4.5/5!

Seeck’s 4th installment in the Jessica Niemi series is back with another dark, gritty Nordic Noir police procedural. I absolutely love these books and cannot say enough good things about the entire series!

Ghost Island transports readers to a secluded island that is home to an urban legend of a young girl being seen out on a dock that holds ties to events that happened decades earlier. The story focuses on Niemi seeking some solace away from the police force on this island, but the discovery of a dead body draws her back into being a detective. Seeck gives readers insight into both timelines, as well as a narrative from the book’s killer. It is then up to the reader to try to guess the truth of what is happening alongside Niemi.

This book may be the 4th in a series, but could certainly be read as a standalone. I do highly recommend starting at book one to have a more solid relationship with detective Niemi and know the ins and outs of her past.

I need to preface this review with a disclaimer: this is the fourth book in a series which I have not read. And while you can technically read it as a standalone, there are areas in which I wanted to know the background (interested in going back and starting from book 1).

Jessica Niemi is a detective with schizophrenia and when it begins to affect her work, she decides (or rather has it decided for her) to take a vacation to a remote island in Finland to recuperate. But once there, she is drawn into a fifty year old mystery - what happened to little Maija who disappeared from the orphanage in 1946? And what does that have to do with the other deaths that have happened on the island?

The twists and turns really got me in this one - a great Nordic thriller!

The latest in the adventures of homicide detective Nessica Niemi - the fourth in the series - puts her sanity to a bit of a test. She's on leave after a devastating encounter that made headlines and her boss eager to be rid of her for a while. As luck would have it, her getaway of choice is a remote island that once housed an orphanage - and for a time, young refugees from Finland who were forced to leave their homes and families during World War II. As Jessica stays at an inn near the shore owned by the elderly Astrid and her son, Ake, some elderly guests show up; she's told they are the only ones remaining of those Finnish children - known as the "birds of spring" - who have gathered annually. At their advanced age and failing health, this may well be their last meeting.

Gradually, as Jessica's natural curiosity and sometimes schitzophrenic mind (she's long been prone to "visions") conjure up strange happenings, she learns about the local legend of Maija - one of the orphans who went to the dock and watched the water every night, wearing a blue coat. That is, until she didn't; one night, she never returned to the orphanage. But out of home doesn't mean out of sight; for years, people on the island have "seen" her at the dock.

But then, one of the "birds" is found dead - in a manner similar to other deaths in years past. Something is amiss - Jessica is sure of it - but she has no legal right to investigate, and there's another police officer who isn't exactly welcoming her help. Asking for assistance from her own department isn't really an option, either - and even if she could, cell phone service is spotty at best on the island.

Chapters shift from present to the time the children were at the orphanage, and that can be a little hard to keep straight. I'd also say I'm glad that I'm familiar with the other books in the series, because without that background, this one might be a little hard to follow. It all works out in the end, but not without at least one zinger of a surprise that pops up around the midpoint. All in all, it's a fact-paced, entertaining adventure - and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy.

I was so nervous to start this book. In my normal fashion I did not notice that this was book four in the series. Honestly how do I keep doing this? All the reviews said I need to read the previous books before. But I figured what the heck, I am here, it sounds good, let's dive in. I am so glad that I did. Do I wish I had read the previous books, yes. Did I miss some background, of course. I still really enjoyed the book. It sucked me in, and I could not put it down...when I was not working and watching my son's basketball games. It has been a week! It takes place on a remote island, it is deliciously atmospheric, and I loved the characters.

Detective Jessica Niemi is put on leave after she has a run in with a rather nasty man. She has been an emotional wreck since her friend passed. She decides to have an escape and runs to a small, remote island in the Åland archipelago. To get out into nature, escape the city, and to really have some down time. This is not any ordinary island. This is an island with a bit of a past that she runs headlong into. She is not the only one staying at the Inn. There is also an older group of friends that come every year, they are called the Birds of Spring. She discovers they lived on the island right after World War II ended. Their parents all drowned when their ship went down, coming to be reunited with their children. While waiting to be adopted, these children stayed at the island's orphanage. A young girl by the name of Maija was one of them. She still haunts the island to this day. People see her in her little blue coat at the dock by the orphanage. As one of the Birds of Spring is found dead, Jessica is determined to uncover what the real story is and who is behind the murder.

This is a fast paced, creepy, dark read. That had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. A ghostly girl, the orphanage that is slowly falling in around itself, the cold biting wind that is always blowing. All melds together for one fantastic read. Thank you to Max Seeck and Berkley Publishing for this intense read. I am off to add the first three books to my tbr!

Trying to recover and get back to normal; our heroine finds herself in a remote location, which she wants, but also ends up feeling a bit like the outsider. There are ghost stories around that obviously some guests believe and some do not. Is she safe? Is she crazy? Are they crazy? She takes the dark journey in pursuit of the truth and a way back home.

Read if you like:
🕵🏻‍♀️ Detective Stories
🏝️ Remote Island Settings
👻 Ghost Stories
⏳ Timeline Jumping

I didn’t realize this book was part of a series when I read it and I have to say that made a huge difference in my enjoyment and I would recommend others go read the prior books first to be able to understand all the things this book has in it that you would get from the prior books.

Other than that, it was a very eerie and atmospheric read that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I read it!

Thank you so much to Berkley for my ARC in exchange for my review!

3.25 stars

Homicide Detective Jessica Niemi grudgingly (and not fully by her choice) takes a vacation to a remote island in the Åland archipelago. Once there Jessica learns of the island’s tragic & haunted past. She also comes to find out that the three elderly guests staying at the same Inn have ties to the spooky old orphanage on the island. When one of elderly guests is found dead, Jessica begins an investigation to find out how much of the old mystery is true…before it’s too late.

So for anyone that doesn’t already know - this is #4 in the Jessica Niemi series. I would recommend reading the rest of the books first. I didn’t realize that and had to play catch up before starting this! 😅

The author has a choppy writing style - some of which I’m unsure is because I’m reading a translation, or if it’s really written that way. Regardless I like it- it adds to the heightened suspense of the mystery. Then we also have a bit of an unreliable MC. We know she has schizophrenia, so we are constantly having to decide along with her what is reality and what is in her head. All of these things are just the icing on the cake on what I found to be an eerie and atmospheric read. I’ll continue with this series.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest and voluntary review.

United States Publication: February 27, 2024

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for this advanced reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

In this latest installment of homicide detective Jessica Niemi, a cold case brought back into the present occupies Jessica's time and continues to keep her distracted from her own mental health. After an altercation caught on video and gone viral earns Jessica a suspension, she flees the city for a remote island in the Åland archipelago. But once she arrives on the island she is quickly sucked into the island lore of an orphanage that no longer exists but the local legend about one of its inhabitants, a girl named Maija, still haunts the surviving orphans and the current residents of the island. Every evening Maija would put on her blue coat and stand on the pier, looking out at the dark water until one night, she disappeared and was never seen again. But in the years since, Maija has been seen, and now the surviving orphans are dying off one by one but not necessarily by natural means. Mysteries from the past that are bleeding into the present place Jessica and the island population in a precarious situation as the avenger of Maija seeks to right what was so wrong all those years ago.

I didn't love this title the way I have the others in the series, but I did enjoy it. What lessened my enjoyment of it was the conclusion of the mystery and Maija's avenger. I felt let down as the book was coming to a close and Niemi closed in on the avenger. It just didn't ring true or make very much sense, in my opinion. As for Jessica's personal life, Seeck left the reader curious about where he was going to take her in the next book as he turned her life upside-down with the newest challenge she has to work through. It will be interesting to see how Seeck merges Jessica's personal and professional lives.

I wouldn’t classify this as horror, but instead supernatural thriller. There was a fantastic element of eerie and otherworldly that I found really well done.

This mixes current day with a riveting past timeline all surrounding this island and the orphanage that once sat upon it. Refugee children were homed there for a brief period of time, but that time has been etched into the island ever since.

Detective Jessica Niemi is put on leave when a really bad day gets caught on screen. Getting as far away from her problems as she can, she decides to spend her time at a seaside inn on a remote island. Hoping for some peace and quiet, she finds far from it, embroiling herself in a town secret, murder investigation and ghost story in one.

Maija, one of those children staying in the orphanage during WWII, would stand at the edge of the dock in her blue coat each night, just waiting... until the night she disappeared. Now she haunts the island and the remaining orphans that she lived with. When one of them is found dead, Jessica begins her under the radar investigation.

I found both timelines to be equally entertaining. The story was engaging and the pacing was fluid. I will enjoy reading more from this author.

I kept picking this one back up to see if I would like it better on a different day, but that didn't happen after a week so I gave up. The writing style was not for me. While this was a translated work, I am not sure it was a potential translation issue or not. I generally greatly enjoy translated works so I'm not sure.

Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for this opportunity.

Max Seeck is really into Jessica Nieme, if we start out in the 3 chapter leaving the first two alone we find Helena Lappi the Superintendent the Helsinki Police Violent Crime Unit basically saying to Jessica that she has to take time off or be fired. We know that Jessica is wealthy beyond belief, but that she inherited schizophrenia from her mother who died. We find Yusuf Pepple dropping by Jessica's apartment and telling her she should go to Dubai since she doesn't hurt for money and then she kisses him to get him to leave. Jessica decides to go to a Finnish Ahvenanmaa archipelago to the Island of Smörregård which is closer to Sweden. She doesn't tell anyone and ends up in a real situation that involves a young girl in a Blue coat. Twenty years ago this girl went missing from an orphanage and several people were drowned as it turned out. This is what the book is about the girl in the blue coat. Several of the people that Jessica is with are people that knew this person. I'll let you figure out how all this plays out. It's a good story and you'd be surprised how it turns out.

Ooh, this is an exciting and eerie addition to this series!

Newcomers should know that this does NOT work as a standalone. Though our mystery is new to the series, none of the prior relationships (important) are explained. If I wasn’t already deeply involved in Jessica and her life, I would have been very confused.

Those of you who are already fervent readers are aware that Niemi is…wounded. And her damage is very much a part of this book. It’s quite heartbreaking. As for Yusuf (love him), he’s a very small part of this book – though his arc promises to be very interesting!

Our mystery is one of abject sadness and definitely creepy. I loved it.

Can’t wait for whatever the author brings us next.

• ARC via Publisher

I love this series so much that I wish I could speak the author’s native language so I could read it the minute it is released! But, I will settle for the English translation which makes the wait sweeter.

Jessica Neimi finds herself caught between reality and the supernatural while banished to an unusual island on a forced sabbatical. While battling her own demons she ends up being drawn into a murder investigation that goes back decades and involves the ghost of a young girl.

This book is very atmospheric, from the setting, to the weather, to the abandoned orphanage on site and the odd assortment of characters. Mixing the real with the unreal, you have another winner on hand.

And the ending…..well.

DNF - I made it to the 25% mark & am now dropping off. I enjoy the premise of this story & I think with different writing it would have been superb. Unfortunately, the writing style in this book is very poor; it's dry & cold, nearly clinical without being scholastic (i.e. the writer / the translator / does not have a clear command of the language). Every scene felt so overtly expositional without offering any useful information (a lot of "he said", "she said"). The tone used for Jessica's inner monologue shifts between tenses, ultimately translating as incomprehension. Alongside this, the author states that Jessica has Schizophrenia, which makes her a good detective...What does that mean? Things are stated & then left to the waste side, the dialogue is trite & incredibly juvenile. Every character is one-dimensional, leaving the essence of their interactions to be dull. There is a significant level of editing needed to make this story a seamlessly flowing book which will be reflective of its intriguing premise.

Ghost Island is #4 in the Jessica Niemi series and to be honest, you would best be served by reading a previous story prior to this great novel.

At the start, our heroine Detective Sergeant Jessica is doing her best to deal with her past and is currently seeing a psychiatrist. The meeting brings too many feelings to a head and when she leaves the appointment reeling, she has an altercation with an angry man on the street that is unfortunately filmed. The police have no choice but to put her on leave, and she disappears in shame to an island in the Åland archipelago.

Hoping to heal, she finds quickly that she is not alone as three elder women arrive for their annual meeting. The three are what remains of the ‘birds of spring’, former refugees who fled Finland as children during World War II and lived together for a few months in an orphanage on the island. When one of the trio is found dead on the pier Jessica learns the story of the haunted orphanage and the ghost Mailia and the fact that several others had died in similar fashion. Battling herself and what she hopes in reality Jessica needs to determine what is actually happening and what is just based in her head.

I love his style and the choppy and quick movements and flashbacks add to building the enigmatic character of Jessica and the mental illness and trauma she battles. A great nordic nori!
l#berkley #GhostIsland #MaxSeeck #Thewitchhunter

After a very public disagreement between herself, and a member of the public, detective Jessica Niemi, she retreats to a remote island to try to regain her footing. Then she learns at the island once held an orphanage that housed Finnish refugees during World War II. There are three survivors of the orphanage still on the island, and they share their stories with Jessica. Most of the stories revolved around a little girl who didn’t survive, a little girl, whose ghost is still seen on the island. Jessica doesn’t believe any of it, but when one of those survivors turns up dead, she knows she’s got a criminal to catch. One that is very much alive.