Having read the first two books in this series I wondered if the third would be as good. No real surprise that it was even better. Will Dean has a unique way of developing the plot, the twists and turns are unpredictable. As an author he always includes 'weird and odd' characters but he cleverly disguises if they are likely to be involved in the crimes. I also enjoyed the further development of the main character .Tuva

Can this series get any better? Tuva Moodyson is BACK and even though she’s moved down to Malmö, she’s raced back to Gavrik to join the search for her missing friend Tammy. Gavrik has been through the seasons in this series and this time it’s the height of summer – Midsummar to be precise. That thick blanket of snow might have gone which muffled the entire town, but now the challenges of a hot and humid summer are upon us. This is not just any summer though; it’s one where bees, wasps, mosquitoes and all kinds of other creatures come out in force. The buzz in this town comes from the insects and….SNAKES! Oh my word, there are snakes in this novel and it doesn’t get much creepier than that. It also has more than its fair share of quirks and quirky characters (wait until you meet the man who works with said snakes!) Tuva is emotionally invested this case and that really brings out her character even more. I felt as close to her in this book as it’s possible to be with a fictional character. Just as well she’s there as she seems to be the only one who’s serious about finding the missing girls. Since it’s midsummer, it’s supposed to be a time of celebration, dancing, summer evenings….but then here we have the dark and foreboding Utgard Forest and Snake River….I swear I was scratching reading this. The guy from the shoe shop also make my skin crawl. This book gave me the shivers and then BANG towards the end, although I was already a nervous wreck, I was floored by developments. Aaargh! I yelled. Not a good idea when in a public place. I had a strong Swedish style coffee when I finished. Partly to recover and partly to toast another success in the Tuva series.I have learnt a lot about Swedish/forest habits in this book. Lots of fun snippets about language and forest environments. Might try and cook some roadkill with hog fat now. Never going to play snakes and ladders again though. Highly recommended book and series. Can’t wait to see this on the TV!

Black River is the third in the Tuva Moodyson series by Will Dean, and I was thrilled to be back in the company of Tuva. She feels like a friend. A good friend. A person whose judgement you trust and who you know will have your back, so when Tuva's best friend Tammy goes missing, you know that Tuva is going on a one woman mission to get her back. This story is set in the intense heat of the Swedish Midsommer, and the pages shimmer with heat haze. Tuva is relentless in her search and the characters she meets are superb in their detail, authenticity and creepiness. Tuva I want to hang out with. The rest of them I hope I never meet. The story, skilfully crafted, keeps you guessing until the very end, and never has the word 'friend' been laced with such menace and threat.

I'm grateful to Point Blank for a free advance copy of Black River to consider for review. Tuva Moodyson is back! - metaphorically, in this her third adventure, and literally, in that she's returned in a hurry to Gavrik, the place she disparagingly calls "Toytown", the little town in the northern forest of Sweden. When last seen, Moodyson was heading South for a new job and a new life, leaving behind both her friends - her old boss Lena, her best friend Tammy - and enemies (too many to list). Now, four months off the booze, she's back to settle debts. Tammy has gone missing, suspected to have been kidnapped (but nobody in Gavrik seems to care - after all, Tammy's an outsider, not even of Swedish ancestry) and Tuva's going to find her. In this third adventure, Tuva's sharper, even more determined, even more detached. In the previous books there was a sense that, however strained her relations with the townsfolk, she was part of things with a stake - a tenuous, small stake, but a stake - in being accepted there. Part of the drama, part of the fear, of Dark Pines and Red Snow was seeing her stretch that, risk being shut out, lose her place, her role. Well, in Black River, Tuva officially doesn't care a bit. She'll go anywhere, rile anyone, poke and pry and upset and offend and she WILL FIND HER FRIEND. It's heartbreaking to see the indifference many of the townspeople show towards Tammy: yes, they'll buy her Thai food from the van, food she serves late into the Arctic nights we saw in the previous books, but they won't actually lift a finger to help find her. Like other young women who have, it seems, gone missing from Gavrik, she probably brought it on herself. Again, Tuva's left, with little help (Lena is the exception) to sift for info, ask the awkward questions, face danger when she encounters some deeply weird locals. Sally 'The Breeder' for example is chillingly strange - Dean skilfully conveys something just a bit... off... in her manner which gave me the creeps even apart from her sideline in breeding - and killing - snakes. But she isn't the only one. And then another girl goes missing. All this takes place against a background of Midsommar, the endless days, the heat, the clouds of bugs fro the forests - as inhospitable a season in its way as the midwinter cold of the previous books and one that Tuva hates with the passion of a lifelong sufferer. And yes, I have seen that film - and I think Dean cheekily deploys references too, such as the kulning or the flower bedecked poles that are the centrepiece of the festivities. Although that's not quite where we are in terms of genre, this adds a rich layer of meanings on top of the townsfolk's insularity ('They're Swedish!' Tuva is repeatedly told of some food, whether delicacy or everyday staple, to encourage her to try it - a subtle rebuke to her friendship for Tammy who after all is known for selling not-Swedish food) and also on top of Tuva's regret for her busted up family life (which we learn more about) and what she sees as her earlier desertion of Tammy. It all makes for an almost unbearably heavy emotional brew which robs Tuva of sleep, distracts her from the task at hand and shows her threats and enemies everywhere (but remember, she's faced death twice in the previous books). My heart was in my mouth as I read the closing section of this book - Tuva Moodyson is a protagonist one really comes to care for, to identify with and I wan ted her to come through this sticky, intense time without more scars, more wounds - physical or emotional. If you've read Dark Pines and Red Snow you will sort of know what to expect but here Dean cranks everything up several notches, this book is more intense, more suspenseful and - under that Midsommar sun - it manages to actually be darker than them. Just perfect, incredibly good.

I've loved all of Will Dean's books, but, the first 2 for me were missing that undefinable something that makes a book an amazing 5* as opposed to a fabulous 4*. Whatever it is, this book has it. I absolutely loved this book and the only reason I didn't devour in one sitting is that I wanted to savour the descriptive writing for as long as possible. Well, if I'm really honest, that and the fact that there are key elements of the book that I'm just too squeamish for and so, couldn't read if I was eating / had eaten / was thinking of eating.... you get it. Tuva is an incredible character, a deaf journalist who lives and works in Sweden. This book can absolutely be read as a stand alone but, honestly, I'd urge you to firstly read the other 2 books; Dark Pines and Red Snow. Mainly because they're great and also it will help set the scene for this dark thriller where 2 young women have disappeared. The town and surrounding area where the book is set is rugged, dangerous terrain that's filled with strange happenings and even stranger characters. I'll not be booking a trip here anytime soon, but, I was so hooked on the constant daylight descriptions and the affect of living in such a remote, challenging location as well as this riveting storyline, tense and harrowing searching and brilliant conclusion. A fabulous, fabulous read! Congratulations and thanks so much to Netgalley and OneWorld Publications for the opportunity to preview such an amazing read.