Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson

Yule Island by Johana Gustawsson is published with Orenda Books. It is the first book in a new series and is described as ‘a chilling, utterly captivating gothic thriller, based on a true story.’

Emma Lindahl is an art expert who is sent to the island of Storholmen to appraise the antiquities in an old mansion, now under the ownership of the Gussman family. With restricted access, Emma is under instruction to work within certain hours and according to specific rules. Emma is frustrated by this element of control over her work, infuriating her on more than one occasion. The Gussman family are distant, an elusive lot causing Emma’s imagination to wander down a very disquieting path.

Storholmen is an island with a shocking past, with an unsolved murder investigation that stalled due to lack of motive or evidence. Detective Karl Rosén was the case investigator at the time and his inability to bring closure has always frustrated him. What he witnessed nine years ago was shocking when he was called to the scene of a young girl found hanging from a tree. What made this case even more barbaric was the ritualistic style of her death.

Now, Rosén is called to another crime scene, where a young girl’s body has been discovered, cruelly murdered and disposed of in the cold waters of the Baltic Sea. Her body has been defaced in a similar fashion to the young girl of nine years previously. The location of the discovery is in the waters off the island of Storholmen. The coincidences are too many. The evidence is pointing to the island but why the symbolism and what does it mean?

While Emma continues her work at a painstakingly slow speed at the Gussman residence she makes an accidental discovery that puts her in contact with Rosén. As the dots are connected and the layers are peeled back, it is clear that something sinister is afoot. Can the mystery be solved? Who is the killer and what is their motive?

Johana Gustawsson is known as The Queen of French Noir, and with good reason. Her Roy & Castells series, in particular Block 46, blew me away back in 2017 and she has become a writer whose work I always look forward to reading. Yule Island is the first book in The Lidingö Mysteries and has been excellently translated by David Warriner. Lidingö is one of the many islands that make up the Stockholm archipelago, with Storholmen a smaller island nearby. When Johana Gustawsson and her family moved to Liningö in 2021 the idea behind Yule Island came from a story she heard that there was a haunted manor on Storholmen.

Mixing her French Noir pedigree with a Scandinavian twist, Johana Gustawsson has written a thriller that unexpectedly tripped me up on more than one occasion. I started Yule Island with huge expectations but, admittedly, got off to a slow start – I should have known better. After all this is a Johana Gustawsson book! When startling snippets of information were casually dropped into chapters I was stopped in my tracks, completely thrown off the scent numerous times.

Yule Island is a terrific start to a new series, with Lindahl and Rosén two very complex and fascinating characters. Both have, shall we say, unique stories to tell. Both have been through some very challenging and dark days. Johana Gustawsson has prepared the groundwork for more thrills and spills, with an added gothic element, that will appeal to anyone who loves to be disconcerted. Sophisticated plotting in a very atmospheric environment, Yule Island is a wonderfully veiled mystery that will keep you guessing!