In this “bone-chillingly cool crime debut” (Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train), a young biologist studying the remote Swedish wetlands stumbles upon a body — and finds that if the marsh’s secrets can’t stay buried, neither can hers . . . In the remote Swedish wetlands lies Mossmarken: the village on the edge of the mire where, once upon a time, people came to leave offerings to … time, people came to leave offerings to the gods.
Biologist Nathalie came in order to study the peat bogs. But she has a secret: Mossmarken was once her home, a place where terrible things happened. She has returned at last, determined to confront her childhood trauma and find out the truth.
Soon after her arrival, she finds an unconscious man out on the marsh, his pockets filled with gold — just like the ancient human sacrifices. A grave is dug in the mire, which vanishes a day after. And as the police investigate, the bodies start to surface . . .
Is the mire calling out for sacrifices, as the superstitious locals claim? Or is it an all-too-human evil?
Richly atmospheric and haunting to the last page, Susanne Jansson’s stunning debut is a gripping tale of the power of nature to shape our reality, the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world, and the terrible consequences they may have. This international sensation will captivate fans of the celebrated suspense fiction of Jane Harper or Tana French.
In the North Swedish wetlands lies Mossmarken: the village on the edge of the mire where, once upon a time, people came to leave offerings to the gods.
Biologist Nathalie has come to the village to study the peat bogs, but she has a secret: Mossmarken was once her home. She has finally returned, determined to confront her childhood trauma and uncover the truth behind the terrible things that happened.
Soon after her arrival, Nathalie finds an unconscious man out on the marsh, his pockets filled with gold – just like the ancient human sacrifices. A grave is dug in the mire, which vanishes a day after. And as the police investigate, the bodies begin to surface . . .
Is the mire calling out for sacrifices, as the superstitious locals claim? Or is it an all-too-human evil?
An international sensation, The Forbidden Place is a gripping tale of the power of nature in shaping our reality; the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world and the lasting consequences they may have.
A bone-chillingly cool crime debut.
3.5 stars
This was an easy read and most definitely a page-turner. I was expecting a little more fright, but needless to say, I had fun along the ride trying to solve the mystery. Who done it?!?!
The cover sets the tone for the scenery of The Forbidden Place. The peat moss, different grasses, and trees, the mist; I loved referring back to this cover whenever the story was referring to the bog.
I was not expecting the friendships and relationships this contained, but it was enjoyable as if meeting new friends. I liked the characters enough and the plot, even though personally, there were some gaps for me, but I’ll write more about that at the end of my review.
The plot contains twisted elements along with lighter aspects of life. This balance created an effect of what I would call: Not goose-bump worthy, but still enjoyable as to where I could still go to bed and not have nightmares. I felt no sense of fear while reading this material, mostly curiosity, general interest, and lots of accusations. 🙂
A lot of the ideas and topics discussed in the story were really intriguing. At certain points, I was craving the story faster than I could read. At one point every character that appeared, I was having suspicions about, which I love when a book isn’t extremely obvious. “You’re the killer! Ok, no, maybe it’s you! Ok, I got them this time!” (Hehe, I love it!) Twist and turns are necessary and I’m so glad this book wrote it out clearly.
While as I really enjoyed reading this story, I wanted more scare-feels and felt that certain plot points and characters never really evolved, or their background wasn’t really focused upon. I feel this was done to at least give you a sense of boundaries between characters, but also left it feeling a tad unfinished, but enough to get the job done. I’m also wondering if this wasn’t done to set up the same characters in other stories maybe? The author did put a considerable amount of time doing research on nature and ancient traditions on embalming and the like, that was not only a unique aspect but super cool, I thought! I feel that’s why I’m holding the rest of the book to meet that same high standard. I know it seems like an insincere compliment, but because of that dedication to research and details, I feel the author could have included more juiciness to the story with confidence and made the story longer. It felt a little unbalanced in those ways and I did have a hard time deciding between 3 or 4 stars. So 3.5 stars it is. Now if other characters weren’t expanded upon, and this was done to not cause spoilers for other books, it’s more understandable but hey I’m reviewing on solely this book alone which is a stand-alone, not a series of any sort is my understanding.
I have to say I will be enjoying more books by this author! I want to see if some of my theories stated earlier are true, and now I kind of know what to expect from this author, who is new to me- enjoyable mysteries that aren’t too gorey or going to scare me awake for the nights:) lol
Much gratitude to Grand Central Publishing, and the author Susanne Jansson, for the ARC I won in a contest. All reviews are my own and voluntary.