Detective John Dark's daughter has been missing for two years. In his frantic and unfruitful search for her two years ago, J Dark overreached and was reprimanded and demoted.
Now suddenly back into the homicide department, Dark is put on a chilling case - a man who killed his wife in their locked house and then dressed the body up to resemble a deer, but claims to remember none of it. A few days later an impossibly similar case crops up connecting the suspects to a prep school and a thirty year old missing persons' case.
Just as Dark is getting back into his old groove, a new lead in his daughter's disappearance pops up and threatens to derail his career again.
Time is running out and John Dark needs to solve the case before more people are killed, and while there is still hope to find his daughter.
In the style of True Detective and Silence of the Lambs, WHITESANDS is a thrilling supernatural crime novel.
It's such a pleasure to be hosting the blog tour for Whitesands today. Many thanks to Johann Thorsson, Bloodshot Books and Tracy Fenton from Compulsive Reads for inviting me and for my advance copy of the novel.
I do enjoy a gruesome police procedural and have read several examples of the genre over the years so it takes something special to really stand out. Whitesands definitely falls into that category and Johann Thorsson's unsettling debut is a memorable opening to what will surely be a compelling series.
Described as a John Dark case, the eponymous Dark suits his name as his own personal tragedy follows him like a shadow. At the start of the book he is chasing yet another lead into the disappearance of his teenage daughter, Emily, two years ago. It's clear that her loss - and his failure to find her - consumes him and though still a detective, his once promising career lies almost in ruins following his rule bending and breaking search for Emily.
However, although his aching grief and feelings of worthlessness shapes how he now approaches the world, Whitesands actually finds him given the opportunity to resurrect his career when he and his partner, Monique Moreno are handed what looks to be a straightforward homicide case. It's soon apparent that Dark has a perceptiveness that served him well in the past and although it seems that there can only be one explanation when a woman in a locked house with only her husband present is brutally stabbed to death then decorated with branches to resemble a macabre deer. The husband, though, claims to have no memory of killing his wife and despite all the evidence to the contrary, Dark can't help wondering if there is another explanation.
A second grisly murder just days later confuses matters still further; are the two deaths connected and is so, how? Although Whitesands is a police procedural, the investigation into the murders is really just the bare bones of the story. It is made flesh by a supernatural element which is at first hinted at before it becomes terrifyingly evident that there are forces involved here which extend beyond what is considered normal or rational.
The cleverly constructed plot introduces different characters whose role in the book isn't initially obvious and perhaps the most intriguing of these is Daniel whose abilities and illness are both a double-edged sword. As the novel progresses, the different strands of the plot are drawn together in a horror thriller which combines the stark realities of contemporary America - poverty, racism, privilege and healthcare are all woven into the proceedings - with a chilling ghost story which marries the bleakness of Nordic Noir with the dark mysteriousness of Icelandic storytelling.
If you want a resolution grounded wholly in reality then Whitesands may not be the book for you but those who enjoy a paranormal twist will love this compulsive, spooky thriller. The creeping sense of dread towards the end becomes increasingly sinister but it's poignant too and the conclusion is terrific; utterly horrifying and lining up the sequel perfectly. I can't wait to discover what lies in store for John Dark next! Nail-bitingly creepy, thoughtfully melancholic and thoroughly gripping from start to finish, I highly recommend it.
Don't miss the rest of the blog tour, details are below.
About the Author
He was born in 1978 in a small town in Iceland (dark and cold, close to the sea). When he was nine he moved to Israel, and later to Croatia. He now resides in the Reykjavik area with his beautiful wife and two little kids.
His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Every Day Fiction, eFiction Magazine, eFiction Horror and Fireside Fiction.
Most recently, a story of his was selected for in the forthcoming anthology Apex Book of World SF 4 and Garden of Fiends
His favourite books are 1984, Flowers for Algernon, I am Legend, The Things They Carried and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels. Oh, and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone. Romeo and Juliet. (This could go on for a while).
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