Nordic Watchlist reviews Scars of Silence by Johana Gustawsson,
Silence is golden, the saying goes, but that’s not always the case. In Johana Gustawsson’s Scars of Silence, a silence kept for a quarter of a century breaks with devastating consequences.
As the first snow of winter begins to fall on Lidingö in the Stockholm Archipelago, residents look forward to the forthcoming Lucia Day celebrations – a historic tradition involving the procession of Saint Lucia, her white gown and candle-lit headdress a bright light in the winter darkness. The chance to be crowned Lucia and lead the procession is the dream of most local teenage girls.
It’s something of a shock, then, when a teenage boy is found murdered in the woods a few days before Lucia Day, dressed in the traditional costume of the saint. Locals are reminded of the similarities to a previous Lucia Day murder twenty-five years earlier. That case was solved, and the convicted teenager committed suicide in prison – so do the local police have a copycat on their hands? And why a teenage boy this time, instead of a female Lucia?
When a second teenage boy is found murdered in the same robes, it becomes clear there’s a serial killer at play, and the police must discover what links these new crimes to the earlier case before Lucia Day itself.
For local Police Commissioner Aleksander Storm, Lucia Day has special significance, with his own daughter leading the procession this year. For French detective Maïa Rehn, however, Lidingö is meant to be an escape from the family-focused yuletide celebrations. Joining forces, the pair discover that the current murders are indeed linked to the case a quarter of a century before.
Gustawsson focuses her story through the eyes of her two detectives – one the official Swedish representative, the other a French investigator on sabbatical. It’s an effective device, allowing the investigation to explore avenues a purely official inquiry could not. The characters, fascinating in their own right, complement each other well: Storm, who also coaches the local youth football team, is connected to both victims and suspects; Rehn, a mother processing her own grief, is attuned to the loss felt by the victims’ families.
Gustawsson masterfully weaves past and present, painting the Lidingö setting so vividly that we can almost feel the cold as the snow begins to fall – her storytelling is as chilling as it is compelling. The setting itself becomes a character, but she revels equally in the detail of her cast. We only meet the two teenage boys after their deaths, yet Gustawsson gives them backstories – secrets and fears – that draw us in.
The same goes for her two main protagonists. On the surface, Storm and Rehn may appear to be standard police archetypes, but Gustawsson peels back their layers to reveal shared wounds and emotional depth. Her detectives are as complex and fascinating as the mystery itself – this is crime fiction at its most human and haunting.
Gustawsson isn’t afraid to tackle difficult topics, and at the heart of Scars of Silence lies a twisted tale of rape, repression, and retribution. In the aftermath of the #MeToo movement, it’s a timely and all-too-real exploration of the lasting impact of sexual violence. She doesn’t pull her punches, examining not only the devastation wrought on victims but also the ripples felt by families and the wider community.
Gustawsson doesn’t excuse the violence or offer simple answers. Instead, she creates a world so authentic, so recognisable, that readers cannot help but feel the pain etched across every page.
A masterful blend of past and present, Scars of Silence grips with its twisting tale of repression and retribution.
Scars of Silence by Johana Gustawsson, translated by David Warriner, is published on 20 November by Orenda Books.
