The #TFBookClub reads ‘Red Snow’ by Will Dean set in SWEDEN

19th December 2018

Thank you for joining us as we read Red Snow by Will Dean, set in SWEDEN (January/February 2019).

We hope you enjoy reading this chilling crime thriller, set in the small town of Gavrik, and from the fertile mind of the author who also brought us the acclaimed Dark Pines.

We will be chatting about the book throughout January and February 2019, so if you are reading it with us, please come and join the dialogue!

The #TFBookClub is your book club – we are here to help you discover new titles that will transport you to interesting locations via top literature for some exceptional #literarywanderlust.

As you read, please come and chat and share your thoughts in several ways:

  • Here on our dedicated blogpost, leave your thoughts in the Comments section below
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  • And once you’ve turned the final page, we’d love it if you could write your own review, which you can do on tripfiction.com using the Add A Review tab. Help us to build the #TFBookClub and the TripFiction website!

REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO READING THIS BOOK TOGETHER!

Andrew and Tina for the TripFiction Team

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Comments

  1. User: Rachel Hall

    Posted on: 28/01/2019 at 8:16 pm

    After four years in the remote town of Gavrik and working as the sole full-time reporter on the Gavrik Posten, a community focused weekly publication with a limited circulation, Tuva Moodyson is preparing to head to pastures new. Tuva, who is far from sold of the isolated town with a population of nine-thousand that she has dubbed “Toytown” has struck gold with a new job at a bi-weekly publication near Malmö. Still coming to terms with the death of her mother from terminal illness and the associated guilt of not having visited her more despite their fractured relationship, Tuva has improved the papers circulation and made a name for herself with her incisive reporting on the Medusa Murders.

    But with just ten days until her exit, twenty-six-year-old Tuva bears witness to the suicide of Gustav Grimberg, proprietor of the largest employer in town, Grimberg Liquorice Factory from one of the two factory chimneys that overshadows the town. With the business a concern on which much of the community depends and just about the only thing that makes Gavrik viable it sends shockwaves through the town. When Tuva’s ally, Constable Thord Pettersson, hints at suggestions of incitement triggering the fatality and warns her not to meddle with the intensely private Grimberg’s given the communities reliance of the family Tuva fails to take heed of his words… She quickly realises that to gain any insight into a story that is attracting the nations media interest she needs access to the Grimberg women to get the low-down on the secretive empire. But before spiky Tuva can make inroads with the bizarre trio of women – commanding fifty-three-year-old widow, Anna-Brita, twenty-year-old daughter, Karin, with a predilection for Goth fashion, and kooky and spirited mother, eighty-two-year-old Cecilia (“Cici”), the cold-blooded murder of an employee and former school bully within the confines of the factory walls shatters the fragile calm.

    With the body discovered by Tuva she is soon forced begins to feel to reconsider whom can she really trust. Tuva has ten days, not only to solve a crime but to make it out of Gavrik alive and with her sanity intact. Will she survive her toughest test yet, and just what are the Grimberg females taking all manner of superstitious precautions to guard themselves against? The all-pervading darkness of winter in Sweden, isolation and threat of nature should make for a deliciously creepy atmosphere but for me the whole thing simply comes across as ridiculously overdone. I also felt that the denouement got a little farcical and although I wasn’t convinced that the killer would have been able to orchestrate such a significant number of convoluted acts in a very small town, the motive felt far more credible than that of Dark Pines.

    Comment

  2. User: Denise Price

    Posted on: 22/01/2019 at 4:56 pm

    Thank you for my copy of Red Snow by Will Dean, which I really enjoyed.

    You could almost feel the cold of the Swedish winter. Dean manages to capture perfectly the quirky characters you find in any small town. His heroine, deaf investigative reporter Tuva, is gutsy and incredibly likable.

    Anyone who enjoyed Dark Pines will love this. I can’t wait for the next book in the series.

    Comment

  3. User: Claire Broomsgrove

    Posted on: 19/01/2019 at 4:46 pm

    This was my first read of a Scandi thriller and it’s evident I’ve been missing out! Red Snow is a great winters read, i could feel the cold and taste the licqourice….I could imagine a Willy Wonka type factory dominating the town, it’s mysterious owners were fascinating. Our main character Tuva was a triumph she had her quirks, I loved her investigations into to the odd town of Gavrik and it’s inhabitants. My first job after reading Red Snow was to buy Will Deans 1st novel Dark Pines i cant get enough of this new world, thank you trip fiction.

    Comment

  4. User: Leila Benhamida

    Posted on: 17/01/2019 at 9:46 am

    I was so thrilled to have receive a signed copy of Red Snow. I had to Dark pines before reading Red Snow. Having read both book now, they are both brilliant stories. I really enjoyed Red Snow, the atmosphere, the description, the creepiness just awesome. Can’t wait for what come next.

    Comment

  5. User: Bev

    Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 1:06 pm

    I have now finished this Scandi Noir, tension building book. I found the Grimberg family intriguing and grew quite fond of Cici, as Tuva also did. I had not appreciated the issues that people with deafness suffer with having to wear hearing aids. Will Dean’s descriptive narrative made me feel cold and the atmosphere that was created because of the weather was quite profound. In terms of sense of place, I got the feel of a cold, isolated community. I wonder what it is like in summer? As a sun seeker it has not encouraged me to visit, certainly during the winter months. For me, there was something missing with this being a sequel to Dark Pines as I have already commented upon. The question I now have is: should I read it?
    Thank you for introducing me to a new author for me.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:53 pm

      Thank you for stopping by. I think the feedback has been that it can be read as a stand alone but that perhaps there is more depth to the story if one has read Dark Pines. Thank you for stopping by with your thoughts!!!

      Comment

  6. User: Harriet Steel

    Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 7:13 am

    I finished this last night and continued to enjoy it although I thought the ending was rather far fetched. I shall have to read Dark Pines now to find out the backstory of all those creepy characters and the likeable Tuva. I wonder whether she will come back to Gavrik for another mystery. Maybe in summer this time! The author’s talent for description and eye for detail make me feel I’ve already spent a long winter there. Many thanks to the publishers for my copy and to TF for organising the read

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:55 pm

      Description is so on point, the author really immerses the reader in the landscape. Certainly some readers felt they missed something by not having read Dark Pines first!

      Comment

  7. User: Lesley

    Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:34 am

    Thank you Tripfiction for my advanced copy of Red Snow. Life conspired against me and I’ve only just been able to immerse myself in this fabulous modern day thriller. I enjoyed the book from page 1. It made compulsive reading and as the tension built I just had to keep going. I was fascinated by the dark quirky characters and the outcome did not disappoint. I very much enjoyed Will Dean’s style of writing, both his character and landscape descriptions made everything so vivid and I loved the dark humour too. I hadn’t read the previous novel but I don’t feel that this spoilt my enjoyment of Red Snow, nevertheless, I found Tuva so fascinating I will definitely be reading Dark Pines now.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:57 pm

      Glad you feel inspired to read Dark Pines, such great storytelling!!

      Comment

  8. User: Harriet Steel

    Posted on: 12/01/2019 at 7:43 am

    I’m just over halfway through and really enjoying this. I agree that it would have been nice to have read Dark Pines first, but it’s not a big problem. I think it’s the characters who make to book so appealing to me and raise it above the large number of Scandi Noir novels published since Stieg Larson’s and Henning Mankel’s books popularised the genre. Inevitably, this novel uses a lot of the standard devices, with so many murder mysteries in a similar setting around, it’s hard not to, but there’s enough in the vivid description of the setting and the characters to hold my interest. I’m glad the author doesn’t dwell on Tuva’s sexuality, apparently content just to hint at her ambivalence. That’s one cliched device where modern female protagonists are concerned avoided! I like it that he also devotes more space to her deafness than her drink problem. So many female protagonists in murder mysteries are socially disfunctional but she has an extra reason to be struggling with feelings of isolation.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:59 pm

      What insightful comments, thank you.

      Comment

  9. User: Harriet Steel

    Posted on: 09/01/2019 at 7:13 am

    I made a start last night. The opening is great -very atmospheric. I like the way the author brings out the silence of a place covered with snow. I always think there’s a special quality to that. It looks like the plot will be interesting too. I’m looking forward to going on this evening.

    Comment

  10. User: Bev

    Posted on: 08/01/2019 at 11:28 am

    I’m 160 pages in and mainly enjoying it. There is something missing for me as it is a sequel and I haven’t read Dark Pines. There clearly is history with the ghost writer and whatever Medusa is. The description of the town in the winter month of February is vivid and I feel the cold! A volva car is described as looking like an ice cube. I think Tuva is an interesting character and like her quirkiness. It is a dark book, easy to read and discover about the Grimberg family, what a name. Suggests a dark side, let alone the liquorice! Looking forward to finding out whodunnit with the building tension.

    Comment

  11. User: Angela L Paull

    Posted on: 08/01/2019 at 10:24 am

    This is a super follow up to Dark Pines. The moody Swedish setting is just as dark as the story itself. It was fun to revisit some of the quirky characters from the first book and yet it turns out that the town of Gavrik has plenty more sinister folks to contend with. This tale is based around the town’s liquorice factory (one of two main employers). The family that own it is steeped in tragedy and seem set to buckle under the weight of their responsibilities to the town. They live and work on site and when the father of the family throws himself off one of the factory’s chimneys it sets in motion a whole host of mysterious happenings and opens up questions about previous “accidental” deaths. With the factory in financial trouble is a warts and all book about the family history the way to save them? As with Dark Pines, journalist Tuva always seems to be in the thick of the action – no wonder she plans to head South to Malmo!

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:51 pm

      It’s such a good story… thank you for stopping by to leave your thoughts. One never thinks about how liquorice is produced (now we know……)

      Comment

  12. User: Jane Willis

    Posted on: 07/01/2019 at 5:13 am

    Well, what a book! Dark, sinister, cold, threatening, full of twists and strange characters, a family that makes the Adams Family look like Sunday School teachers, this had everything I want from a thriller. The flawed character of Tuva, with her deafness, her guilt over her mother, her drink problem and her sexual ambiguity somehow make her really endearing and this comes across in the way she befriends all three generations of the Grimsberg family, as well as in her relationships with her work colleagues and her friend Tammy.
    The book gives a very clear picture of what it’s like to live in a small, isolated town so far north that the February days have little daylight and temperatures are often minus 20C, with constant snow hazards on the roads, casserole dishes kept on doorsteps and a large part of each day spent struggling into and out of protective clothing. We might be well into the 21st century but places like Gavrik are still very much at the mercy of the weather!

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:50 pm

      Thank you so much for your detailed thoughts… Yes, WHAT a family and the depictions of the cold…. brrrr…

      Comment

  13. User: Sara Hill

    Posted on: 06/01/2019 at 5:04 pm

    I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It reminded me of a Grimm’s fairy tale with so many weird and sinister characters, Even Tuva , the story teller was strange but I soon came to admire her and certainly by the end I was really rooting for her, The town seemed to be set in a snow globe but not an attractive one! I felt the extreme cold and subsequent problems travelling., especially in an inadequate vehicle like Tuva’s rented truck. I will definitely read Will Dean’s first book “Dark Pines” very soon but will make sure I am safe in my warm and cosy centrally heated home!
    ,

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:49 pm

      Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts… yes, he so good at depicting the harsh environment. Glad you found it gripping!!!

      Comment

  14. User: Jane Willis

    Posted on: 02/01/2019 at 3:25 pm

    My copy arrived while I was away for Christmas so I have only just started reading it but from what I can see so far it is brilliant. My skin starts to itch along with Tuva’s every time she goes out into the cold. The suspense is building up brilliantly and it is an eye opening picture of life in such a harsh climate.

    Comment

  15. User: Teresa McGovern

    Posted on: 01/01/2019 at 6:28 pm

    Absolutely brilliant descriptions in this book. Even down to the little details regarding the daily struggle of putting on your coat even to nip outside and where in every household you r expected to take off your shoes. The rich descriptions of how the cold can strip your skin, I could feel tuvas painful sore ears when she put on her hearing aids. Not a book to be rushed but to be savoured. The beauty and savagery of both place and crime are something to experience through will dean’s words. Thanks to oneworld publications for the arc of this fine follow up to dark pines.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:47 pm

      Glad to hear it was a good follow up to Dark Pines!! Thank you for leaving your thoughts

      Comment

  16. User: Andrea Hedgcock

    Posted on: 31/12/2018 at 4:53 pm

    So looking forward to this as I’d read Dark Pines (and enjoyed it immensely), and Red Snow did not disappoint. There are no car chases, no gun fights, just atmospheric coldness and small town mysteries puzzling Tuva Moodyson, a deaf reporter on the local paper. And boy, do you feel the cold! The town of Gavrik is full of characters so well depicted by Will Dean that we feel we are there, we sense their fear with a killer on the loose. We feel their isolation in a blizzard struck town. The weird family who own the liquorice factory that Gavrik depends on – how bizarre and yet intriguing they are. And Tuva, deaf and independent, likeable Tuva, who has carved a life for herself by disregarding her disability. Will Dean is an exceptional talent with a great eye for detail, and yet amongst the grit and the darkness there is a black humour through comment and character. An author indeed to keep following.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:44 pm

      It’s lovely to hear the positive report back, glad it ticked so many boxes for you!!

      Comment

  17. User: Janine Phillips

    Posted on: 29/12/2018 at 1:43 pm

    Just finished and enjoyed the characters and description of the town. It’s a shame I didn’t read Dark Pines first though x

    Comment

    2 Comments

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:41 pm

      There have been a fair few comments that it would have been helpful to fully understand the story to have read Dark Pines first….

      Comment

    • User: Leah Tonna

      Posted on: 29/12/2018 at 3:38 pm

      I agree Janine, please get a copy of Dark Pines. Will Dean introduces us to all the characters in Red Snow in his first book….No wonder Tuva can’t wait to leave Gavrik!

      Comment

  18. User: Leah Tonna

    Posted on: 27/12/2018 at 8:42 am

    I finished reading Red Snow yesterday, (perfect title Will Dean), an absolute cracker of a story. Strange, unlikeable factory owning family, weird employees, & worst of all the most chilling descriptions of a Winter in small-town Northern Sweden….won’t be booking a holiday there EVER! Tuva Moodyson’s second outing is just as exciting to read as her first, Dark Pines. I loved it!

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  19. User: Janine Phillips

    Posted on: 26/12/2018 at 5:00 pm

    I’m halfway through and enjoying this so far x

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  20. User: Leah Tonna

    Posted on: 23/12/2018 at 8:34 am

    Only just received my copy & a few chapters in I’m loving it. Following on perfectly from Dark Pines, Gavrik seems as dull as before with small-minded
    town characters, but things always happen around Tuva, her job, & her friends. Can’t wait to get further into the story, thank you for my ARC.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:40 pm

      I see you thought it was a cracker of a story, so good to hear!!

      Comment

  21. User: Denise Price

    Posted on: 21/12/2018 at 2:10 pm

    Thank you for my print copy of Red Snow by Will Dean. I’ve already read the first few chapters and I think anyone who enjoyed Dark Pines, the first novel in the Tuva Moodyson series, will really enjoy this book.

    Comment

    1 Comment

    • User: tripfiction

      Posted on: 15/01/2019 at 5:39 pm

      Hope you have enjoyed it…..!

      Comment