BOOK TOUR STOP x RANDOM THINGS TOURS: Thirty Days of Darkness by Jenny Lund Madsen

 

"This town has secrets that are best left alone."

Author Hannah is a success, on paper at least. She's receiving critical acclaim and praise worldwide and her work is regarded as some of the best. She writes literature, not just books. But the reality is, outside of the literary circles nobody actually reads her work.

But when she finally snaps at a book event and publicly criticises the genre fiction books that outsell hers, claiming they're easy and mindless she's challenged to write her own crime fiction novel in just thirty days by an author she loathes. Desperate not to lose to him, her editor arranges for her to spend a month in a quiet, cold village in Iceland hoping that the solitude will spark inspiration. 

But instead of writing a murder story - she's in one. Just before she arrives, the body of a young man is pulled from the icy waters and her search for ideas soon becomes a search for a killer. And if she's not careful, she might end up the victim of someone else's story.

"Revenge is inescapable. Maybe it won't come in the form you think it will. Maybe not from the direction you're expecting."

This striking debut is a haunting, chilling read that immediately transports us to an isolated, frigid village miles away from everything we know. Everything is unfamiliar, with a visceral and intense setting that peppers in the smallest details to create a captivating backdrop that makes you feel the cold wind and dark nights around you. 

Hannah was an excellent narrator - despite her unlikability at the start and her prickly demeanour she quickly becomes more personable, her unique traits and her motivations becoming clearer by the page. She's stubborn, a bit superficial, but there's something more to her. The supporting cast are spectacular; the small town almost becomes a character itself, full of vibrant, close-knit residents and their secrets.

 Hannah finds herself unlikely friends, team mates, and even a little romance with a magnetic woman who offers a little warmth in the cold - all the relationships grow naturally and change with the characters. 

I'm sure it would be much to Hannah's disapproval,  but this book masterfully blends poetic, literary prose with the biting intensity of a crime thriller. A steady page that keeps the story moving quickly but never gives too much away, with whiplash-inducing twists and turns throughout that are wickedly clever and sharp. But even beneath the layers of lies, death and confusion, the storytelling is quiet, patient. It doesn't reveal these twists with a shout or shock, but instead allows these terrible revelations to be drawn from the dark until they join together in a fever pitch. But even with this quiet, there's no filler - every passing comment or observation adds something to this tale. 

A wickedly clever, cinematic novel with a delightfully dark concept - I cannot wait to hear more from Madsen. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced reviewers copy of this title in return for an honest review. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours and Karen at Orenda Books for inviting me to take part in this tour. 

cw: death, violence, alcohol, mentions of rape and assault.