On a recent trip to Oregon, I noticed the trees lining either side of the highway. Autumn is my favorite season, so I always make it a point to look at the leaves with their changing colors announcing the coming of winter. However, this time I noticed more than just the beauty of the trees. I imagined myself being surrounded by these trees on all sides- the place I worked, shopped, and lived being surrounded by a tall, ever-present, and towering forest. This trip allowed me to briefly step into the shoes of Dark Pines main character, Tuva Moodyson.
Tuva Moodyson is in her late twenties and feels trapped in Garvik, Sweden. Garvik is small rural seasonal hunting town surrounded by the Utgard forest. When her mother became ill Tuva moved from London to be closer to her mother. Tuva is working at the local newspaper and waiting for a big story to propel her career. When a person is found dead in the forest and the circumstances resemble 3 unsolved cases from the 1990’s, Tuva is sure the case is her opportunity to make a name for herself and will earn her a one-way ticket out of Garvik.
Dean’s writing easily enabled me to imagine life in this town. He paints a picture of isolation and loneliness. With the addition of a killer on the loose, the creepiness of the town is magnified. I have read many books about a killer on the loose in a Scandinavian city, but the setting in a small town somehow made the story even more immersive and scary.
Tuva Moodyson is the most original and interesting character I have come across in some time. The pace of the book was rather slow until I got about 150 pages or so in. Tuva is the reason I wanted to keep reading. Her dedication and tenacity is what made the book so compelling. She is resourceful as well. While she hates to be shown any pity for her hearing impairment, she uses her impairment as a tool when it is to her advantage. Tuva is brave but she has her fears as well, she is terrified of the Utgard forest. She is also very lonely. I enjoyed the tough side of Tuva but I also enjoyed her vulnerable side as well. The central mystery is well written but for me Tuva was the main attraction. I had to know what happened to her, I was not really interested in crime at the core of the novel.
I find it very interesting that no matter what part of the world you live in, when you hear someone describe a place as a “small town” two things are almost always included in the description- boring and nosy people. Garvik is not an exception to that rule. Tuva points out that everyone in Garvik shops at the same stores, which why everyone “smells, eats, and looks roughly the same.” She too shops at these stores but Tuva has not managed to fit in. In Garvik, Tuva is an unwelcome outsider. When her articles about the murder appear in the paper, many Garvik residents are unhappy with the way their town is being portrayed. They are also concerned because unsolved murders are bad for a tourist town. The anger of the town’s residents serves to further isolate Tuva, but she does not let this deter her. In fact it is what drives her to solve the case and report the truth.
I cannot remember the last time I read a book and while going about my life, being quickly transported into the world of the main character of my current read. There are still some unanswered questions about Tuva’s life, I am hoping Dark Pines is book one in a series. Dark Pines is a dark, murky and atmospheric novel perfect for any fan of Nordic Noir.
Murder and Moore Rating:
4 ½ out of 5 Stars

An intriguing mystery with a really strong atmosphere. I loved the setting of Gavrik and the pine forests. I did think however that the writing was a bit messy and could have used further editing. Personally I wouldn't read any more books in this series (if that's the plan) but I can see them being popular and think this will do well.

This is a taut dark, atmospheric crime noir, set in a remote town, Gavrik, in Sweden. Tuva Moodyson is a local reporter, deaf since she was a child, who moved here reluctantly after working in London. She has settled in rural 'shitsville' only because her mother is terminally ill, expected only to live for a year. Two people make life bearable for Tuva, her half-Nigerian editor, Lena, whom she admires and learns a lot from, and Tammy, her best friend and crucial support. Surrounded by forests, Gavrik is small, everyone knows one another, with a large number of gun owners and hunters, teeming with insularity and prejudices. Utgard forest is the biggest, a dark eerie and menacing wood of dank pine trees, wet, soggy, rotten, cold, permeated throughout with clouds of mosquitos and other bloodsucking insects with the sounds of gunshots and the native wildlife all around. Tuva is remarkably adept at dealing with her deafness so that she fits in with everyday society and life without any glitches.

Back in the 1990s, three middle aged hunters were shot in the torso and had their eyes removed in Utgard forest. Known as the Medusa Murders, they remained unsolved, only now another hunter has been killed with the same macabre MO, Tuva is determined to get her exclusive, a story that will make her name and give her options to move back to a big city national newspaper. Tuva is obsessed with exposing the serial killer as further murders take place amidst the growing tensions and febrile atmosphere in the town. Locals start to become hostile to Tuva's press coverage, feeling that it threatens the economic livelihoods of many and hunting, which culturally defines the region. Tuva makes frequent visits to Mossen, a tiny village close to where the killings have taken place. The residents are eccentric, from the weird and strange sisters that carve trolls, and the loner, David, an odd ghostwriter. Utgard forest terrifies Tuva and turns her into a nervous wreck , and the rural makes her feel like fish out of water. However, she is going to have to go deep into the forest, to face her fears, to uncover a dangerous serial killer.

This is a beautifully written crime story that ratchets up the tension and suspense. Will Dean creates a truly compelling character in the deaf Tuva, plagued with unease and guilt over her mother whose personality changed for good when her husband was killed by a bull elk. Her good intentions to spend time with her mother are constantly derailed, despite her need to talk with and connect with her. The pine forests are a character in their own right, menacing, with numerous rotting animal corpses, where a killer roams free. This is an absolutely brilliant and gripping novel which I loved reading. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Oneworld Publications for an ARC.

This follows Tuva, a deaf journalist, who is reporting the murder of a man found in the forest. He's been shot and his eyes have been neatly removed, just like the signature series of murders that occurred twenty years ago in the same forest. The killer back then was never found and was popularly referred to as 'Medusa.' Has the killer resurfaced or is this is a copycat?...
I highly enjoyed this thrilling, gripping read. I loved the protagonist, and found it refreshing that she has a disability (not often included in mainstream crime novels). Dean does a great job capturing Tuva through his brilliant prose that evokes all the senses. I also liked the small town setting, and community feel this novel has. However I gave this is a 4 instead of a 5 because I did find the killer predictable and a little clichéd. Nonetheless this was an enjoyable read and I'll definitely look forward to the next Tuva book.

I received a free ARC of this novel form NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tuva Moodyson works for the Posten, a local newspaper in a remote Swedish town of Gavrik. She moved from London to the isolated forest town, despite her fear of nature, in order to care for her terminally ill mother. Tuva is deaf and often tunes out the world in order to write, something she hopes will be her ticket back to the city.
After an eyeless hunter is found shot dead in the woods, the case is linked to an unsolved string of murders that happened 20 years prior. Tuva is assigned to report on the case but as she begins her investigation another hunter turns up dead. There are secrets among the peculiar residents of Gavrik that someone doesn't want her to know...secrets that just placed her in the killer's sights.

I enjoyed this novel and the author's description of Gavrik and the local townspeople. At times it was a little difficult for me to appreciate the author's writing style, it was still very well written and kept me intrigued.

Nordic noir at it's finest! What a compelling story this was. This is a slow burning novel but never once did I lose interest. Our main character Tuva is a deaf, bi-sexual reporter whom I've become seriously attached to. She is such a wonderful character that you just can't help but root for her. The scenery depictions really sets the atmosphere of this novel. I almost felt like I was in Sweden while reading it.

The mystery centers around hunters being murdered in the forest, and if that isn't bad enough, they also have their eyes extracted. I'll admit that I did guess who the killer was and I was correct. Normally this would disappoint me. I like being tricked. In this case though I realize I would of been disappointed otherwise. It just HAD to be this person. At least it's who I wanted it to be.

The only thing that irked me a bit was the mention of all the insects while it's freezing outside, even snowing at times. She mentions it's 0 degrees quite often and even if that is Celsius that would be 32 degrees Fahrenheit and surely mosquitoes, ticks, gnats and the like wouldn't be a nuisance in those weather conditions yet the insects are referred to many, many times. Unless Sweden has super scary crazy insects that thrive in any condition. If that's the case then any plans I have ever entertained to visit Sweden have been destroyed. As you can see this is a very minor quibble but something I did pick up on while I was reading.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

What a wild ride this book was. Once I started reading I couldn't put it down.

Tuva Moodyson is a reporter at the local newspaper when a serial killer from the 90s seemingly resurfaces in her small adopted hometown. Will Dean sets such a creepy mood with the setting in a ginormous dense forest that has some spooky occupants living in and around it. Who is responsible for the murders? Why have they only just started again after stopping in the 90s?

As an outsider Tuva finds it hard to get information from the locals, shut out at many angles because they fear she is degrading their town with her writing. The locals fear losing custom and visitors and so losing money. And yet Tuva persists, determined to figure out what is going on in her town and expose this killer. The reader is taken on a strange journey through the forest and the small town itself. Tuva is a great character and her deafness is not presented as a hinderance to her job, rather seen as a bonus to her. She is able to shut out all sound at any time by removing her hearing aids. Allowing herself to work in total silence.

The writing here is fun and honest, Tuva is very relatable making this story a very easy and enjoyable read despite the gruesome subject.

I would love to see this adapted into a series by the folks that made Fortitude. Dark, dank, subversive and enthralling. Read this as soon as you can.

First of all, I have to say how spot on the cover and title of this book are. 'Dark Pines' is exactly that, a dark, menacing, Swedish forest - but at the same time, stunningly beautiful in it's nature.

Tuva moved from London to Gavrik a few years previous to be near her dying mother. She works as a reporter for the local newspaper, writing small features for this small town community. Nothing really happens, she's rather fed up and misses the busy, noisy, city life that she had to leave behind. All this changes when a body is found in the woods, not only that but it seems that it's resembling 3 previous mutilated killings, back in the 90's. Tuva is determined to make this her big break, so that when she can finally get out of Gavrik she can go onto much better things.

This brings me on to Tuva. She's a real interesting character, a little different to the usual reporters we come across in crime novels, and the biggest difference is that she's been deaf since her early childhood years. She wears two hearing aids as she only has around 10% hearing, but she doesn't let this stop her from doing anything. Tuva is stubborn and determined, she absolutely hates to be felt sorry for or to be treated differently. With an added fear of nature and the big outdoors thrown in, this instantly gives her that big vulnerability factor, which you really feel whenever she enters those brooding woods. She always keeps extra batteries on her key fob which she carries with her and I was always so afraid of her losing these - always on edge when her batteries started to beep that they were running out.

Gavrik itself has that old time, small, tight knit community feel about it. Everybody knows each other, or is related to each other down some long line. It's clear that Tuva doesn't fit in and people are rather unsure what her intentions are. Despite this community that looks out for their own, though, there's a very unsettling feeling, early on in the book that something isn't quite right in the town.

The more Tuva starts digging into the residents lives, she starts to find many hidden secrets of Gavrik and the more the book becomes unsettling, even rather quite disturbing in the case of two local sisters Alice and Cornelia and the trolls they make - lets just say the author has a fantastic imagination! All the characters we meet in the book have something not quite right about them, a edge of strangeness, odd quirks, but I absolutely loved delving into their lives - they would all make great separate stories, but especially the sisters.

I need to finish on what I think really makes this book stand out. The attention and precision to little details that the author has provided. The woods really came alive with their surroundings. What Tuva was actually thinking whilst speaking to people, her lip reading, and really importantly, I feel, the looking after and sounds of Tuva's hearing aids. All the jingles, interference, how they have to be dried out if even slightly wet - I work in care so knew a lot but, for anyone not familiar this will really help.

I realise this is rather a long review, I'm sorry (okay, I'm not too sorry because it deserves it!) This is an impressive debut from Will Dean and I personally think it would be incredible to have Tuva's character on the TV screen in future!

If you enjoy a dark thriller that slowly builds up that tension; is beautifully descriptive, has a refreshing protagonist, a cast of odd, but interesting characters, a setting that is dark, unsettling and claustrophobic - then Dark Pines is just for you!

I was really looking forward to reading Dark Pines but I think it just didn't work for me. Beautiful writing, and a great sense of place but I just couldn't connect to the characters or the story which made it quite hard for me to read. There's no denying the author has talent, and the prose is so beautiful, but it just didn't do a whole lot for me.

Wow. Dark Pines is not what I expected. Atmospheric, haunting, and beautifully written, I was drawn in from the first pages. There are some cracking characters in this novel - all different, all unusual but all utterly believable, and the protagonist, Tuva, wormed her way into my heart from the start. The setting adds another layer to the creeping sense of mystery that cloaks the story, and a sinister ribbon of suspense ensures the reader is kept on the edge of their seat throughout. Brilliant.

Wow - what a great read! I really loved this book and it had everything I want in a good thriller - an enigmatic interesting heroine, a terrifying murder, a rich cast of strange and creepy characters and a remote setting in a dark broody forest. Even just the promise of such a story makes me want to snuggle up somewhere warm and cosy and settle in for a few hours of reading. Dark Pines was one of those hidden gems you stumble upon accidentally, that end up making their way onto your favourite list. I loved every creepy minute of it!

Tuva is an interesting, multi-dimensional character who I like straight from the start. Being deaf from childhood, life has not always been easy for her, but she is never bitter of bemoaning her fate, determined not to let her disability stop her from achieving her goals. Wanting to be near her dying mother sees Tuva give up her career as a journalist in London and move to the small town of Gavrik in a remote region in the Swedish countryside, where she finds work writing small features for the local paper. Her job suddenly becomes a lot more interesting when a man is found murdered in a gruesome fashion in the forest, mutilated in ways that link him to other killings twenty years ago.

The more Tuva starts investigating the town's dark secrets, the creepier the book becomes. There were some truly terrifying characters there - those woodcarver sisters will give me nightmares for some time to come I think! Everyone seems to have a motive for murder, and most of the characters are - for lack of a better word –odd, yet strangely compelling. There were so many interesting side stories here that would make for whole books just on their own, and I could have kept reading on long after the mystery had been solved just to find out more about this unusual cast of characters. Dean portrays small town mentality perfectly, with all its prejudice, allgiances and narrow-mindedness, Tuva always remaining the outsider. Her friendship with Tammy was portrayed beautifully, and I was glad that at least she had someone fighting in her corner!

I am always a sucker for a creepy remote setting, and the author certainly knows how to set the atmosphere: the dark, sinister woods Tuva is so afraid of take on a life of their own, closing in tighter and tighter around the small town the more people fear for their lives with a serial killer on the loose. Dean does a brilliant job in ratcheting up the tension by including small, seemingly insignificant details that add to the general undercurrent of danger, like the plague of insects that attack Tuva every time she goes into the woods, or the pile of rotting mouse carcasses she finds piled up against a stonewall near one of her suspect's homes. With its air of menace, the forest becomes almost like another character Tuva is up against in her quest to find out the truth.

Dark Pines is one of those dark, atmospheric and haunting thrillers that contains everything I look for in a good mystery, and I was instantly hooked. If you are looking for a sympathetic gutsy heroine, a rich cast of unusual characters, a creepy claustrophobic setting and a chilling murder mystery, you can’t go wrong with this one! It definitely earned itself a spot on my favourites list for the year and I look forward to reading more from the author in future. Very highly recommended.

I read this book at the perfect time of year - Autumn is upon us and it's starting to get colder and darker with each passing day. At times I felt like I was standing in the forest with Tuva, feeling as cold as she did, and as nervous about her surroundings as she was. Dean's writing was such that my belly was warmed by Frida's stew in exactly the same way Tuva's was, and I could smell the same wondrous things in the kitchen as she could. The whole thing was so evocative, it added to the experience tenfold and I can't wait to read more!

This book is very atmospheric and creepy throughout, it's not the usual type of crime mystery. Very enjoyable and I look forward to seeing more from this author.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Oneworld Publications for an advance copy of Dark Pines, a novel set in rural Sweden featuring local reporter Tuva Moodyson.

Tuva, deaf since childhood, has moved to the small town of Gavrik to be near her dying mother. She works on the local weekly where it's all about the people and things that affect their lives as circulation is always an issue. All this changes when a man is found murdered in the woods and Tuva is put on the case. It changes even more when the murder is found to resemble three unsolved murders in the area from the 90s.

I enjoyed Dark Pines after a slow start. It is probably more literary than I am used to or prefer but it's always good to ring the changes and try something different. As a crime novel it is acceptable but not brilliant as I guessed the perpetrator almost immediately and had a good idea of the motive from about half way through as Tuva stumbled around in the dark, both literally and metaphorically.

I think, however, that the crime is not the be all and end all of the novel as it has a couple of obvious themes running through it and probably more that I didn't pick up on. Firstly there is the outsider theme. Tuva is much more cosmopolitan than most of the residents, having lived and worked in London, and her deafness sets her apart, not in her mind but in others' perception of her. I don't think it is any coincidence that her two closest friends whilst Swedish are not ethnically white. To be blunt none of them really fit in and are viewed with some suspicion as outsiders. Mr Dean has the small town mentality to a T. The dark undercurrents, rumours and prejudices are all very well done. The other theme is Tuva coming to terms with the past and trying to fit it into her life. She obviously has problems as she avoids alcohol and consumes junk food like it's going out of fashion. She also has a difficult relationship with her mother and a morbid fear of the forest. It's all eventually explained but it takes a while.

What I really liked about the novel is its brooding sense of place. The murder victim is found in the forest and Tuva's attention is focused on a small hamlet in it so she spends a lot of time there. Mr Dean does an excellent job of portraying Tuva's fear and panic and the menace of the great outdoors. I really felt it but I'm like Tuva - a townie through and through.

Dark Pines is different to my normal fare but it's very readable so I have no hesitation in recommending it.

Dark Pines is one of those books where I look up from the pages after finishing it, slightly dazed, going Yep THAT is what I am looking for.

Beautiful beautiful writing, totally immersive from the very first page with a main protagonist that you just fall in love with and an atmospheric, haunting sense of things that will linger for a long time. Will Dean’s intuitive prose just sends you to Gavrik, a small town, a tight knit community, people just looking for a quiet life, but there is a dangerous underbelly to it all that you just feel throughout the reading. Tuva is truly intriguing, living and working in Gavrik to be close to her unwell Mother, just waiting to escape but somehow so very much a part of it all anyway. Her so called “disability” is just part of her, she works around it with no sense of being different to anyone else and I loved that about her.

The scene setting is a huge part of what makes this so very very excellent though. The “Dark Pines” of the title, that brooding, beautifully threatening forest is a character in its own right – making you want to visit and want to hide from it – always in the background, a definable, vivid environment that ingrains itself into the wider story with a truly imaginative intensity.

Then you have the quirky, odd and realistic characters that live in and around Gavrik – from the sisters (my favourites!) with their extremely strange creative profession and their lilting way of talking to Tuva herself, everyone you meet in Dark Pines will give you a different emotional response. The mystery element is so so SO well done, I don’t even want to say anything about it, you should just read it and live in it and wait for that downright eerie ending that is elegantly achieved.

I loved every moment of this one. Every word. It was just blinking brilliant. This is DEFINITELY one to watch in 2018 and has pretty much guaranteed itself a place in my top ten reads for this year – Dark Pines is a novel to watch and Will Dean is an author to watch. I sense great things ahead.

Highly HIGHLY recommended.