Tuva Moodyson Mystery Series 3 Books Collection Set By Will Dean (Dark Pines, Red Snow, Black River)

Product Information

All writers have to do their best. If you write from a place of maximum empathy, and you really care about your writing, and your storytelling, then that’s all you can do. I always try to research as well as I can and to be as sensitive as I can to my characters, and to do them justice, whoever they are,” says Dean. “It’s my job to tell the story, and it’s other people’s job to critique it. And that’s fine.” I enjoyed this, I enjoyed this quite a bit, and the ending caught me off guard, which is always good in a book like this. I guessed the identity of the killer, because I kind of sensed the way Dean wrote about them, building them was a bit more meticulous than the other characters, but overall I really enjoyed this story. For those who want their crime fiction to be at its darkest… If you enjoyed Midsommar, Bad Apples is a tale you’ll be intrigued by.’

Firstly it avoided the need for translation - so not distracting the prolific but still clear overly in demand Wymondham based Don Bartlett from completing the translation of Knausgaard's My Struggle into English. Dean found the idea of an individual being controlled in every aspect of their life – their medication, what meals they eat, where they sleep – “really disturbing, in a quiet, menacing way”. Tuva is trying to write a report on a missing person, and as part of this report she needs to interview a group of survivalists who are doing all they can to live off grid and prepare for the bad times ahead. In trying to investigate Tuva needs to ingratiate herself into the group, and try and get them to open up to her. The more she does this, the more that is revealed about the group until we reach an epic conclusion. Nothing important is described in any detail at all. At times we go for whole chapters without being reminded of what's actually at stake. There is no sense of impending danger at all, because there is no craft in the description of the crimes. Some characters from the previous books return, including her best friend Tammy, Lars and Nils from the newsroom, Police Chief Bjorn Andersson, and police officer Thord. Tuva visits Noora, cared for in her mother's home. Both women sit with former officer Noora, but there is no response.Tuva's personal life has been devastated - see events in Bad Apples. There is some heartbreaking stuff here as Tuva pushes herself to the absolute limits. There was a stupid mistake made - sole purpose... to move the story forward. If the right decision is made, the story stalls. This is straight from my notes. I do not remember what the mistake was, but even if I did I wouldn't say since it would be a spoiler. I liked this, how could you not like something so atmospheric and that takes you to the wilderness of Sweden forests? The farm is inhabited with a group of survivalists who live and work on a farm preparing to isolate themselves from the outside world. They are preppers who believe the end of the world is nigh. A woman who worked in the cafe here has gone missing. Tuva gets involved with this case and the more she becomes immersed in the ways of the farm, well, she is in more danger than she realises. The end (which I obviously won't give away) was, quite frankly laughably ridiculous. It did actually make me snort a couple of times and there was much eye rolling.

Now the opening to this book may seem familiar (although I can hear the outcry now given I now where it is going to lead), but given where Tuva lives, in Northern Sweden, her driving alone through a remote area is not really a surprise. What is more of a surprise is where this particular journey is going to lead her - to investigate the disappearance of a young woman who was last seen working at a farm which has a very particular reputation around the area. And it's not unfair to say that to gain a reputation around places like Gavrik and Visberg is no mean feat! These are communities that seem to specialise in weird and unusual, so to be singled out in any way takes some doing. Dark Pines" written by Will Dean is the first in the deaf journalist, Tuva Moodyson series set in Sweden and was featured on the Sunday morning tv show 'The Zoe Ball Book Club'. The climax and solution to the murders is a bit of a surprise, but the presentation is clumsy, drawn out, pacing poor. Almost an info-dump.Tuva is virtually deaf (I learnt a lot about hearing aids) very stubborn, a bit lonely and has a phobia of being lost deep in the forest. Oh dear, what could be on its way?!

As for characters…this book was RICH with some fantastic, well developed characters that had me curious throughout! I wanted to know EVERYTHING about them – and Will Dean did not disappoint. I will mention just a few though as I think this is the type of book where you have to EXPERIENCE everything and my own views may differ from others. I just love that Will Dean can write a thriller, a PROPER whodunnit, a pacey & gory mystery...... that folds into its mix: pear flavoured wine gums, bouts of hayfever in MacDonalds, the rigmorale of changing out of layers of clothing & how a Hillux handles. Will Dean puts the REAL in surreal. Bad Apples is noir at its very best… If you like “heart in your mouth” reads that will keep you up all night with all the lights on, then this is for you.’She belongs to too many minorities to be a bad person, even if does have no journalistic integrity whatsoever and wants to abandon her dying mother. Does the Sami thing come into the story at all? No. It's just mentioned once and then forgotten like every other would-be interesting point of this story. Tuva becomes totally involved in the case in the hope that a big story will help her return to top flight journalism, when the time comes. Elk hunt is a big thing in this town called Gavrik, men usually hunt. Nature and wilderness makes Tuva uncomfortable and she doesn't enjoy it, but when an hunter is found dead in the forest, his eyes taken out, Tuva would have to investigate because this is her chance to write a good story to progress her career. As I was reading I was trying to figure out whether the baby who survived the 1987’s shooting will come to light (it did – and I didn’t anticipate it!).