Bruce Hatton's Reviews > Black River

This is the first book in this series and by this author I’ve read. English-born but now living in Sweden where his novels are set.
Reporter Tuva Moodyson returns to her hometown of Gavrik in northern Sweden when she hears her best friend Tammy Yamnim has disappeared. Soon after the search for Tammy begins, another young woman, Lisa Svennson goes missing. Much to Tuva’s chagrin, the search party seems far more focussed on finding blonde, blue-eyed Lisa than Tammy, whose parents came from Thailand. The search mainly centres around a area north of Gavrik consisting of Snake River and the enormous Utgard forest. An area teeming with venomous reptiles and dangerous microfauna. It also contains an encampment which is home to Sweden’s equivalent of hillbillies; a woman who breeds snakes and a pair of cohabiting “cousins” among them.
This was a story I was hoping to like more than I eventually did. It was easy to warm to the feisty, loyal Tuva – a woman with hearing difficulties and a past drinking problem. The cast of unusual creepy characters and ominous locations were also a plus. However, the story seemed to get bogged down midway and it was only towards the end that the plot began to develop.