Thank you Brilliance Audio, #partner for the ALC of Hidden in Snow in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Published: December 1, 2022
Summary:
The splendor of the Swedish mountains becomes the backdrop for a bone-chilling crime.
On the day Stockholm police officer Hanna Ahlander’s personal and professional lives crash, she takes refuge at her sister’s lodge in the Swedish ski resort paradise of Åre. But it’s a brief comfort. The entire village is shaken by the sudden vanishing of a local teenage girl. Hanna can’t help but investigate, and while searching for the missing person, she lands a job with the local police department. There she joins forces with Detective Inspector Daniel Lindskog, who has been tasked with finding the girl. Their only lead: a scarf in the snow.
As subzero temperatures drop even further, a treacherous blizzard sweeps toward Åre. Hanna and Daniel’s investigation is getting more desperate by the hour. Lost or abducted, either way time is running out for the missing girl. Each new clue closes in on something far more sinister than either Hanna or Daniel imagined. In this devious novel by the bestselling author of the Sandhamn Murders series, discover what it will take to solve a case when the truth can be so easily hidden in the coming storm.
My thoughts:
A first book in a new NordicNoir series that has been translated to English – of course I’m going to request it! And it’s a new author to me so I had to check it out and I’m so glad I did because I really liked this one. Now I just hope that the rest of the series continues to be translated into English!
This is a highly atmospheric police procedural that introduces us to Stockholm police officer Hanna Ahlander. With nothing going right in either her personal life or her career, she decides to take a break and hide out at her sister’s vacation house in the ski resort town of Are. Not able to sit idle for too long, she ends up helping the local police there with the case of a missing teenager. Hanna is a great protagonist. She is flawed yet determined to fight for what she believes is right.
I loved how this book was structured, with short chapters and alternating perspectives from Hanna’s point of view to Daniel, the local detective that Hanna helps, to the missing girl’s parents. I felt that author was able to give just the right amount of balance between character development and plot movement, especially when it came to the two detectives, Hanna and Daniel, who I hope will be the focus of the series moving forward.
This book really has a fantastic sense of place and the weather conditions play a big factor. The snow and imminent danger of frostbite, hypothermia and freezing to death certainly make for a tense situation and that intensity comes across in the writing, that sense of urgency in trying to solve this case as quickly as possible.
This book really kept me on my toes as I had no idea where it was heading. It dove into some pretty heavy topics, but nothing that I would not expect when picking up a crime fiction/NordicNoir book. I am definitely looking forward to continuing on with this series. In the meantime, I’ll be checking out Viveca Sten’s other books as it looks like she has quite an extensive backlist!
Audio thoughts:
This book translated very well onto audio and I found myself completely captivated. The narrated, Laura Jennings did a great job bringing the story to life. Her pacing and intonation was spot on and she was able to infuse just the right amount of tension and suspense into her voice as needed.
