5 Nordic Thrillers to Read This Halloween
Scandinavian Crime Fiction for Spooky Season
It’s the best time of year: spooky season!! The stretch of the year from Halloween through Christmas is always my favorite, and, coincidentally, I also think it’s the perfect time of year to dig into a great Scandinavian crime novel. While we may gravitate towards the chilling, snowy atmosphere of Scandinavian crime fiction during the winter months, the genre also has a lot to offer when it comes to sinister, supernatural-ish books that make for great Halloween reading! In today’s blog post, I wanted to combine two of my favorite things—Nordic Noir and Halloween—into one reading list perfect for spooky season. All the books featured in today’s blog post have an element of supernatural-ish chills to them, whether hints of ghosts and hauntings or elements of the occult and more. If you’re a fan of dark, brooding, slow-burning crime fiction and are looking for a book that ups the chill factor for your Halloween reading list, these books will be right up your alley. Read on for my picks for Nordic thrillers perfect for your spooky season to-read pile!
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I REMEMBER YOU BY YRSA SIGURDARDOTTIR
SETTING: ICELAND
Why I Love It:
Yrsa Sigurdardottir is one of my favorite authors, full stop—but I particularly love reading her books when I want a crime novel that will incorporate elements of horror inspiration. Yrsa’s love of all things creepy influences all of her crime books, but it’s particularly evident in my favorite book of hers, I REMEMBER YOU. This standalone story does what I love most in a supernatural-ish crime novel: it blends an earthly mystery with touches of the otherworldly that add to the book’s atmosphere without undercutting or distracting from its crime fiction plot. I REMEMBER YOU is a pitch-perfect blend of missing persons mystery and creepy haunted house story that you’ll want to read with all the lights on. An emotionally-impactful timeline featuring a father searching for his missing son collides with a truly creepy and spine-tingling ghost story in I REMEMBER YOU. As an added bonus, there’s a great Icelandic movie adaptation of this book that you can watch once you’ve finished reading the book!
About the Book:
In an isolated village in the Icelandic Westfjords, three friends set to work renovating a rundown house. But soon, they realize they are not as alone as they thought. Something wants them to leave, and it's making its presence felt. Meanwhile, in a town across the fjord, a young doctor investigating the suicide of an elderly woman discovers that she was obsessed with his vanished son. When the two stories collide, the terrifying truth is uncovered.
In the vein of Stephen King and John Ajvide Lindqvist, this horrifying thriller, partly based on a true story, is the scariest novel yet from Yrsa Sigurdardottir, who has taken the international crime fiction world by storm.
THE WITCH HUNTER by Max Seeck
Setting: Finland
Why I Love It:
Finnish thriller writer Max Seeck’s serial killer thriller THE WITCH HUNTER is a highly entertaining blend of detective novel and occult elements. Fans of Lars Kepler and Soren Sveistrup will love the tone and pacing of Seeck’s first crime novel; this book’s short chapters and instantly-intriguing plot will keep readers turning pages long into the night. It all begins with a ritualistic crime: a bestselling author’s wife is found brutally murdered, her body displayed in the couple’s opulent home. But the deeper protagonist Jessica Niemi digs into the case, the more evident it becomes that this is no ordinary crime—and that it might just have ties to a dark form of witchcraft. THE WITCH HUNTER incorporates elements of the occult into its more traditional serial killer plotline to creepy and very entertaining effect—this is the Nordic crime-meets-occult thriller crossover I never knew I needed. Readers who typically gravitate towards detective novels and serial killer thrillers will love the sinister twist on the genre exemplified in this book.
About the Book:
A bestselling author’s wife has been found dead in a gorgeous black evening gown, sitting at the head of an empty dining table. Her most chilling feature—her face is frozen in a ghastly smile.
At first it seems as though a deranged psychopath is reenacting the gruesome murders from the Witch Hunt trilogy, bestsellers written by the victim’s husband. But investigator Jessica Niemi soon realizes she’s not looking for a single killer but rather for dozens of believers in a sinister form of witchcraft who know her every move and are always one step ahead.
As the bodies start piling up, Jessica knows they won’t stop until they get what they want. And when her dark past comes to light, Jessica finds herself battling her own demons while desperately trying to catch a coven of killers before they claim their next victim.
THE UNDESIRED by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Setting: Iceland
Why I Love It:
THE UNDESIRED was one of the first Yrsa Sigurdardottir thrillers I ever read, and it remains one of my favorite books of hers. This is another standalone from Sigurdardottir, and it’s also another superb example of her knack for blending crime fiction with horror elements. This brooding, atmospheric story centers around a juvenile detention center where dark, terrifying events are taking place. In the past timeline, readers get to know a young woman who works at the center, as she bears witness to some of the inexplicable events taking place within its walls. In the present day, the dark history of the center is revealed bit by bit as a man investigates allegations of abuse there. Hints of supernatural occurrences at the juvenile detention center in the past give this book a spine-tingling edge, and its disturbing finale truly is unforgettable. This is another winner from Iceland’s creepiest crime writer (and I mean that in the most complimentary way possible!).
About the Book:
Aldis hates her job working in a juvenile detention center in rural Iceland. The boys are difficult, the owners are unpleasant, and there are mysterious noises at night. And then two of the boys go astray . . .
Decades later, single father Odinn is looking into alleged abuse at the center. The more he finds out, though, the more it seems the odd events of the 1970s are linked to the accident that killed his ex-wife. Was her death something more sinister?
THE GIRL WHO DIED by Ragnar Jonasson
Setting: Iceland
Why I Love It:
Ragnar Jonasson is best known for his classic crime-inspired detective novels featuring a police officer in northern Iceland, but in his first-ever standalone novel to be published in the US, he sets his sights on a spooky tale with supernatural touches. In THE GIRL WHO DIED, readers travel to a remote town in Iceland alongside our protagonist, a young woman who has just accepted a teaching job there. As she settles in to her new home, she begins to fear that ghosts from this town’s past might be haunting its present. THE GIRL WHO DIED is a slow-burning, subtly creepy suspense novel—this one is perfect for readers who want spooky touches, but don’t want too much bloodshed, violence, or terror on the page. I loved this book’s chilling atmosphere and touches of the otherworldly; this is an elegant take on supernatural-ish suspense that transported me to its remote Icelandic setting and kept me immersed from its first page to its very last.
About the Book:
Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the World
Una wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at the four walls of her shabby apartment. Celebrating Christmas and ringing in 1986 in the remote fishing hamlet of Skálar seems like a small price to pay for a chance to earn some teaching credentials and get her life back on track.
But Skálar isn’t just one of Iceland’s most isolated villages, it is home to just ten people. Una’s only students are two girls aged seven and nine. Teaching them only occupies so many hours in a day and the few adults she interacts with are civil but distant. She only seems to connect with Thór, a man she shares an attraction with but who is determined to keep her at arm’s length.
As darkness descends throughout the bleak winter, Una finds herself more often than not in her rented attic space—the site of a local legendary haunting—drinking her loneliness away. She is plagued by nightmares of a little girl in a white dress singing a lullaby. And when a sudden tragedy echoes an event long buried in Skálar’s past, the villagers become even more guarded, leaving a suspicious Una seeking to uncover a shocking truth that’s been kept secret for generations.
THE LOST VILLAGE by Camilla Sten
Setting: Sweden
Why I Love It:
THE LOST VILLAGE was an instant-hit for me when I read it earlier this year, and I am eagerly counting down the days until the author’s next book releases in the US! THE LOST VILLAGE is described by its publisher as “The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar,” and that’s exactly what this book has in store for readers. Following a documentary film crew who travels to an abandoned mining village in Sweden to begin filming their newest project, THE LOST VILLAGE delves into the very disturbing history of this town. I absolutely loved this book’s cinematic portrayal of an abandoned village—as someone who has a personal fascination with abandoned places, the setting of this book was true perfection to me. Little details—from coffee cups left half-full to children’s toys scattered about as though their owners walked away mere moments before—bring this story’s haunting setting to life, and the terrifying secrets of its past that lie in wait for our protagonists make for utterly unputdownable reading. What begins as an optimistic research trip devolves into a desperate fight for survival as secrets from the past are revealed, and readers will love every step of the sinister journey.
About the Book:
Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.
But there will be no turning back.
Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:
They are not alone.
They’re looking for the truth…
But what if it finds them first?
Come find out.
Home ownership feel like a distant dream? Zillow listings have you convinced you’ll be renting for the rest of your life? The woman at the heart of Carissa Orlando’s debut The September House feels your pain—and she’s prepared to put up with a lot if it means she and her husband can finally have a place to call their own. In this case, that might just mean living in a house that’s haunted. Playful and irreverent, spine-tingling and spooky, The September House puts a fresh spin on the classic haunted house story, delivering an immersive tale about the secrets lurking within one building’s walls, and within the lives of its inhabitants.