Review: Yule Island, by Johana Gustawsson

Blurb

Art expert Emma Lindahl is anxious when she’s asked to appraise the
antiques and artefacts in the infamous manor house of one of Sweden’s
wealthiest families, on the island of Storholmen, where a young woman
was murdered nine years earlier, her killer never found.

Emma must work alone, and with the Gussman family apparently avoiding
her, she sees virtually no one in the house. Do they have something to
hide? As she goes about her painstaking work and one shocking discovery
yields clues that lead to another, Emma becomes determined to uncover
the secrets of the house and its occupants.

When the lifeless body of another young woman is found in the icy waters
surrounding the island, Detective Karl Rosén arrives to investigate, and
memories of his failure to solve the first case come rushing back. Could
this young woman’s tragic death somehow hold the key?
Battling her own demons, Emma joins forces with Karl to embark upon a
chilling investigation, plunging them into horrifying secrets from the past
– Viking rites and tainted love – and Scandinavia’s deepest, darkest
winter…

My Review

Thanks to Anne, Karen, and all the team at Orenda for organising this tour and for my copy of this book. I’ve already ordered a hardback special edition from Goldsboro Books. I love Johana Gustawsson’s books, so I was really looking forward to reading this one, and how appropriate that my review falls on the first day of Yule!

It’s a dark winter tale, of murder and abuse over decades.

Emma is an art expert called in to appraise the Gussman collection, in a century-old house on the island of Storholmen. Her sister, Sophia, was found dead there nine years before. The current residents put tight controls on her work, limiting her to certain times and places in the house. She starts her work and soon discovers papers that give her more information than she expected.

Karl is a police officer. He investigated Sophia’s murder in 2012, and has been haunted by it since. His wife is missing, presumed dead, and he’s called to the neighbouring island of Lidingo on New Year’s Eve 2021, to look at the body of another dead girl, Maria, this time drowned, found frozen in the ice that formed over night. He’s searching for the killer. Two girls, nine years apart, murdered nine days after the solstice. Karl has his own secrets and he’s willing to do almost anything to solve these murders.

So, I’m a bit of a mythology hound, and nines are significant in Norse mythology. Odin hung nine day and nine nights on the windy tree, his ring drops nine replicas every day, according to Adam of Bremen every nine years there was a great sacrifice at Upsala, where nine of every living beast, including men, were hung (criminals, they sacrificed criminals – this is not the Volga Rus funeral sacrifice we’re talking about) from the trees. Since the people who wrote down these things were Christian monks in the 11th (Adam of Bremen) and 13th (Snorri Sturluson) centuries, we should take things with a grain of salt. Adam of Bremen was probably closer in time – Sweden became Christian around 1000 CE and Adam was in Denmark in 1066.

Little fucker probably read Lady Gytha’s letter begging her cousin Sweyn for help against the Norman Bastard and his army of psychopaths. Fuckers turned up too late.

Annnnyyyway.

Snorri didn’t write the Eddas until the 13th century, while the Icelanders also converted, by vote, in 1000 C.E. Yes, they’re the only European nation that took a vote on religion and decided to convert for trade purposes. The rest of us were forced into conversion, either by outside forces or by duplicitous kings after Frankish money.

Look, I have issues, I know. I resent a lot of stuff from the last 1500 years, and I will go on at length about it, given half a chance.

Okay, back to the review.

We have a third view point, Viktoria. Viktoria is the housekeeper at the manor on Storholmen. She lives with her daughter, Josephine, in the housekeeper’s apartment and is unnerved by the behaviour of the lady of the house, who she refers to as Madam. The master of the house is referred to as ‘the Duke’, although he isn’t, and the couple have a son named Thor.

The story moves from 2012, to 2021/2022, and back and forth between 2021 and 1994, although the reader doesn’t learn that until later. There is a history of murder in the house that no one has put together. As the plot progresses we learn of child abuse (forcing a child to be the gender they aren’t because the parents want a son), and twisted rituals drawing on a perversion of ancient religious beliefs. I should have twigged to the 1994 sections when Thor and his mother are talking about the Holly King and the Oak King (18th/19th century inventions) and holly wreathes. It’s very twentieth century neo-paganism.

Emma’s development as a person, through exploring the place her sister died, investigating the house, which brings to light further deaths, and her developing relationship with Anneli, and with other islanders, helps her overcome some of the demons of her upbringing and her sister’s death. The betrayal that follows is devastating, but the last time we see her she is a confident, resilient person again.

Karl is forced to act against his nature in order to find out who murdered Sophia and Maria. He knows who one of them is, but he needs to discover their accomplice. He is wracked by guilt and fear, because he can’t believe he missed the signs, and couldn’t save Maria. He knows his actions will get him gaol time, but sees no other choice. He is grieving for the wife he lost, while searching for a killer.

The twist at the end, when we discover the truth, is surprising. I didn’t realise who the killers were until almost the end. I was briefly convinced it was the old couple who befriend Emma, or possibly Karl himself.

It’s a story of twisted parenting and messed up families – Thor’s mother is torturing her child, Josephine’s mother was unable to protect her from abuse, Emma’s mother sold Sophia’s possessions on eBay for booze money and blames Emma for leaving them. Meanwhile, Thor’s father is distracted by business and doesn’t step in to protect his child from abuse, the current Gussman in residence at Storholmen, Niklas, is embarrassed by his son, who probably has schizophrenia.

The pressure of being a Gussman, wealthy, business owners for four generations, is brought to light by Alice Gussman, during her son Jens’ interview with Karl. Her son can’t get the help he needs and everything has to be kept a secret, because Niklas doesn’t want it to get out that his son is mad. She is the one forced to do all the work of taking him for treatment and teaching him, to keep things a secret and their lawyer helps her husband enforce the secrecy. The two wealthy families in the story don’t know each other, but they’re connected by the manor house and by murder. The two parallel stories help with the twisty darkness of the plot.

Emma never knew her father. She finds parental figures in Lette and Bjorn Petterson. They welcome her to the island in their own way, help her deal with her trauma and provide friendship. Their connection to the island also helps solve the case, as they provide historical background and knowledge, and find new information about the 2021 murder.

The plot is a twisty turny thing, that kept my attention rapped and the pages turning. I ate a whole tray of biscuits (Victoria special selection) and a bread roll, while reading. I just didn’t notice it was tea time. Today is Saturday 16th December, I’ve been at the allotment, and coming home to wrap myself in my big fluffy dressing gown, put the fire on and curl up in my fancy uppy-downy chair to read this book from cover to cover has been an absolute joy.

Once again Johana Gustawsson has written an entertaining, gripping, dark mystery that shows deep research and a love of the place she now calls home. The complexities of psychological difficulties are subtly explored in an unexpected context and no one is demonised for being mentally ill. There are ethical dilemmas, social commentary, and bodies in unlikely places, like packing chests. With secret tunnels, murders most horrible and time-jumps to add to the narrative. All in a few cold days in the Swedish winter. What more could you want for a Christmas read?

Highly recommended.

---

This is my last blog tour of the year. I’m doing an end-of year wrap-up for Love Books Tours over on Instagram on New Year’s Eve, but other than that, any reviews or posts will be about books on my TBR pile. Which as we all know, is extensive and grows weekly, because I have no self control around book.

---

ABOUT JOHANA GUSTAWSSON

Born in Marseille, France, and with a degree in Political Science, Johana Gustawsson as worked as a journalist for the French and Spanish press and television. Her critically acclaimed Roy & Castells series, including Block 46, Keeper and Blood Song, has won the Plume d’Argent, Balai de la découverte, Balai d’Or and Prix Marseillais du Polar awards, and is now published in nineteen countries. A TV adaptation is currently under way in a French, Swedish and UK co-production. The Bleeding was a number-one bestseller in France and received immense critical acclaim across the globe. Johana lives in Sweden with her Swedish husband and their three sons.