The Blurb
The breakout supernatural thriller from Icelandic writer Johan Thorsson.
Detective John Dark’s daughter has been missing for two years. In his frantic and unfruitful search for her two years ago, John Dark overreached and was reprimanded and demoted.
Now suddenly back into the homicide department, Dark is put on a chilling case – a man who killed his wife in their locked house and then dressed the body up to resemble a deer, but claims to remember none of it. A few days later an impossibly similar case crops up connecting the suspects to a prep school and a thirty year old missing persons’ case.
Just as he is getting back into his old groove, a new lead in his daughter’s disappearance pops up and threatens to derail his career again.
Time is running out and John Dark needs to solve the case before more people are killed, and while there is still hope to find his daughter.
In the style of True Detective and Silence of the Lambs, Whitesands is a thrilling supernatural crime novel.
'Tense, breakneck storytelling. Whitesands is a dash of Thomas Harris swirled with supernatural elements that leave you speeding through the pages.' - Kristi DeMeester, author of Such A Pretty Smile and Beneath
'Johann Thorsson's fast-moving debut Whitesands, packs enough incident for a novel twice its size, until it's impossible to turn the pages fast enough.' - John Langan, author of Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies
'... certainly one of the best thrillers I have read this year.' - Khasif Hussain, The Best Thriller Books
My Review
As mentioned before on this blog I am a bit of a wuss. Pathetically easily scared of pretty much anything that might be described as horror or similar, although I can read crime thrillers with horrific content without losing too much sleep, what's that about? I took a chance on Whitesands because it looked to be more a crime thriller with a supernatural leaning than an outright horror story. I went in with my fingers crossed I'd made the right call...
For some reason, I expected this book to be set in Iceland. If course, there's absolutely no reason that this should be the case but it was still a surprise to find it set in the US. I also found no mention of a translator so assume the author wrote it in English which is no mean feat! Congratulations to him, a fabulous achievement.
John Dark is grieving, and has been for two years, since his daughter disappeared. It's damaged his relationship with his wife and son and his career. He and his partner Monique, who stood by him all along, were demoted. And then suddenly find themselves once again investigating a homicide, initially reported as a domestic disturbance. From there, things get increasingly sinister, weird and disorienting and John needs to work out just what he's willing to believe...
One thing I wasn't prepared for was how emotional this book was going to be. My heart ached for schizophrenic Daniel, a lost soul with the ability to help grieving souls. John himself, the helplessness that he feels at being unable to find his daughter, Monique and her difficulties and the huge pain of the main plot - there is a lot packed into these pages.
I enjoyed the writing and just wanted to share one line that really stuck out for me, an interesting observation from an outsider:
'....John left him there, to a fate that he was sure awaited so many Americans in retirement; a slow marinating in pills and TV hate as their organs died one by one, waiting to due as the price of insulin went up and the amount of government assistance went down.'
The storyline is quite graphic, a strong stomach is needed in places. And, as promised, there is a supernatural element. I wasn't sure how it would be handled or how I would handle it but, actually when it came, it felt very natural for the story. I really can't say much about it at all without giving away spoilers so I'm just going to say I enjoyed it. The ending was bittersweet but I believe this is the first in a series so it will be interesting to see where things go in the future.
Whitesands is an effective supernatural thriller which successfully mixes two timelines and various points of view. It touches on racism, abuse, love, revenge, redemption, grief and the afterlife. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by Johann Thorsson.
The Author
Johann Thorsson is a writer of fiction with a supernatural slant, mainly short stories, mainly in English.
He was born in 1978 in a small town in Iceland (dark and cold, close to the sea). When he was nine he moved to Israel, and later to Croatia. He now resides in the Reykjavik area with his beautiful wife and two little kids.
His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Every Day Fiction, eFiction Magazine, eFiction Horror and Fireside Fiction.
Most recently, a story of his was selected for in the forthcoming anthology Apex Book of World SF 4 and Garden of Fiends
His favorite books are 1984, Flowers for Algernon, I am Legend, The Things They Carried and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels. Oh, and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone. Romeo and Juliet. (This could go on for a while).
You can find him at https://jthorsson.com
No comments:
Post a Comment