
Skumtimmen Echoes From The Dead
The Öland Series #1
Early 1970s. On the island of Öland, six-year-old Jens walks out of his backyard and into the fog, vanishing forever. Twenty years later, the boy’s mother, Julia, is still struggling to come to terms with her loss when her father calls with some surprising news. He tells her of a package he’s received in the mail, and its chilling contents: a worn and mended sandal, just like the one Jens wore the day he went missing.
Although reluctant to return to her childhood home and the harrowing memories it evokes, Julia agrees to go back to investigate her son’s disappearance once more. With the help of her father, a new lead pointing to the dark past of the island appears. But the connection between Nils Kant, the man who terrorized the island years ago, and Jens’ disappearance is far from clear: Nils died long before Jens went missing. So who is the stranger seen wandering across the heaths as dusk falls? To solve the mystery of who crossed Jens’ path in the fog, Julia will have to unearth the small community’s long kept secrets.
Echoes from the Dead is the first installment in the Öland Quartet.
“Evocative and haunting, with a subtle sense of menace that grows with each page.”
-Simon Beckett, author of The Chemistry of Death
Awards
The CWA Dagger Debut Award UK | 2009 |
The Swedish Academy of Crime Writers’ Award (Best Debut) Sweden | 2007 |
Reviews
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“An impressive debut novel…Theorin's excellence in conveying bleak atmosphere is matched by his insight into sensitive family relationships”
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“Fantastic…Theorin's prose is wonderfully descriptive”
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“There is warmth in Theorin's narrative and the gradual piecing together of the story leads to an unexpected denouement”
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“Sheer storytelling grip such as this is relatively rare. A particular strength is the evocation of locale and atmosphere here; it is masterfully done”
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“Elegant plot – gripping atmosphere”
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“A beautiful Swedish debut”
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“A poetical crime novel with a fantastical atmosphere. Theorin breaks the ice of the Swedish thriller genre by deeply shaking its taboos”
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“Echoes from the Dead is an impressive debut novel, and [Johan Theorin is] without a doubt the best new Swedish crime author I’ve read since Stieg Larsson’s first novel came out three years ago”
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“A suspenseful story in which Johan Theorin combines lyricism with a fantastical atmosphere, distinguishing himself from the realism of his writing colleagues”
- Author
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Johan Theorin
- Published
- 2007
- Genre
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- Mystery
- Pages
- 396
- Reading material
Swedish edition
English edition
- Rights sold
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Brazil, Record
Bulgaria, Colibri
China, Booky (Simplified Chinese)
Czech Republic, Moba
Denmark, Modtryk
Estonia, Ajakirjade Kirjastus
Finland, Tammi
France, Albin Michel
Germany, Piper
Greece, Metaixmio
Hungary, Animus
Iceland, Uppheimar
Israel, Kinneret-zmora
Italy, Mondadori
Japan, Hayakawa
Korea, Munhakdongne
Lithuania, Alma Litera
Netherlands, De Geus
North Macedonia, Antolog
Norway, Gyldendal
Poland, Czarne
Portugal, Porto
Romania, Trei
Russia, Ripol
Slovakia, Marencin
Spain, Mondadori (World Spanish)
Sweden, Wahlström & Widstrand
Taiwan, Spring (Complex Chinese)
Thailand, Sanskrit Book
Turkey, Dogan Egmont
UK, Transworld
US, Bantam
- Film rights sold
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Sweden, Yellow Bird