in Swedish Nattfåk) and was voted the Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2008 and won the Glass Key award in 2009. The book was also aw...more Johan Theorin is a journalist and author, born in 1963 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Throughout his life, Johan Theorin has been a regular visitor to the island of Öland in the Baltic sea. His mother’s family–sailors, fishermen and farmers–have lived there for centuries, nurturing the island’s legacy of strange tales and folklore.

The Darkest Room is the author's second novel (in Swedish Nattfåk) and was voted the Best Swedish Crime Novel of 2008 and won the Glass Key award in 2009. The book was also awarded the 2010 CWA International Dagger.

A Brief Summary:

On the idyllic island of Öland, off the coast of northern Sweden, a young couple from Stockholm tries to start life afresh. For Joakim and Katrine Westin, reclaiming a long-neglected family manor will be a labor of love, as they slowly bring the sprawling home back to life and introduce their two children to the island’s woodlands, glens, and beaches.

The family is trying to put a tragic personal loss behind them only to be plunged into another, much greater this time. The house they have moved in has a long history of death and unhappy lives. When the family is struck by a new tragedy, it’s up to grief-stricken Joakim to put together a puzzle of inexplicable loss, unbearable suspicion, and tangled lives.

The family's tragedy also brings a Policewoman named Tilda Davidsson on the scene to investigate. Tilda has her own issues and reasons for moving to Öland. The plots keep circling around the haunted house as the place built as a shelter from the sea becomes a human storm of murder.

Our Take:

Once again the setting of Theorin's novel is Öland, an island that the author is very familiar with. His physical knowledge of the area has given significant richness to the story and has made this a wonderfully atmospheric book.

A thin thread links this second book to the author's debut, since Tilda Davidsson is the great niece of Gerlof Davidsson, one of the main characters in Echoes from the Dead. Theorin exdplains history of the setting in great detail through min-stories within his main plot and each story illuminates another small dusty corner in the mystery behind the tragedies.

The cast of interesting characters are also explored at length, especially the main characters, Joakim and Tilda. The book has a touch of supernatural and these elements are occasionally explored, but in such a way that the readers perceive them credible. "The Darkest Room" has all the elements essential to good storytelling – a compelling plot, interesting multi-layer characters as well as live atmosphere.

(More at http://www.mysterytribune.com or @mysterytribune)(less)

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Jan 31, 2011 Peter Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book and would give it 4 stars. Personally I think the blurb on the cover is an exaggeration and does not do the story justice. It is not a frightening horror/crime story. It is an eerie believable ghost story about a house that was built from wood salvaged from a vessel wrecked of the Island in 1846. However this is no Hollywood type of sinister monster house.

It is the story of how Joakim and his children cope with the death of his sister and wife. Intertwined with details of the t...more

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Jul 09, 2010 Nancy Oakes rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: scandinavian-crime-fiction-and-myst, translated-fiction

Joakim and Katrine Westin, along with their two small children, have decided to leave Stockholm to buy and renovate an old manor house at Eel Point on the island of Öland. Along with its two lighthouses, this area has a long history of shipwrecks and drownings, and it is said that the voices of the dead can still be heard. But for Joakim and Katrine, Eel Point offers a new beginning. For their children there are meadows and forests to play in, a definite change from urban life in Stockholm. But...more Joakim and Katrine Westin, along with their two small children, have decided to leave Stockholm to buy and renovate an old manor house at Eel Point on the island of Öland. Along with its two lighthouses, this area has a long history of shipwrecks and drownings, and it is said that the voices of the dead can still be heard. But for Joakim and Katrine, Eel Point offers a new beginning. For their children there are meadows and forests to play in, a definite change from urban life in Stockholm. But after only a couple of months, the idyllic setting becomes a place of dread after a terrible tragedy, which leaves Joakim shaken and inconsolable, unable to deal with his grief. He begins to become more interested in Eel Point's haunted history, wondering indeed if the dead inhabit the area, and the house begins to act on his damaged soul. He meets Tilda Davidsson, a newly-recruited police officer who has moved to the area to escape from the gossip involved with her affair with a married policeman, and because she has family there. Tilda's great-uncle is Gerlof Davidsson, who was a major character in Theorin's first novel, Echoes From the Dead, and she spends a lot of time with him, putting his memories of his life on Öland down on tape.

But there's more. As the Westin family is coping with its grief, the two Serelius brothers and their cohort in crime Henrik Jansson are busy breaking into vacation homes where the owners are away, stealing valuables and causing general mayhem. It's not long until their forays escalate and they start breaking into occupied houses and becoming violent, hopped up on meth before each job. Their activities have been reported to the police, but it isn't until Gerlof suggests to Tilda that she talk to a few of his old friends that anything really happens with the case.

These two plotlines, along with Gerlof's oral history of his family and of life on Öland, also combined with excerpts from a book written by Katrine's mother Mirja Rambe, all weave together into a perfectly-crafted thriller with a slight hint of gothic thrown into the mix. The sense of place is unbelievably eerie and helps to keep the tension and suspense from ebbing at any point in the story. The characters are meticulously and well constructed, especially in the cases of Katrine and Joakim, whose lives Theorin discloses in only small bits and pieces at a time. The pacing of the novel is just a little slow to begin with, but when it picks up, there is no way anyone can possibly put this book down until it's over.

I have to admit to being put off at first by the hint of the supernatural that figures into the story, but as all came to be revealed, my worries were put to rest and Theorin didn't let me down. It is tough to label The Darkest Room as simply a mystery or a novel of crime fiction, because it's also an examination of loss, grief and human nature in its most vulnerable and exposed state. And as in his earlier Echoes of the Dead, Theorin has created a story in which the past has meaning for and acts on the present -- one of my favorite types of novels. I highly recommend this one and considering I read it in 90+ degree heat with a near equal level of humidity, it made me shiver throughout. The Darkest Room is simply stellar.(less)

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Jul 02, 2010 David Hebblethwaite rated it 4 of 5 stars

The manor house at Eel Point, on the Swedish island of Öland, has had a dark reputation ever since it was built using salvage from a shipwreck. There have been a number of deaths associated with the place over the years, and the latest happens shortly after Joakim Westin moves in there with his family – his wife Katrine drowns, apparently accidentally. A young police officer named Tilda Davidsson looks into events, and starts to wonder if Katrine’s death really was all that accidental – whilst J...more The manor house at Eel Point, on the Swedish island of Öland, has had a dark reputation ever since it was built using salvage from a shipwreck. There have been a number of deaths associated with the place over the years, and the latest happens shortly after Joakim Westin moves in there with his family – his wife Katrine drowns, apparently accidentally. A young police officer named Tilda Davidsson looks into events, and starts to wonder if Katrine’s death really was all that accidental – whilst Joakim’s subsequent experiences might well lead him to wonder if the tales of the house’s being haunted have some truth to them.

The Darkest Room is Johan Theorin’s second novel set on Öland (both translated into English by Marlaine Delargy), and it has certainly made me interested in going back to check out his first, Echoes from the Dead. On the downside, I don’t find the prose to be quite as atmospheric as I think the story needs it to be, such that the details of what happens worked more to spur me on through the book than did particular turns of phrase – but those details are quite enough to make for a worthwhile read.

I particularly appreciate the way Theorin uses the investigation into Katrine’s death to illuminate character: Tilda has been dumped by the man with whom she was having an affair, and deals with it by throwing herself into her work, trying to establish a rational explanation for events. Joakim, on the other hand, is having to cope both with his grief at losing Katrine, and with trying to explain to his children that their mummy isn’t coming back; and he starts to take a kind of refuge in the possible supernatural explanations for the voices and other strange occurrences about the house.

Theorin also creates some memorable secondary characters, such as Mirje, Katrine’s flamboyant artist mother, and Tilda’s sprightly great-uncle Gerlof, with his tales of the past. The ending ties up the threads of the plot enough to be satisfactory, but leaves enough dangling to leave one mulling certain things over. Yep, I’d say The Darkest Room was a good read.(less)

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Oct 14, 2009 Jo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I haven't read a ghost story as good as this one in a very long time and maybe ever.
This book is set in Sweden in a manor house on the shore of the Baltic Sea. Two lighthouses are also on the shore not too far from the house.
Joakim and Katrine Westin and their young son and daughter have just moved into a big old long-neglected house with the intentions of remodeling it. However, "there are things that cannot be repaired, lives that have gone wrong, and secrets that have followed them."
Within a...more

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Aug 03, 2012 Sherrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

It seems like Scandinavian mystery writers are really taking over the genre, and I found this entry to be topnotch. There's no better setting for this type of book than a sparsely populated, blizzard-ridden island in the Baltic Sea, and the locale was satisfying enough to send a few solid chills down my spine. There were enough twists and turns in the plot to keep me hooked to the end. The characters are good, but the setting makes the book. If set in a city, this would be pretty ho-hum.
Full dis...more

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Feb 03, 2013 Yahel Avelsnik rated it 1 of 5 stars

I really don't understand why this book got so many good reviews here and on other sites. Maybe the translator did a bad job and spoiled the effect of the book (I read it in Russian)though I seriously doubt it.
First of all, this book is devoid of any features of a literary style. By this I mean - no metaphors, no stylistic devices, just a mere sequence of events given in the most trivial manner ever. And it's not Hemingway or Kafka, of course. OK, stylistic devices are not so important nowadays...more I really don't understand why this book got so many good reviews here and on other sites. Maybe the translator did a bad job and spoiled the effect of the book (I read it in Russian)though I seriously doubt it.
First of all, this book is devoid of any features of a literary style. By this I mean - no metaphors, no stylistic devices, just a mere sequence of events given in the most trivial manner ever. And it's not Hemingway or Kafka, of course. OK, stylistic devices are not so important nowadays. But the whole plot is just...I can't find any other word than trivial: everybody has a dark story in their past, cold desolate islands are scary and full of ghosts, etc. You have seen it in a thousand of 'scary' movies where happens nothing but whispers and strange object movements until the character finds out that his or her house is an ancient grave or altar of some weird cult.
The ending was just hilarious - "I know, you killed Katrin" says Joakim to a character the least likely to kill her. It seems the author analyzed the list of the characters and chose the most insignificant and unmotivated to kill character. Speaking about Joakim - there must be something wrong with him. There is a term - 'hypothymia' - when a person can't experience any emotions. His grief is described in such a cliche manner! The author didn't even bother to give us any details about the characters - that is probably why Joakim thinks about his wife as a woman that doesn't have any specific features. She was an art teacher and used to wind a clock in their bedroom. That's all we know about her. The same is with the other characters - no details, no features of appearance, no hobbies, no particular likes or dislikes or specific manners. Only in memories of Katrin's mother (the only one character who has something specific about her) some former Oland inhabitants were peculiar.
It also seemed to me that Theorin wrote this book in a week or less and the only problem for him was not to make any fact mistakes. He always gives some proves for a goof-looking reader that he didn't forget anything. Well, he didn't but when he writes things like - 'She felt as if an ax was in her bag: other person's happiness depend on her'-it doesn't feel right.
What is also disappointing is the fact that the author could have done something better of the plot: such a great setting, two lighthouses, some references to the ancient Scandinavian religious traditions, weird nature: dense fog, peat-lands, storms, gales, etc. He might have used it properly and make a nice and scary (at least a bit scary) book. But - alas! - he failed at it.(less)

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Jan 30, 2012 Kandice rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012, mystery, paranormal

I have read Theorin's first book which had a depth of character and history that I really enjoyed. I have also recently read Chris Bohjalian's "The Night Strangers" which I hated. This book is what Bohjalian was trying to accomplish and didn't. This was an extremely well-written mystery that was also a ghost story. An old manor by the sea, inhabited for many years by those who kept up the lighthouses on the coast, is the setting for an accident that is eventually deemed a murder. Add to the narr...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Marco rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, thriller

Mijn tweede boek van Johan Theorin al in dit jaar. Dat zegt wel iets natuurlijk. Na Echoes from the Dead, volgde al snel The Darkest Room; het tweede deel in een kwartet verhalen die zich afspelen op het Zweedse eiland Öland en die afzonderlijk van elkaar prima te lezen zijn. Het eerste deel was duidelijk een thriller die zich richtte op een zoektocht naar de waarheid achter een verdwenen kind. Dit tweede deel is meer een mix van een crime thriller met wat bovennatuurlijke invloeden. Dat uit zi...more Mijn tweede boek van Johan Theorin al in dit jaar. Dat zegt wel iets natuurlijk. Na Echoes from the Dead, volgde al snel The Darkest Room; het tweede deel in een kwartet verhalen die zich afspelen op het Zweedse eiland Öland en die afzonderlijk van elkaar prima te lezen zijn. Het eerste deel was duidelijk een thriller die zich richtte op een zoektocht naar de waarheid achter een verdwenen kind. Dit tweede deel is meer een mix van een crime thriller met wat bovennatuurlijke invloeden. Dat uit zich in een goed geschreven en eng geloofwaardig verhaal.

Het begint iets minder sfeervol dan het eerste deel, al is de mystiek wel direct aanwezig en het mysterieuze sfeertje zal ook niet meer verdwijnen. Opnieuw hanteert Theorin een erg prettig verteltempo: er is voldoende ruimte voor spanning en mysterie, maar even zoveel aandacht voor de personages. Een klein aantal personages uit het eerste deel duiken op, maar eigenlijk heeft maar één van hen echt een wezenlijk aandeel in de plot. Daarnaast zijn er een rits nieuwe karakters die net zo sympathiek en vrijwel net zo geloofwaardig zijn als hun voorgangers.
In The Darkest Room staat het gezin Westin centraal. Joakim en Kristine hebben twee kinderen, Livia en Gabriel en zijn onlangs verhuisd naar Eel Point; een groot huis aan de kust. Het is echter ook een huis met een geschiedenis en langzaam maar zeker doet Theorin die geschiedenis ook uit de doeken. Net zoals in Echoes from the Dead zijn er flashbacks die erg sfeervol uiteenzetten wat er jaren terug in en rondom dat huis gebeurd is.
Dat is zeker niet het enige waar het verhaal zich op richt: al vlot in het boek sterft een gezinslid op niet al te prettige wijze. Een jonge politieagente, Tilda Davidsson, sluit een moord al gauw uit, maar uiteraard komt daar gedurende het verhaal verandering in. Dit deel van de plot focust zich dus veel meer op de gebeurtenissen rondom het overlijden en het onderzoek dat langzaam maar zeker toch ontstaat.

Klinkt het nieuw en origineel? Nee, in het geheel niet. Maakt het uit? Het antwoord op die vraag is hetzelfde. Theorin weet namelijk opnieuw een meeslepend verhaal op poten te zetten, voortgetrokken door realistische karakters die voor de nodige meeslependheid zorgen. De spanning blijft aanwezig, mede doordat het boek een beetje tussen twee genres in blijft hangen. Het staat niet bol van bovennatuurlijke zaken, al speelt dat wel een prominente rol, maar het verhaal staart zich ook niet blind op de ontwikkelingen rondom het gestorven familielid. Een aantal subplots ontspannend zich die op een bekwame manier aan elkaar geschreven worden. De flashbacks blijven een mooie rol spelen en voegen echt wat toe.
Ook dit keer zat er in het middenstuk weer een gedeelte waar ik echt kippenvel van kreeg. Het eiland Öland is sowieso al een mooie setting, maar enkele locaties vormen de kers op de taart en de auteur speelt daar handig op in. Wel is het in het midden misschien net iets te lang. De twee plots krijgen de nodige aandacht en ook de personages blijven zeker niet onderbelicht. Martin vond ik als personage nogal overbodig en op den duur zelfs wat ergerlijk.

Dat zijn wat minpunten die voor mij geen al te grote rol spelen. De laatste 240 bladzijden heb ik in één ruk uitgelezen, wat aantoont dat de vraag naar antwoorden wel heel sterk aanwezig was. Antwoorden komen er ook en het einde steekt beter in elkaar dan in het eerste boek. Het is minder van de hak op de tak en iets ingenieuzer aan elkaar geschreven, met her en der wel wat toevalligheden, maar dat hoort er een beetje bij. Spannend was het in ieder geval wel, vermakelijk ook en dat zijn toch dingen die ik in een verhaal verwacht en die dit boek ook absoluut weet te bieden.

Uiteindelijk wil ik dus ook The Darkest Room aanbevelen aan mensen die een goed geschreven en spannend verhaal, leunend op sterke personages en een mystiek sfeertje met wat bovennatuurlijks, kunnen waarderen. Het boek is minstens net zo sterk als zijn voorganger en het voelt absoluut niet aan als formulewerk. De personages zijn weer net zo sterk als in deel één en een paar nieuwe elementen aan de verhaallijn hebben weer voor de nodige uren aan leesplezier gezorgd. Op naar deel drie!

* * * *(less)

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Feb 25, 2011 harryknuckles rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Darkest Room – Johan Theorin
After having become a little obsessed with Scandanavian crime fiction this didn't disappoint.
The novel starts with a Swedish folk tale; it tells of how the dead gather every year to celebrate Christmas. In the winter of 1846 two lighthouses are being built off Eel Point on the island of Öland. During a blizzard a ship is wrecked, the workers hear the cries of the dying. Brommesson, the lighthouse builder uses timbers from the ship to extend the manor house.

In th...more The Darkest Room – Johan Theorin
After having become a little obsessed with Scandanavian crime fiction this didn't disappoint.
The novel starts with a Swedish folk tale; it tells of how the dead gather every year to celebrate Christmas. In the winter of 1846 two lighthouses are being built off Eel Point on the island of Öland. During a blizzard a ship is wrecked, the workers hear the cries of the dying. Brommesson, the lighthouse builder uses timbers from the ship to extend the manor house.

In the present day, Joakim Westin moves into the old manor house at Eel Point with his wife and two children. It has not been occupied for some time, and seems to contain the spirits of previous inhabitants. His wife Katrine's grandmother and mother once lived in part of the house. The family move first; Joakim stays in Stockholm for a few months seeing out a teaching contract. Withing a few short days of his permanent move, Katrine drowns off rocks by the landmark lighthouses.
Tilda Davidsson, a newly-qualified police officer has recently arrived on the island to take up a post in the Police Department. Whilst Joakim is beset by grief, Tilda suspects that Karine’s death was not accidental and determines to investigate. She too has a family history on the island. We gradually learn more about the house and the island, partly through a journal written by Katrines's mother and partly through Tilda’s great uncle Gerlof; she is recording conversations with him as she wants to find out more about her grandfather (his brother).
Elsewhere on the island, a trio of burglars are at work breaking into the summer houses; this story forms a fascinating sub-plot.
If you like your crime fiction creepy and atmospheric, yet utterly believable, this is for you. This is a tense and atmospheric psychological thriller, which builds to a set-piece climax in the midst of a terrible blizzard. It is dark by 2.00 pm in Sweden in winter; the long nights by the lighthouse, with the wind howling and the rain and snow falling felt very lonely and isolated. The bleakness of the island in winter, the blizzard, the remoteness of the manor house set the scene, the superstitions and folklore of the inhabitants of this island inform and add colour.
The characters are well drawn and the denouement a surprise. It is an elegantly understated book about grief and guilt, with many twists and turns that kept me reading into the early hours to finish it. Theorin blends historical stories about the lighthouses, the manor house and the unforgiving Baltic Sea with the contemporary murder story to great effect, a multi-layered narrative where a number of mysteries, some unexpected, are encountered and eventually resolved. It's all very well done, and all the disparate elements of the novel come together strongly at the end to make for a very satisfying read.

(less)

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Oct 14, 2012 Wren Kiluk rated it 4 of 5 stars

Ann Cleeves recommended this book at the Orkney Crime Writing Festival. Was able to pick it up at the Kirkwall library. It starts off suitably creepy, more gothic than crime and continues in an interesting ghost story vein throughout. There is a murder mystery which is resolved by the end but I will admit that I never guessed the perp. which is unusual. Many crime writers make the killer too obvious.

The translation into English was well done without losing too much of the author's style.

If you...more

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Mar 26, 2011 Ms.pegasus rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Scandinavian fiction fans, psychological thriller fans

Shelves: mystery, fiction

THE DARKEST ROOM by Johan Theorin (translated by Marlaine Delargy) is a dark, bone-chilling, suspense novel. It reminded me of the 1963 movie, The Haunting. Theorin begins by keeping the reader in a constant state of imbalance. Characters are introduced without preamble, so we are left to puzzle out their connection, and even their place in time. Hints of premature death, premonition, and the half-truths of folklore and memory set the mood – the location is remote Eel Point on Öland, an island o...more THE DARKEST ROOM by Johan Theorin (translated by Marlaine Delargy) is a dark, bone-chilling, suspense novel. It reminded me of the 1963 movie, The Haunting. Theorin begins by keeping the reader in a constant state of imbalance. Characters are introduced without preamble, so we are left to puzzle out their connection, and even their place in time. Hints of premature death, premonition, and the half-truths of folklore and memory set the mood – the location is remote Eel Point on Öland, an island on the Baltic coast.

Theorin takes full advantage of this isolated locale. Few people are permanent residents; most come only for the summer months. Winters are a hostile succession of cold, snow, wind, and violent blizzards. A unique feature of the blizzards is that the wind strips off particles of dust, mixing it with the snow in a blinding turbulence. Theorin resurrects these scenes with relentless intensity. The cold feels unremitting. Each storm descends like a new wave of dark menace. In contrast the spring in Öland is truly beautiful. The air is fresh, a multitude of birds settle in to nest, and the woods are in delicate bloom. It's the perfect place for introspective reappraisal. It's this sense of fresh beginnings that attracts Joakim and Katrine to the island, and the palatial historic manor house, a treasure awaiting the hand of renovation.

THE DARKEST ROOM can best be characterized as a psychological ghost story. It balances on the narrow line of plausibility. Any parent will be familiar with the unnerving half-wakeful state of a 5-year old – night terrors, bad dreams, and the eerie conversation that can be carried on during sleep. Random noises in an empty house can mobilize the imagination. An unexpected smell can release a sense of deja vu. Repressed feelings contort the present. Is that the explanation, or do the dead really gather as Swedish folklore would have it? These are the ingredients that will draw in even the most ardent skeptic.

The story centers on Joakim. However, one of my favorite characters is gruff old Gerlof, born in 1915. Our introduction to him is rather stiff and awkward. His grand-niece Tilda visits to record an oral history of their family, particularly of her grandfather Ragnar, who was Gerlof's brother. The interview is every bit as distant and guarded as one might imagine. It is only when the tape recorder is off, and Gerlof and Tilda start to talk about personal things, that they begin to reveal themselves. Once this connection is made with the reader, the book is nearly impossible to put down. (less)

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Jul 15, 2010 Steve Betz rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, horror, mystery, nordic-crime

In “The Darkest Room”, Johan Theorin follows up his very successful and engaging “Echoes From The Dead” with another mystery set on the desolate Swedish island of Öland. The back of the book promotion suggested that this was another crime novel, perhaps even a sequel.

In a way, “The Darkest Room” is both and neither. Whereas I’d qualify “Echoes From the Dead” as a crime mystery, this book is actually more of a ghost story with a crime-novel subplot. In it, a young family buys an old seaside manor...more

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Sep 25, 2011 Bartek rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Lubię powieści Theorina (obydwie! obydwie!) za niejednoznaczność.
Oczywiście i "Zmierzch" i "Nocna zamieć" mają akcję opartą o zagadkę kryminalna - i jej rozwiązywanie, prowadzące do wyjaśnienia.
Ale wszystkiemu towarzyszy niejasne poczucie tajemnicy - a nawet Tajemnicy. W "Nocnej zamieci" mamy więc dziwny, kojarzący się z horrorem, kontakt z "drugą stroną". Jest miejsce, chata latarników: rodzaj subtelnej bramy między rzeczywistościami: duchy zmarłych mogą wyrazić swój przekaz. Ba, pojawia się na...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Ellen Keim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: scandinavian

I'm a huge fan of Johan Theorin! I knew I'd found something special when I read his first book, Echoes From the Dead. But this book sealed it. It's haunting on so many levels: literally, atmospherically, psychologically. The main character, Joakim Westin, goes through a terrible ordeal and even though I haven't experienced what he does, I could identify strongly with his reactions. I liked the other main characters, too: the amateur detective, Gerlof (who is also in the first book), the police o...more

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May 31, 2010 Sharonm rated it 5 of 5 stars

As good as the first. This novel set on Oland, an island off of Sweden, in the dead of winter was so real that as I was reading it I was afraid to go outside because of the blizzard (it was 50 degrees here). For a while it felt like a lot of stories not really going anywhere, but about midway things started to come together and then it was brilliant. At the end, questions remained regarding some of the motives and the truthfulness of some of the characters' stories, but the main mystery was reso...more

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Jan 18, 2013 Rara Beretta rated it 2 of 5 stars

It’s the best to read this book late at night when the night makes you more or less susceptible to superstitions. And if you feel like listening to a scary ghost story, you’ll enjoy it.
As in the first book of the Öland quartet, there is death, pain and haunting past. This time, the past is various: recent, timeworn, and also invented. It whispers in many voices, creeps into the dreams, and even becomes tangible which is too much (thankfully, it stops there). And again, as in the previous book,...more

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May 08, 2010 Karen Duff rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery, thriller, library, sweden, world-lit, scandanavian-author, crime, real-book

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 26, 2010 Mrs N rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Mystery fans

Recommended to Mrs N by: Columnist in National Review

Shelves: 2010, generalfiction, scary

Someone recommended this to me as a better version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - specifically better at evoking a sense of place (Sweden) without the sexual content.

This book is scary, but not so scary I had nightmares. The mystery was engaging right up to the end (unlike Girl, where I never cared about the mystery).

The sense of place was fabulous - it's set in the winter in a remote corner of Sweden, and I swear I was freezing the entire time I read this book. In that way, it reminded...more

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Mar 31, 2013 Deb rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the second of Johan Theorin's planned quartet of books set in Oland, a part of Sweden he knows intimately. A family from Stockholm buys an old manor house, and are in the process of restoring it when the wife is found drowned while her husband is away. Her husband and daughter are visited by her ghost, and this drives the search for the killer. Other murders, both far past and recently present, are discovered. One of the main characters of the previous book plays a prominent role in this...more

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Mar 03, 2012 Cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

A dour scandinavian crime novel - no surprises there then. What marked this out was the slow, atmospheric build-up.A death occurs,but for about three quarters of the book there's little reason to think there's been a murder. There are secrets, stories, ghosts (perhaps), grieving, and lots of storms and snow. By the time it gets into a more conventional format for a crime novel, it's a little disappointing - too conventional after all that came before. But that's a small gripe, all in all I loved...more

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May 19, 2012 Tanja Seppä rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: murder-mystery

Først leste jeg "Blodläge" - på svensk - og etterpå de to foregående, "Skumringstimmen" og "Nattefokk". Jeg liker virkelig Theorins måte å skrive på. Ølands landskap, sommergjestene, de permanentboende - alt sammen føles så nært og så virkelig. Theorin har gjerne overnaturlige element i sine bøker, som til slutt pleier å vise seg å ha naturlige årsaker. En uvanlig kriminalroman, hvor selve saken ikke nødvendigvis føles som kjernen, og ofte tar baksetet. For hovedpersonen er Øland, og karakterene...more

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Dec 14, 2011 Xirxe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookcrossing, krimi

Theorins erstes Buch Öland wurde als Geisterbuch angekündigt - zu Unrecht wie man beim Lesen feststellen musste. Doch dafür passt Nebelsturm, sein zweites Werk, unter diese Rubrik. Wobei man hinzufügen muss: auch in diese Rubrik. Denn es ist zugleich ebenso ein Krimi wie eine Familiengeschichte.
Joakim Westin zieht mit seiner Familie nach Öland in einen alten renovierungsbedürftigen Hof, um den sich viele Geschichten ranken. Doch bald nach ihrem Einzug stirbt ein Mitglied der Familie und Joakim...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

This Scandanavian novel starts when a young family moves to an old house in the country that is reputed to be haunted. It is part ghost story, part family saga, and part crime thriller. The author goes a good job of developing a creepy atmosphere for the ghostly parts, keeping a solid plot throughout most of the book, and developing mostly likable characters. He also intersperses stories from the past with the present to show how the house and its surroundings are haunted by all that has gone be...more

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

Shelves: fiction, mystery

Although outwardly a murder mystery novel, this story was more one of loss, secrets and overcoming family tragedy. Centred around Joakim Westin and his family, the mysteries of their new home on Öland are fleshed out by a cast of excellent characters, not least the fictional location of Eel Point itself.
I particularly enjoyed this very strong sense of place (though not at the expense of plot), the excellent evocation of isolation, danger, bone-chilling cold and snowy blizzards - just my cup of t...more

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Feb 14, 2011 Karen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a great book and I know I read about it and that is why I got it but I can’t remember where and that kills me. I think it was a “If you liked The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, you will love this…” thing but I can’t remember. Anyway, it is more ghost story than mystery but I picked it up and barely could put it down. Frankly, because it was compared to the Larssen books, I was expecting a bit of a slog, but this is a tight story and very satisfying. Good ending too.

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Nov 03, 2012 Carmen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-and-thrillers

A couple from Stockholm moves to a nearby island, Oland. There it seems quiet, a calmer life, but what really brews below the surface? Unexpectedly they move to a climate of intrigue, murder, death, theft and lies that really astound the reader. Everything seems so innocent, and yet is not.Throughly enjoyed the protagonist, Joakim Westin. He seems caught up with his life as the problems are slowly released, like taking the layers off an onion.

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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

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Echoes from the Dead (The Öland Quartet #1)

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