Thomas was always a screw up, beginning in his teens. However, things turned around once he met Jennifer. He has a steady job. He has a young son, Hugo. And he is aching to show what a great father he is by watching Hugo while Jennifer is away on a weekend trip. They talk every day and can’t wait to see each other.

So, imagine Jennifer’s surprise when she arrives at the train station expecting Thomas to pick her up and there is no Thomas and Hugo. Thomas’s car is not at the house. When they don’t show up, Jennifer calls the police. Hanna Duncker and her partner, Erik Lindgren take the call.

The first priority is to find the car and hopefully Hugo and no resource is spared. However, it is not easy searching the island of Oland, described as a place where nights are pitch-black and villages sometimes consist of no more than a few houses. There are many places one could get lost or stay out of sight if that’s the intent.

As Duncker and Lindgren investigate Thomas and his comings and goings, his life doesn’t seem to be as wonderful as we were initially led to believe.

Mo puts an interesting spin on this book. The first chapter is called The Last Day and, I’m not giving anything away when I say that intuitively we know it’s Thomas’s last day, but we still have no idea what happened to Hugo. Mo flips back and forth between the last day and the present investigation going forward day by day.

In The Night Singer, Hannah has moved back to her childhood home in Oland and gets a job with the local constabulary. She begins her unauthorized investigation into the murder conviction of her father. He was tried and found guilty of a particularly violent crime when Hannah was a little girl although that was not his nature. She has doubts about his guilt and wonders whether the story may be deeper than the facts suggest. In The Shadow Lily Hannah continues her investigation but must balance it with that of the missing Thomas and Hugo.

Mo provides enough plausible murder suspects to keep mystery fans guessing while keeping Hugo’s fate unknown until readers just ‘need to know’.

Of course, with any good Swedish noir, the locale is a main character and that is true of Oland. Additionally, a reviewer described Hannah as “a no-nonsense, dogged, and thoughtful investigator.” And a final reviewer said “Fans of realistic, detail-oriented police procedurals will best appreciate this one.” I concur and I look forward to continuing with this series as new books are published. ( )

Thank you NetGalley for this book. This is a sequel to The Night Singer. Thomas and his son Hugo are missing. Thomas has recently lost his job, or has he. He’s involved in a smuggling ring, right? Hanna and Erick do their best to find Hugo after Thomas’ body is discovered. Thomas also has an adult daughter who is not at all wel. This is a well thought out book. In the background, is Hanna’s desire to find out if her father really was guilty of murder. ( )

Het tweede boek van Johanna Mo van de eilandmoorden. Dit deel sluit naadloos aan op het eerste deel en met in de hoofdrol Hanna Duncker, die teruggekeerd is naar haar geboortedorp en daar verder op zoek gaat naar wat er precies gebeurd was met haar vader en of die echt verantwoordelijk was voor de moord waarvoor hij veroordeeld was.
Dit deel gaat deels over de zoektocht naar Thomas en zijn zoontje Hugo.
Thomas bleek veel dingen verborgen gehouden te hebben voor zijn gezin, waaronder dat hij een dochter had uit een vorige relatie. Thomas werd dood gevonden en daarom richtte het onderzoek zich eerst erop om de kleine Hugo te vinden voordat het te laat zou zijn. Daarnaast bleef nog het raadsel van de moord op Thomas dat opgelost moet worden. Wederom een spannend verhaal met een cliffhanger als einde waardoor je gaat uitkijken naar het volgende deel. ( )