Black River – Will Dean

FEAR

Tuva’s been living clean in southern Sweden for four months when she receives horrifying news. Her best friend Tammy Yamnim has gone missing.

SECRETS

Racing back to Gavrik at the height of Midsommar, Tuva fears for Tammy’s life. Who has taken her, and why? And who is sabotaging the small-town search efforts?

LIES

Surrounded by dark pine forest, the sinister residents of Snake River are suspicious of outsiders. Unfortunately, they also hold all the answers. On the shortest night of the year, Tuva must fight to save her friend. The only question is who will be there to save Tuva?

Black River sees the return of reporter Tuva Moodyson, following the events of Dark Pines and Red Snow. Both superb books that kicked off my reading for 2018 and 2019 respectively, so I was thrilled to get the chance to read the third book to start 2020.

While Dark Pines was firmly rooted in the creepy Utgard forest, with its host of slightly odd inhabitants, and Red Snow took place in and around the equally odd Grimberg Liquorice factory, Black River sees the action move out of Gavrik to Snake River. And yes, the inhabitants there are just as strange…

Tuva has moved away from Gavrik to start her new life down in Malmö when she receives a call that her best friend Tammy has gone missing. Before long she’s back up north on the hunt. And it’s Midsommar, shortest night of the year, and the near-constant daylight is putting everyone under stress.

I adored the first two books, and am firmly #TeamTuva. She’s a brilliant character, though Will Dean does seem to rather relish putting her and those closest to her through the wringer!

We’re faced this time with a rather different Gavrik, sweltering in the summer sun with a constant cloud of insects trying to eat Tuva as she looks for her missing friend. The forest lurks menacingly, filled with things and people that are out to get you if you put a foot wrong. Frustration also abounds as most of the locals don’t seem to see Tammy as one of them, despite being as Swedish as they are. Then another girl goes missing and Tuva has to battle to keep her friend in the spotlight.

It’s a testament to Dean’s writing that you can almost feel the oppressive atmosphere, the swarms of insects that’ll have you batting away imaginary mosquitoes as you read. And if you thought Utgard Forest was bad, just wait until you get to Snake River itself…

The story fair rattles along, thwarting Tuva at every turn. It’s intense and scary at times, and there’s a real sense of panic in the air. You hope that all will turn out well in the end, but you can never tell until you turn the final page.

This is book three in a series so if you’ve not met Tuva yet, you should really go back to the start at Dark Pines and begin there. If you’ve already read the first two books, you’ll need no encouragement from me to pick up this one. It’s as good, if not better than you’d expect it to be.

Hugely recommended.

Black River by Will Dean is published by Point Blank in March 2020. Many thanks to Point Blank for the review copy of Will’s book.