Echoes From the Dead, by Johan Theorin

from the tbr pile:

A very haunting story, Echoes From the Dead begins in 1972, when Jens, a 6-year old boy, decides that he'll scale the garden wall while his grandmother's taking a nap and everyone else is away from the home. We are told right away that in the fog,Jens encounters someone identifying himself as Nils Kant, and after that, he's just gone. Flash forward 20 years, and his mother, Julia, has still not gotten over his disappearance. Most everyone has assumed he'd drowned; she's not willing to believe he's gone. She's a psychological wreck, unable to work, drinking, sitting all day watching a home shopping network type show on tv. But all of that changes one day when her father, Gerlof, phones her to say that he's just received a child's sandal in the mail, and that it is likely one belonging to Jens. Off goes Julia back to where it all happened and where Gerlof now lives in a residential nursing home. It seems that Gerlof has never stopped trying to figure out what happened to Jens, and has come up with a few theories of his own, along with a few of his friends. Gerlof, his friends, and Julia all try to figure out what happened to little Jens 20 years earlier. It all points to Nils Kant, but the problem is, Nils was dead and buried prior to Jens' disappearance.

What's really great about this novel is that the author sets up such an incredible atmosphere of suspense and gloom that you can't put the book down. Carefully interweaving the story of Nils Kant from his childhood onward, Theorin captures his reader's attention from the outset. All of the characters are very well defined and very believable and the writing is very good. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone, especially readers who enjoy Scandinavian mysteries.

Hard to believe, but this is the author's first novel. I'll be on the lookout for the next one. Very good book.

thanks to Librarything and Random House for allowing me to read this book prior to its US release!