This is a bit of a change in location for David Hewson, a mystery set in the Faroe Islands with all the hallmarks of 'scandi noir'.

Newly-appointed District Sheriff Tristan Haraldsen and his wife Elsebeth are looking forward to a peaceful semi-retirement in the remote fishing village of Djevulsfjord on the stunningly beautiful island of Vagar. But when two boys go missing during the first whale hunt of the season, the repercussions strike at the heart of the isolated coastal community.

I have to say it's not a read for the faint-hearted as Haraldsen's first real duty in his new community is to take part in the 'grind' - a very bloody whale hunting tradition. Haraldsen is at the heart of the hunt and the reader isn't spared any of the more unpleasant details. It's during this action that there is an incident between Haraldsen and one of the boys which Haraldsen believes may have triggered their flight.

The couple are outsiders, giving them a slightly different perspective on what the locals take for granted, and this is a community with a lot of secrets that they're not keen on sharing.  He and his wife are also pretty naive, expecting more of an idyllic retreat than a hard-working fishing village. When the two boys go missing Haraldsen feels that he's to blame and takes a personal interest in the search for them. One of those brought in to work on the search is policewoman Hanna Olsen, although she has her own agenda. When the authorities feel enough has been done in the search Olsen and Haraldsen put their heads together to mount their own investigation.

The book delivers the usual mix of investigation and culture that I enjoy in Hewson's Nic Costa series - albeit set in a more harsh and unforgiving environment. It also has a slower pace, more in keeping with translated / scandi fiction. An enjoyable read, especially if you're normally a reader of scandi or nordic noir.

A fantastic read, but inky once you can get past the early stages, and their description of the traditional whale hunting methods undertaken by the Faroese people which are not pleasant. Once done however, the mystery is cracking and one not to be easily unravelled as a reader. It keeps you gripped all the way through.

The mystery surrounding the Faroe Islands

The newly retired police officer, Tristan Haraldsen, became the part-time District Sheriff for the fishing community in Djevulsfjord. He and his wife, Elsebeth, were excited to settle there. He investigated the disappearance of the two siblings during the whaling season. He discovered the many secrets of others on the island.

Those two Mikkelsen brothers, Jonas and Benjamin, lived with their mother, Alba after she was thrown out by her husband, Silas. There were previous incidents such as accidents, before the disappearance of the boys.

Many secrets were coming out of the closet while Haraldsen questioned the many residents, including the priest.

I like this book with the description of the nature of Vagar Island and the climate in the Faroe Islands. David Hewson has a good knowledge of the Faroe Islands.

Columbpoirot

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

My thanks to the Severn House Publishers and Netgalley for providing me with a review eBook. The comments below are my own.

Tristan Haraldsen is pensioned off from his desk job at the Faroe Islands police headquarters due to a minor heart condition. He and his wife Elsebeth move to a remote Faroe Island fishing village called Devilsfjord where Tristan will enforce hunting and fishing regulations as the part-time District Sheriff. It's supposed to be a low stress job to reward him for leaving the police without a fuss. For Tristan it's anything but stress-free: the first whale hunt he supervises is a bloody spectacle which is described in gory detail. This sets the stage for a gloomy atmospheric story about the insular whaling community -- the inhabitants live in virtual poverty and struggle to support themselves. Tristan and Elsebeth struggle without success to make friends in the village. They are shut out by the locals. When two young boys disappear, the stage is set for Tristan to investigate what is really going on in the village. He learns that his predecessor as District Sheriff came to an untimely end. It's a suspenseful but claustrophobic story with a cast of sharply drawn characters; a heavy atmosphere of doom and despair dominates it and can easily overwhelm a reader. It's not a light read, but can appeal to fans of Scandinavian noir mystery stories.

This is a first book in a series. The Faroe Island setting can make for interesting sequels.

As with many Scandinavian mysteries this one is dark, atmospheric and slow paced. Djevulsfjord is a dying village. There are few children or young people and the ones that do live there have lived their whole lives there. They don't like outsiders much and tend to stick to the same way of life they have had forever. From the Grind where they drive whales to the beach for slaughter to get them through the winter to understanding the hard life it is to live in such a remote desolate place.

Bodies drop like flies in Djevulsfjord, some older than others but all of them start to seem connected and some seem like they were covered up. There are many mysteries in this little town and new District Sheriff seems to be caught in the middle of it.

I've traveled the Fjords of Norway and they are isolated little towns and I can certainly see how if they didn't have tourists coming that it would be a very isolated and difficult life. This was a really well done mystery and if you love Scandi mysteries you will love this book and the ending gave me chills.

My heart skipped in delight at the promise of both a wild, remote location and a new mark on my armchair travel map with this new mystery by David Hewson. When I heard the author describe it as a “kind of gentle Scandi noir with a tough edge to it”, I was sold!

However, be forewarned – the book may start gentle enough, as ex-policeman Tristan Haraldsen and his wife Elsbeth arrive in the remote fishing village of Djevulsfjord on the Faroe Islands looking for a peaceful semi-retirement, but any illusion of that is soon shattered when two young children from the village go missing. The rest is a rather bleak and eerie tale, and very typical of the genre. Which is a long-winded way to say that I loved it! Not only do we have the perfect remote setting, but also a wild, mystical landscape and the intricate dynamics of small village life where some villagers harbour a deep dark secret. Hewson certainly knows how to write, and creates a fictional place that unfurled in my mind like a real world location.

If you are looking for, in the author’s own words (from his website), “a riveting and unusual story set in a wonderful location that hovers between the real and the mythical”, then this is definitely the right book for you. Hewson has achieved that and much more, with a mystery that seeped into my subconscious with stealth and tenacity and kept me firmly anchored in this armchair location long after the final page had been turned. The eeriness of the bleak landscape made for the perfect backdrop to a dark mystery involving the mysterious deaths that have befallen the village, even if no one wants anyone to take a closer look – especially not an outsider.

Even though Hewson freely admits that he has never set foot on Faroe soil and Djevulsfjord is strictly his fictional creation, his background research and skilful writing manage to perfectly evoke the lives of poor and simple fishing folk who depend on their annual whale hunt to bring in some extra money to survive the brutal winters. And for whom, if their circumstances may not be so lucky, there is no escape from the daily grind of poverty. Readers who are sensitive to certain triggers, such as scenes of whale hunting and killing livestock, or the death of a child early in the book, should be forewarned that Hewson is not afraid to tackle the harsher realities of island life. I admit that some of it was disturbing, but as a privileged reader living a comfortable life in a safe country and a meat eater, I would a hypocrite to hide away from facing up to such issues, so I took them in the context they are provided.

All in all, DEVIL’S FORD was an atmospheric and thoroughly engrossing story by a master of the genre, and armchair travel of the best kind! If you like wild and remote locations, then you cannot pass this one by. I look forward to treading more from this author in future and will make sure to look up his earlier books.

My thanks to Severn House Crème de la Crime for an eARC via NetGalley of David Hewson’s stand-alone crime thriller set in the Faroe Islands, ‘Devil’s Fjord’, in exchange for an honest review.

Newly appointed District Sheriff Tristan Haraldsen and his wife, Elsebeth, have moved to the remote fishing village of Djevulsfjord on the island of Vagar. His main task is to ensure that the traditional pilot whale hunt, called the Grind by the locals, is conducted according to the rules.

During the first hunt of the season two boys go missing. As Haraldsen investigates he discovers that the Mikkelsen brothers are not the first to disappear on Vagar. At every turn he comes up against the suspicion of the locals towards outsiders and discovers that the island community is rife with dark secrets.

I have read many of Hewson’s titles and have great confidence in his storytelling and ability to create a satisfying and very readable crime thriller. This was no exception and I felt that the bleak beauty of the Faroe Islands and unpredictability of the seas added to the ambiance.

I did find the account of the Grind very hard to read though did not skim it as I felt it was necessary to understand the life of the villagers as well as the reasons for the objections to it on the part of some characters.

Another well written work of Nordic Noir from Hewson with a very engaging couple as its lead characters.

Nordic noir!

A truly bleak story as tortured as the isolated area it describes. Hewson himself describes the book as, "gentle Scandi noir with a tough edge to it."
There is nothing "gentle" about this novel. It's pure, gritty Nordic noir and I loved it!
Bodies piles up, just as surely as the whale bodies do during the killing season, the "Grind" as its referred to. If you are repulsed by the garnishing of whales in what is portrayed as a traditional fisher folk activity, now rigorously governed by official regulations, then this is not the story for you. If you can move past that to seeing this as a descriptor that brings to light the harshness of this remote village life where these folk are living out the cycle of their cultural traditions, where the poverty of many of their lives becomes a background for the events that ensue, then this is a mystery for you. The folk from this community are legally entitled to hunt and trap 'blackfish' and this is a central tenet to the mystery.
Into this closed community comes a retired policeman and his wife, innocently looking for the country life. Sheriff Tristan Haraldsen and his wife Elsebeth have moved to the remote Island of Vágar, part of the Faroe archipelago of Denmark. It's the Sheriff's job to ensure that during the "grind" all goes according to the regulations. However his part does not go quite to plan. As Tristan becomes more immersed in the life, he comes to understand his naivety about his job, this village and how as an outsider he doesn't fit in. What he and Elsebeth get is more akin to gothic horror movie.
Two boys go missing. That is on top of another missing person, and the previous death of a boat captain's son. Put down to the harsh surroundings. But was it?
Then there's the policewoman with her own agenda.
Some matters are solved, if not in the normal way.
Is there redemption in this tale? I'm still left wondering. But I do know that the more I think about this story, the more I find to examine and wonder about. The various characters, how they interrelate to their community, how some take advantage of others weaknesses, destroying the supportive nature that the village has been for each other for generations over against outsiders.
There are depths here to be further explored!

A Severn ARC via NetGalley

A hauntingly atmospheric suspense story in the style of Broadchurch, this is set in an isolated village in the Faroe Islands, not a place I can ever imagine wanting to visit. Situated equidistant from Norway, Scotland and Iceland, they actually belong to Denmark, but have their own administrative system. I almost gave up on this because of the gratuitous violence of the whale slaughter in the early chapters, but it was an ARC so put it aside for a spell until my stomach could take it. The rest of the book is still bleak and rather horrifying but it’s an excellent Scandi-thriller.

Retired on medical grounds from the Torshavn police force, administrator Tristan Haraldsen believes his new role as District Sheriff in the tiny settlement of Djevulsfjord on Vagar Island will be a peaceful idyll with his wife, Elsebeth. His only duty is to supervise the Grind - the killing of pilot whales driven into the harbour by fishing boats, that the local people rely on for meat and income. When two young boys run away into the hills following an incident on the beach, Tristan blames himself, but then he discovers that other young men have gone missing from the town, with little investigation, and the locals would rather hold on to their secrets than trust an outsider.

I’ll free admit that I’m a soft city girl, who is perhaps hypocritical for eating meat, but I find the concept of whaling as abhorrent as eating dogs or people. When you live in a country where humans will spend days standing in cold water to refloat whales when they strand, the idea of massacring whole pods just because you are allowed to, in the name of culture, is anathema to me. English culture was to send children up chimneys and beat them with canes in school for talking back, but fortunately we’ve evolved. If you can’t survive on an island from fishing (whales are NOT fish) and farming, maybe you don’t deserve to. I can see what the author was trying to achieve with the prolonged descriptions of the Grind, but would’ve appreciated a warning before requesting the book.

Once past those chapters, I was gripped by the evolving mystery of what would happen to the two little monsters and exactly what went on the previous year. Tristan and Elsebeth - seen as foreigners because they come from the Capital, but who have never left the Faroes, made a likeable contrast to the brutal villagers - men who only come alive when killing and for whom pride is more important than honour, and women beaten into submission both physically and psychologically.

The writing was superb and I’ll be on the lookout for more from this author, who has an extensive back catalogue, I’ll just be careful to check reviews for mention of animal cruelty or killing first. My thanks to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. Devil’s Fjord is available now.

Once Norwegian, now a self-governing Danish province, the remote Faroe Islands form an isolated community with its own, unique culture. The perfect setting for a new thriller, which seems to be targeted more at crime enthusiasts who enjoy Shetland mysteries rather than readers who typically enjoy translated books from Scandinavian authors.

Devil’s Fjord is written in English by a practised hand from mainstream thriller mysteries, and the story settles immediately into a reassuringly familiar format. We meet the key characters in a village environment – the unwelcome newcomer from the big city, the alpha male who dominates local politics, the dubious priest, the shrewish fishwife, the trollop, the troubled youth – and, of course, a tight-knit, secretive community which has no truck with folk from the big city. Inevitably there’s a sequence of dark secrets which simultaneously bind these people together and yet threaten to tear apart their centuries-old way of life… and there’s a dead body and a missing child at the middle of the mystery.

All of this is delivered in Hewson’s typically workmanlike fashion; no particular frills but easily readable and well-presented prose. He’s certainly done his research into modern life on the Faroe Islands and delivers a convincingly credible depiction of the tough life endured still by many who depend upon the sea and a few sheep to fend off starvation each winter.

Hewson also gets top marks for tackling head-on the difficult subject of ‘the grind’, the islanders’ harvest of what they call ‘blackfish’. Isolated rural communities like the one in this book still depend on whale meat for their survival, and Hewson doesn’t flinch from voicing both sides of the argument with some passion. But be warned; if you don’t like explicit scenes of violence then you won’t want to read the opening chapters in which he describes the deliberate stranding and slaughter of a pod of whales – it’s probably more disturbing than most murders you’ll read in a serial killer thriller. And, indeed, the subsequent events in Devil’s Fjord had less impact on me than the fate of the whales.

Get past that part and you’re treated to a satisfying detective story with a slew of sympathetic characters, plenty of clues layered throughout the story to help you figure out the mystery on your own, and some satisfying comeuppance at the end.

8/10

Newly-appointed District Sheriff Tristan Haraldsen and his wife Elsebeth are looking forward to a peaceful semi-retirement in the remote fishing village of Djevulsfjord on the stunningly beautiful island of Vagar. But when two boys go missing during the first whale hunt of the season, the repercussions strike at the heart of the isolated coastal community.
I think I’ve read most of the author’s books so was excited to read this book set in a different location & it didn't disappoint. The description of the Faroe Islands is detailed & I felt I was there. A well written book which was well paced, the pace did change throughout the book. My one difficulty was how to pronoun the names. I thoroughly enjoyed the book & would recommend
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

This book is well written and interesting. I had not read about the Faroe Islands before and I was fascinated by this book. The story is really well told and everything is described really well.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Understand going in that this features whale hunting. It's a well done noir novel set in the Faroe Islands, where Tristan Haraldson has been sent in semi-retirement after a physical revealed a heart problem. He, and his wife Elsebeth thought this would be an easy time but, of course, there's a murder, then another, and Tristan himself is a target. I liked this as much for the portrait of life on Vagar as for the mystery. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Hewson writes well and has created a ver interesting pair of characters in Tristan and Elsebeth. A good read.

Tristan Haraldsen has come to realize that this isn't the place for him & his wife to retire to. There is a dark undertone to this place and that evil lives here. The whale killing season is upon the town and the townfolks can't wait to get out there and to get themselves some meat. It is his job as district sheriff to make sure that the killing is done properly and that all the rules are adhered to. But something goes wrong and two young boys run off and he blames himself for that as he tried to stop the one boy from his vicious attack on a whale. Benji & Jonas are two local boys always in trouble and now they have run off and the townsfolk think that they will come back tomorrow as they will both be in trouble. Unfortunately, one of the boys is killed and the other slower one gets all the blame. But Tristan believes that there is something else going on and he hopes that with the help of the local policewoman they can find out the truth. But the town isn't about to give up its secrets and it will make sure that the outsiders are driven back to the homeland. Can they find out what happened to a young man that disappeared all those years ago & about the last sheriff as he was killed in an accident are they linked?
A good read must say that I had to skim past the whale killing parts and I can't ever agree that it is part of their culture. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.

Tristan used to be a cop in a larger city, but when his heart shows signs of weakness, he's asked to leave the force. He moves to small village that seems magical and takes the part-time job of being the sheriff in charge of the whale hunt. He has to supervise the hunt and make reports on how many were taken. The people of the village use the meat and blubber for their households. He's asked to participate. He doesn't want to but he wants their respect so he does. He can't kill even a small whale so that plan backfired on him. When he sees a young boy who has a whaling knife just stabbing the baby whale, he attempts to stop him. The boy cuts him and runs.

Severn House and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published May 1st.

He tries to stop the boy and his brother but they get away from him. Soon the whole village is out there looking. He's out on a boat looking up and down the cliffsides for caves or openings where they might be hiding. When they see one of the boys fall from the cliff, they attempt to rescue him. He's already dead and his father almost get killed by the storm trying to get to him. The village blames his brother for killing him but Tristan doesn't think so.

This is an isolated village on the coast with just a bit of population. They've been there forever and don't accept new people well. No one admits seeing anything. Then he finds out there have been two other deaths in the past that unsolved. His administrator doesn't want him looking into them but he does.

He finds lots of nasty little details. When he finds the bad guy it looks like he, his wife, and the out of town police officer are all going to die. There's a very ironic twist to this story that surprised me.

Some small towns are strange and hide many secrets. Tristan tries to find justice but it's nowhere to be found here...

I really wanted to read this book. I love the author's Nic Costa series and I was not disappointed in this Faroe Islands Mystery!

In a small, dying village Tristan Haraldsen and wife Elsebeth are looking forward to living in the small fishing village of Djevulsfjord, a rather remote place

Tristan has taken the job of District Sheriff which doesn't demand a lot. First up on the job list is overseeing the rules of the Grind. A whale hunt. For generations the villagers have depended on the meat from the whales to see them through the winter.

This time two boys go missing and the small, isolated village is shook. As Tristan investigates the disappearance of the brothers he finds out they are not the first young men who have just disappeared on Vagar.

Tristan is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. But this charming little fishing village has some ugly secrets and aren't anxious to make Tristan's job any easier. 

This tale hit me in a few spots. I'm Norwegian and I've heard the stories of the grind. I am not in favor of it. The characters were developed well , the description of the area was easily pictured in my mind. This one had it all. The good, the bad and the very ugly.

But that ending....

Well Done!

NetGalley/ May 01, 2019  SevernHouse

When Tristan Haraldsen’s physical reveals a minor heart problem he is relieved of his job with the police and sent to Vagar, a small village in the Faroes, as the district sheriff. His sole responsibility is to oversee the grind, the forced beaching and slaughter of whales. The grind is a tradition that provides food and income for the winter, but for outsider Tristan and his wife Elsebeth it is a brutal experience.

Jonas and Benjamin Mikkelsen are young brothers who hope to help with the grind. Jonas has a reputation as a troublemaker and when he is involved in a violent incident with Tristan, the boys run away to the surrounding hills. While Tristan organizes a search, the villagers are less concerned about the boys. They are familiar with the trails and caves in the area and have disappeared before. That changes when one of the boys is murdered. Police Inspector Hojgaard considers the brother as the on,y suspect, ignoring signs that someone else has been living in the hills.

Tristan continues investigating with policewoman Hanna Olsen. Transferred from Jutland, Hanna is also searching for signs of her brother who disappeared a year ago while visiting Vagar. There have also been other deaths in the past year that have been conveniently explained by Hojgaard. In his search of police records, Tristan finds very little information on these incidents.

The village of Vagar provides a look at a dying way of life. With a small population, life is hard and the young people ar leaving to find new opportunities. It is a closed village that is not welcoming to outsiders. Hewson’s opening scenes of the grind set a dark tone that carries through the story. The residents of Vagar take care of their own and everyone seems to be hiding something. This is an atmospheric mystery that ends with a surprising twist that you will not see coming.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Severn House for providing a copy of this book for my review.

I would like to thank NetGalley for my EARC for my honest review. I have always known David Hewson for the way he researches his novels locations, and with Devil’s Fjord he has truly mastered it. So soaked in the desperate atmospher of sadness, you slowly work your way to know its characters and location in the first half, to only then work through the desperate need of the village and its inhabitants to survive. If you are willing to work through this, your reward is the faster pace of the mystery to be solved in the second half. Trust me it’s worth the read!

This exciting new stand alone thriller by David Hewson is set on the Faroe Islands, a place I didn't know much about.
An middle aged couple has moved to a small fishing and whaling community they naively thought rather picturesque after forced retirement. The life in the little small village turns out to be harsh and full of (unpleasant) surprises.
Tristan, the husband has a part time job as the local sheriff appointed to oversee the Grind, which is the massive killing of a pod of whales. After two boys run off and disappear during the slaughter of the whales it turns out that whales aren't the only beings killed in and around the little village. Together with a young police woman looking for her missing brother Tristan and Elsebeth in the end discover the killer and attain some sort of justice.

I didn't know much about the Faroes but the descriptions of the place and the culture got me very much interested. I found the descriptions of the harsh life on the islands very evocative and although I wouldn't want to watch a whale-hunt myself I found the description very enlightening.

I was surprised to discover that there are lots of puffins on the Faroe Islands and as I got very curious about these unknown parts I think I might plan a trip to go look at the puffins because I missed them when I was in Iceland.

I think the author did a great job and hope there will be more books like this one. 4,5 stars for this book.

My thanks to Netgalley and Severn House for providing me with a review copy off this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Severn House for the eARC.
District Sheriff Tristan Haraldson, newly appointed to the job in the Faroe Islands, and his wife, have retired to their new home full of enthusiasm and looking forward to living in this beautiful area. Tristan's job is to assure the 'grind ' (whale hunt) is done legally and humanely. What follows is a disturbing description of the slaughter of a pod of whales by the villagers. The whale meat and blubber will insure they have enough food to survive the winter. When 2 young brothers disappear, the discovery of the youngest boy's body at the bottom of a cliff with a hunting knife in his chest, suspicion falls on his brother who's still missing.
This is a dark story filled with characters I found hard to like. There is a claustrophobic feel to the story: the villagers and the setting are not welcoming to the Haraldsons and they begin to question their move to this supposed paradise.
In my opinion they should have turned around and left immediately, but both of them want answers to the many mysteries that have arisen: missing characters, murders and many past and present dark secrets.
As dark and disturbing as the story is, I couldn't put it down. It was a fascinating look at the dying lifestyle of these islands and posed moral questions for me; as a vegetarian I was disturbed by the bloody scenes of whale hunting, yet understood the need of the villagers.
Recommended for fans of dark mysteries and Scandi noir.