Echoes from the Dead [Paperback]

'There is warmth in Theorin's narrative and the gradual piecing together of the story leads to an unexpected denouement.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'An impressive debut novel ...Theorin's excellence in conveying bleak atmosphere is matched by his insight into sensitive family relationships.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Fascinating storyline, authentic characters and accomplished writing make this a top read.'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Evocative and haunting, with a subtle sense of menace that grows with each page. An outstandingly original thriller'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Following in the footsteps of prize-winning authors Arnuldar Indridason and Henning Mankell, comes a chilling new voice in European crime. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

On a gray September day, on an island off the coast of Sweden, six -year -old Jens Davidsson ventured out of his backyard, walked out into a fog, and vanished….Now twenty years have passed, and in this magnificent debut novel of suspense—a runaway bestseller in Sweden—the boy’s mother returns to the place where her son disappeared, drawn by a chilling package sent in the mail… In it, lovingly wrapped, is one of Jens’ sandals—sandals Julia Davidsson put on her son’s feet that very last morning.

Now, with only a handful of clues, Julia and her father are questioning islanders who were present the day Jens vanished—and making a shocking connection to Öland’s most notorious murder case: the killing spree of a wealthy young man who fled the island and died years before Jens was even born. Suddenly the island that once seemed so achingly familiar turns strange and dangerous… Until Julia finds herself facing truths she never imagined—about what really happened on that September day twenty years ago, about who may have crossed paths with little Jens in the fog, and how a child could truly vanish without a trace…until now.

Echoes from the Dead is a really accomplished first novel set on an island on the outer reaches of the Swedish coast which is as chilling as it is mysterious. I acquired it because it is deceptively straightforward: not only do you think you know what happened and who abducted little Jens(believe me, you really don't), but because it is painted on a very broad canvas. Although the storyline is set in the present, you are taken back to the Nazi Occupation of the island, and as far afield as the Caribbean - but so gripping is the story that you don't really notice this. I also love the portrayal of loss suffered by Jens' mother, Julia, who, 20 years after Jens' disappearance still talks to him in her head, still expects him to walk through her front-door, still expects a phone call to say he's been found. So when his sandal is sent anonymously to her father, who's still living on the island - she knows she has to go back and find what really happened to him. I hope you love this book as much as I do, and agree that Johan Theorin is an author with a big future.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Can you ever come to terms with a missing child? Julia Davidsson has not. Her five-year-old son disappeared twenty years previously on the Swedish island of Oland. No trace of him has ever been found. Until his shoe arrives in the post. It has been sent to Julia’s father, a retired sea-captain still living on the island. Soon he and Julia are piecing together fragments of the past: fragments that point inexorably to a local man called Nils Kant, known to delight in the pain of others. But Nils Kant died during the 1960s. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the fields as darkness falls? It soon becomes clear that someone wants to stop Julia’s search for the truth. And that he’s much, much closer than she thinks . . . --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Throughout his life, Johan Theorin has been a regular visitor to the Baltic island of Oland. His mother’s family – sailors, fishermen and farmers - have lived there for centuries, nurturing the island’s rich legacy of strange tales and folklore. A journalist by profession, Johan now lives in Gothenburg. He is currently working on his second novel, and is planning a loose series of novels all set on Oland. Echoes from the Dead (originally published in Sweden as Skumtimmen) is Johan’s first novel. In 2007 it was voted Best First Mystery Novel by the authors and critics of the Swedish Academy of Crime, and it has been translated into twelve languages. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.