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A review by kazza27
The Last Snow by Stina Jackson
5.0
The story begins with the introduction to the two families in the story. Vidar Bjornlund, his daughter Liv and her son Simon. Liv leads a miserable life living with her elderly father her mother died when she was a baby.
The other family is made up of brothers Liam, Gabriel and Liam’s daughter Vanya, they say in the village that Vidar is rich although he lives like a pauper and Juha Bjerke wants them to do a job for him and find the money. Gabriel and Liam are the local drug dealers and are always looking for opportunities to make money. Liam is the softer of the two brothers and their mother wants Liam to be good and not to be influenced by Gabriel but he has an anger that he cannot control. He loves his daughter and wants to turn over a new leaf but he struggles with this as Gabriel doesn’t want him to.
Liz has a secret, she is in a relationship with Johnny Westberg their tenant, desperate to escape her life but Vidar decides to evict him. She sneaks out at night to visit him and he questions her about Simon’s father. As the story unfolds it becomes even more apparent how controlling her father has been.
Then Vidar goes missing, one morning they awake and he is not there. The police are eventually called but did Liam and Gabriel go too far to retrieve the money ?
I found the story took me a little while to get into as the story goes from present to past. Also there is another thread to the story of a young girl who is having lots of sexual relationships. At the beginning you do not know who this girl is but I did have a suspicion.
This book is heavy with tension and very dark. There is a claustrophobic feeling to Liv’s life and I couldn’t really understand why she stayed. It has a slow pace and uncovers the story really gradually. Vidar really is a spiteful person and uses every opportunity to put Liv down to Simon.
This is a really beautifully and descriptively written dark novel, set against a bleak backdrop and totally gripping.
5 stars ❄❄❄❄❄
Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things for my invitation to the tour and to Corvus for my copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.
The other family is made up of brothers Liam, Gabriel and Liam’s daughter Vanya, they say in the village that Vidar is rich although he lives like a pauper and Juha Bjerke wants them to do a job for him and find the money. Gabriel and Liam are the local drug dealers and are always looking for opportunities to make money. Liam is the softer of the two brothers and their mother wants Liam to be good and not to be influenced by Gabriel but he has an anger that he cannot control. He loves his daughter and wants to turn over a new leaf but he struggles with this as Gabriel doesn’t want him to.
Liz has a secret, she is in a relationship with Johnny Westberg their tenant, desperate to escape her life but Vidar decides to evict him. She sneaks out at night to visit him and he questions her about Simon’s father. As the story unfolds it becomes even more apparent how controlling her father has been.
Then Vidar goes missing, one morning they awake and he is not there. The police are eventually called but did Liam and Gabriel go too far to retrieve the money ?
I found the story took me a little while to get into as the story goes from present to past. Also there is another thread to the story of a young girl who is having lots of sexual relationships. At the beginning you do not know who this girl is but I did have a suspicion.
This book is heavy with tension and very dark. There is a claustrophobic feeling to Liv’s life and I couldn’t really understand why she stayed. It has a slow pace and uncovers the story really gradually. Vidar really is a spiteful person and uses every opportunity to put Liv down to Simon.
This is a really beautifully and descriptively written dark novel, set against a bleak backdrop and totally gripping.
5 stars ❄❄❄❄❄
Thank you to Anne Cater at Random Things for my invitation to the tour and to Corvus for my copy of the book in return for a fair and honest review.