Good Evening All,

Hope you’re all well and feeling good. It’s been quite some time since I last posted a review. I took a little bit of a break from reading and was focusing on other things. I beat myself up about it for a little while but then remembered that it’s my choice. I am more than entitled to choose how I spend my time and for the last few weeks, it just so happens that I have spent my time indulging in something different. But, I’m back. I’ve read and I enjoyed it. It didn’t feel like I was doing it because I had to and that is what’s important to me.

Book 📖

I have to admit it was my partner who encouraged me to read this book. He loves a Scandinavian book and wanted to know how this one was, so I volunteered to read and review before him. Thank you to @HQstories and @KNordinAuthor for this advanced copy of Where Ravens Roost in return for an honest review. Where Ravens Roost is out now and you can get a copy here.

Description 🔖

Detective Kjeld Nygaard grew up in the small town of Varsund and as soon he was able, he was quick to leave. He chose a career in the city over his family and over the years lost touch with his father and sister. Until his father, Stenar calls him and leaves a message saying that there has been a murder in his raven barn.

There is little to no evidence and the local police aren’t interested in investigating further. Stenar’s Alzheimers diagnosis has everyone but Kjeld believing that this is a confused delusion. Kjeld can’t resist investigating and soon finds a body in the barn. The local police turn their focus onto Stenar and therefore it is up to Kjeld to prove that his father had nothing to do with the crime.

General Thoughts 🤔

Mysteries and thrillers are probably the books that I enjoy most so I did enjoy this book. It had secrets and different paths of investigation and I liked that. There were a few action chapters that gave me a drama fix and therefore overall the book was made up of all the things that I look for.

There was something I thought was missing but I can’t quite put my finger on what. The mystery wasn’t quite complex enough maybe? It’s not that the book was predictable but I kind of just felt a little bit of disappointment at the end. A bit like oh, ok, that’s what happened. There wasn’t a big gasp moment for me.

Characters 👫👭👬

Kjeld was very much the main character in the book. I found him to be exactly as you would expect; complicated, moody, dark and fighting demons. I liked him and had some empathy for him at the end. I did feel a little bit like I wanted to know more about him. There are mentions about his past in the book and I spent a while wondering if this was actually a second book in a series. Some pretty big events were mentioned but not much information given. They didn’t add much to the story which is what I think caused my confusion.

Kjeld’s sister Sara is the other character I’d like to mention. I felt sorry for this character for almost the entire book. However the book reveals a lot about her at the end and once I’d read that, I couldn’t match the two Saras together. It was like reading about two different people for me. Maybe I missed some hints about her earlier in the story.

Writing Style ✍️

As I alluded to, I spent the first quarter or so of this book thinking I’d jumped into a series mid-way through. I couldn’t work out why the history about Kjeld was included in the story as I couldn’t make the link between the past and the present. I think there should have been more correlation between the past and present, or the past should have been left out altogether.

What I did like was that when there were chapters full of action, I as a reader was thrown right into them with no warning. I liked that there wasn’t a build up for these scenes as it caught me off guard and kept me alert.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read but not a book that I will be likely to remember for all time. I will hold my hands up and admit that I read this book in chunks rather than all in one go, so that may have something to do with me feeling like I wasn’t 100% drawn in to the storyline. If you’re looking for an easy read but would still like a thriller fix, then I would recommend this.

😍😍😍😩😩