Spring Tide

     The Beach Case.

It sounded so trifling, he thought. A beach and a case. So harmless. But he himself had never called it the beach case. He thought it degraded one of the most repulsive murders he had investigated. It sounded like a newspaper headline. He himself had always referred to the case as the Nordkoster. Concrete. What a policeman would say.

     And unsolved.

This is the cold case police student Olivia Ronning decides to investigate over her summer break, partly because it's a case her father once worked, partly because the murder victim, a pregnant woman drowned by the spring tide, was never identified. But it's not an easy case on which to find out any new information; Olivia's father is dead, and the other officer who investigated the murder is missing. Still, Olivia is persistent. She even makes a special trip to Nordkoster Island. But the more questions she asks, the closer she comes to some very ugly truths...and to certain people who do not want her digging up the secrets of the past.

There are several other story lines in this Scandinavian crime thrillers: some young toughs have not only been beating up the homelss, but filming the horrific attacks to post online, and protests have ramped up against Bertil Magnuson, one of Sweden's richest and most influential businessmen, and his illegal mining practices in Africa. But while there's a lot to keep track of, authors Cilla and Rolf Borjlind do an expert job of weaving all the separate parts together into one compelling and suspenseful thriller.  I really liked Olivia as a character, along with Jelle, one of the homeless men. And I found the overall mystery intriguing. Some of the twists I guessed, but there were others I didn't. At 473 pages, Spring Tide is a long read, but it's also a good one. I never bogged down once. Here's hoping the Borjlinds write more just like it!

Happy Reading!