Review: In the Month of the Midnight Sun by Cecilia Ekback

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Published: June 14, 2016

Source: Personal Copy

 

Summary:

An orphaned boy brought up to serve the state as a man. A rich young woman incapable of living by the conventions of society. Neither is prepared for the journey into the heat, mystery, violence and disorienting perpetual daylight of the far North.

Stockholm 1856.

Magnus is a geologist. When the Minister sends him to survey the distant but strategically vital Lapland region around Blackasen Mountain, it is a perfect cover for another mission: Magnus must investigate why one of the nomadic Sami people, native to the region, has apparently slaughtered in cold blood a priest, a law officer and a settler in their rectory.

Is there some bigger threat afoot? Blackasen seems to be a place of many secrets.
But the Minister has more than a professional tie to Magnus, and at the last moment, he adds another responsibility. Disgusted by the wayward behaviour of his daughter Lovisa – Magnus’s sister-in law – the Minister demands that Magnus take her with him on his arduous journey.

Thus the two unlikely companions must venture out of the sophisticated city, up the coast and across country, to the rough-hewn religion and politics of the settler communities, the mystical, pre-Christian ways of the people who have always lived on this land, and the strange, compelling light of the midnight sun.
For Lovisa and Magnus, nothing can ever be the same again.

 

My thoughts:

This is the first book I’ve read by Cecilia Ekback but it certainly will not be the last. I picked this one up because it was a choice for one of my on-line buddy reads and I am loving all the books that we have been reading together.

This is technically the second book in the Svartasen series though it takes place about 140 years after the first book, Wolf Winter, and the events that occurred in that book are unrelated to this book. I have not yet read Wolf Winter, though upon finishing this one, I did buy it because I just fell in love with this author’s writing.  It is so atmospheric and mysterious and full of secrets and I found myself completely engaged from start to finish.

I will say this is a slow-burn of a mystery, and that’s ok. I actually enjoy a slower pace every once in a while, especially as we are getting to know all the people involved and learning about the land and the history – it was all woven together in such a way as to keep me immersed in the story and I had such a hard time putting this one down once I started it. And I loved that this had a little bit of everything to keep me going – crime, historical fiction and a little touch of the folklore/magical realism. Historical mysteries are really becoming my favorite subgenre and this one definitely falls nicely within that.

There is such a fantastic author’s note included at the end and I highly recommend you read it. The author includes such fascinating bits of the history of Sweden, and what and why she decided to include in the book. To me, this is always a must-read part of the book and I love when the author includes.

I really enjoyed this one and am definitely looking forward to picking up Wolf Winter soon. Cecilia Ekback is definitely going on my must-read list!

 

Books in this series:

1. Wolf Winter
2. In the Month of the Midnight Sun