Publisher: Scarlet Suspense
Published: June 29, 2021
Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher
Summary:
January in Gotland. The days are short, the air is cold, and all the roads are covered in snow. On a deserted, icy backroad, these wintery conditions will soon bring together a group of strangers with a force devastating enough to change their lives forever when, in the midst of a brief period, a deadly accident and two separate crimes leave victims in their wake.
Four years later a single phone call is all it takes to bring back the terror of that day and to set in motion a plot for revenge. For Sandra it started as an unremarkable wintery day of shopping followed by a kind gesture from a stranger. For Jeanette it began with the thrill of an illicit rendezvous with her lover. Both women had driven past the same icy ravine, but only one was in the car that caused a deadly crash, and only one left a man to die alone in the snow.
Each carried a secret from that day, a secret that, if revealed, could connect them to a larger, more terrible transgression… And there is someone out there who knows the whole picture, and who would rather kill than allow it all to come to light.
Chilling and atmospheric, Black Ice is a gripping standalone novel of suspense from the author of the internationally-bestselling Hammarby series.
My thoughts:
This is the first book I’ve read by Carin Gerhardsen but it definitely won’t be the last as I loved her writing style. And let’s just take a moment to give this cover some love…it just oozes atmosphere – all bleak and chilly, which was exactly what this book was!
I love a good character-driven novel and this one pulled me in immediately. Told from multiple points of view, I had no idea where it was headed and loved that it kept me guessing all the way until the very end. It moves back and forth in time from the terrible car accident in the past to events unfolding in the present and I was so intrigued as to how everything was related.
This book is full of twists and misdirection and the suspense builds almost right out of the gate. It’s definitely a book you are not going to want to put down once you start reading it and it’s also probably not the best one to read right before bed because it does take a rather dark turn. I loved how it ended – such a brilliant, surprising twist and I almost want to start reading it all over again to see how if I missed any clues along the way.
I definitely recommend picking this one up if you haven’t already and as I wait to see what comes next from this talented author, I will for sure be checking out her backlist, provided I can find them translated in English.
