"In the snow-covered silence of Swedish midwinter, a terrible accident and a deadly secret draws several strangers together...

January in Gotland. The days are short, the air is cold, and all the roads are covered in snow. On a deserted, icy backroad, these wintery conditions will soon bring together a group of strangers with a force devastating enough to change their lives forever when, in the midst of a brief period, a deadly accident and two separate crimes leave victims in their wake.

Four years later a single phone call is all it takes to bring back the terror of that day and to set in motion a plot for revenge. For Sandra it started as an unremarkable wintery day of shopping followed by a kind gesture from a stranger. For Jeanette it began with the thrill of an illicit rendezvous with her lover. Both women had driven past the same icy ravine, but only one was in the car that caused a deadly crash, and only one left a man to die alone in the snow.

Each carried a secret from that day, a secret that, if revealed, could connect them to a larger, more terrible transgression...And there is someone out there who knows the whole picture, and who would rather kill than allow it all to come to light.

Chilling and atmospheric, Black Ice is a gripping standalone novel of suspense from the author of the internationally-bestselling Hammarby series."

Shivers! From the suspense, not the cold!

Black Ice by Carin Gerhardsen is a superb read which will keep you engrossed and turning pages at a rapid rate until the very last one.

I have to admit, I had no idea where this book was going & it took me a few chapters to really get hooked. The way the characters lives & stories weave together after that fateful day was a pleasant surprise.

This book had SO MUCH potential! I really wanted to like it, but I lost interest.

One evening in January 2014 during a snowstorm on the Swedish island of Gotland, two cars collide on the icy backroads. The fatal hit and run is never reported, therefore the car in the ravine isn’t found for days. With no witnesses coming forward, it’s presumed a single-car accident. The problem is that there are three other people still alive that know what happened even if one of them was drunk. The past refuses to stay buried and four years later a call to a help line indicates that someone knows what went on that night.

Things I struggled with:
• Narrative style/diary entries/newspaper articles = execution of plot was not interesting
• Couldn’t identify with a single character
• Emotionless prose
• Choppy writing (translation issues, mainly) with dual timeline and multiple POV

Great points:
• Appealing cover
• Setting; winter on Swedish island of Gotland in Baltic Sea
• premise

Carin Gerhardsen highlights how the fates of four individuals collide and their future is changed as the result of one careless decision. Closure is impossible because a fear of retribution for their actions prevents those involved from reporting the crime.

The premise of this story and the cover had me really looking forward to this one but I was a little disappointed when reading it. Some parts felt like they dragged on a little too much while the bigger surprises were not built up enough in the writing. It was hard to follow at times and felt choppy. I'm not sure if that is due to the translation or not though.

Excellent edition to the "Swedish Noir" category. Alternating chapters from the three main characters in a murder mystery. Short chapters which add to the sense of suspicion with unexpected cliffhangers and jaw dropping revelations. There are two time periods addressed: 2014 when the event took place, and 2018 when it was resolved. The weather is also a constant character in this type of novel. I loved it-the atmosphere, the subtle hints to important plot points, the characters. Highly recommended. I received this book at no charge from #Netgalley and the author, but all opinions are my own.

#BlackIce #NetGalley
Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this novel. It is a slow burn novel that crime buff will enjoy.

This book is a slow moving danish noir thriller with atmospheric elements. I truly enjoyed getting to know all the characters and the plot was great! Thank you so much for the advanced copy of this thrilling book!

With an intriguing cover and a winter setting on the Swedish island of Gotland within the Baltic Sea I was pretty hopeful that I would like this book. Carin Gerhardsen is best known for the trio of Hammarby police procedurals set of novels which commenced with The Gingerbread House. Having the same editorial team and publisher as Stieg Larsson these books were released in the UK by Penguin. Little was heard from Gerhardsen in the seven years since the trilogy was completed until this release of Black Ice by Scarlet.

This is a standalone novel and displays some interesting writing techniques. The narrative follows a distinct approach with diary like extracts from four of the main characters indispersed with occasional newspaper articles. This does naturally mean that the story takes place in the past tense, although it is usually in chronological order.
Beginning in January 2014 on a fateful afternoon we meet Sandra who is offered a life back to her house by a man she has never met before after her taxi fails to appear. We also meet Jeanette who has slipped away to find a secluded place behind the back of her husband to meet her married lover. Shortly afterwards two cars meet on a narrow pass which is covered in black ice as a blizzard begins. One driver tries to take aversive action and plunges into the quarry beside the road. The other hesitates and then drives off.

Black Ice shows how fates collide and how complacency from those involved ensures that no one person has full knowledge of the accident which is not reported. The resultant fallout has life changing consequences for the key characters. Four years further on Sandra who provides telephone counselling receives a telephone call from a stranger which begins to bring back some memories.

With a steady pace, the novel unravels the story of how these people’s lives overlapped with clues left to be picked up later and several clever twists. After four years little can be proven. Nobody knows the whole truth but eventually enough of the truth appears to be known for someone to be threatened. This puts the lives of others in danger. From there the novel quickens to a satisfying climax.

Black Ice is an engaging psychological thriller which is well crafted, unpredictable and fairly uniquely written through the points of view of several characters. The narrative style and dilatory behavior of the characters means it will not appeal to everyone. With patience this is a rewarding and distinct read but maybe not quite as fulfilling as I'd hoped.

With Thanks to Carin Gerhardsen and Penzler Publishers for an advanced readers copy of this book.

This book didn't work for me. I don't know if it was the style, or possibly losing something is translation but the concept is much more interesting than the execution.

I feel like to facilitate the tension, the reader is not able to get to know any of the characters involved well, and because of that I just didn't care about any of them. I finished the book, and wouldn't say i actively disliked it. It's just a very middle of the road read for me.

3 Stars.

First of all: thank you so much to the publisher for granting my "wish" on Netgalley - I immediately fell in love with the cover and the premise of this story, which promised a taut atmospheric setting and a dark Nordic noir read. In parts it delivered all of these, especially the cold and bleak atmosphere, which was brilliantly set by the opening scene. I shivered to imagine a car accident on the icy winter roads, a driver trapped and dying alone because noone goes for help. After this, however, I found myself struggling more and more with the writing style, especially the multiple timelines and POVs, which were confusing. Perhaps it is related to the translation, though I also never really warmed to any of the characters, which always means that I will struggle to feel emotionally invested in the story. In the end, I had to concede that this book just wasn't a good match for me at this time, though I may pick it up again at a later time.

Thanks to Gerhardsen, Penzler and NetGalley for giving me this chance to have ACR in exchange my honest review.
The first book I read by Carin Gerhardsen and it's good well written and suspenseful enough. It's exactly what I expected as the psychological thriller. Carin Gerhardsen is really genius to build the atmosphere. ‎The story is quite complicated but good enough to keep surprising you. The plot is fast paced and good enough to thrill my exciting. It gripped me with many clever twists and turns all the time. It's told from different perspectives which drives the story in a very cruelly exciting way. Actually, there are different people who tell about the same events from different perspectives would make me excited. I kept reading because I was so excited for what would happen. It's definitely unputdownable and page turner. Highly recommend it.

The incredible error cover really appealed to me as did the premise which sounded compelling and dark, and had all the elements I love to find in a thriller... Dark icy roads, an accident .... There was so much potential. Sadly for me the book description combined with the sharpe cover design did not reflect the sadly rather bland and strangely written novel it referred to. I do wonder if it was the translation but the narrative style was not easy or enjoyable to read, and although I love details and descriptive prose to build the plot and back history within a story this felt like an a rather unsophisticated information dump. I really was very excited about the book but it left me disappointed. Overall it felt flat, the characters who could have been very interesting felt very bland and even at the moment of the initial accident , the pivotal moment to which the whole novel revolves, a moment that could have been thrilling, shocking, an opportunity to elevate the readers heart rate and leave us reeling, was so underplayed I almost missed it , I had to reread the passage to understand that the accident had happened, we then hopscotched between characters in a rather confusing way that again made this book even more hard to engage with and enjoy. There were some promising twists but these didn’t do we to elevate the book by this point and I found my interest in continuing to read and to finish the book waning. Thankyou so much for the publisher and for netgalley for allowing me to read I appreciate the opportunity but sadly this one just didn’t do it for me .

I love a scandi noir setting and so I really thought I would love this, however it felt a little flat. The twists never quite developed to my liking but obviously that is the point of reading someone else’s book. I’d definitely recommend it to others, perhaps I enjoyed it less because I wanted the story to pan out differently to how it did which is no real criticism on the author.

What an action packed thriller! The different characters were confusing at first, but the story helped blend them together.

This is a multi-pov thriller that starts off mostly with the POVs of the 2 main characters, then gradually expands to other characters the more you read. It also has a dual timeline following the events surrounding the accident (4 years ago) and the present.

So there is a lot going on in this book, but not a lot at the same time. It's quite long and quite slow in parts, but you do get answers to certain things along the way. This is a - nothing is as it seems - scenario.

I enjoyed Sandra's POV the most, as I found it easiest to connect and empathise with her. The author has done a good job in making all the perspectives very distinct, but overall the characters are quite unlikeable. This can be a good or bad thing depending on your personal reading preference.

The emotional side of the book is very heavy and you really don't get any moments of relief, so fair warning if you're quite sensitive like me. There is definitely a feeling of unease throughout the book. I do wish there had been more of that beautiful wintery atmosphere and scenery, that I expected from looking at the gorgeous cover though.

This is a very character driven book, that focuses heavily on the psychological elements and making you second guess what you think you know. So if you're looking for a heavier read & you don't mind unlikeable characters, this book could be for you.

*Thank you so much to Penzler Publishers, the author & NetGalley for granting me a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @87%

I tried. I really did. But I couldn't get through this book. Perhaps I should pick up the original Swedish version and give that a try. I wanted to finish it, and I made it almost to the end, but I couldn't take it anymore, and I don't want to waste my time forcing myself to sit and read a book that I don't find interesting.

I really disliked the narrative style of this book. The entire thing felt like a big info-dump and none of it was entertaining to read. I very much like the concept, but there was no suspense or thrill in reading this and that was something I was expecting based on the synopsis.

Spoiler Alert!!
Even as one of our main characters walked away from a car wreck and left the driver there to possibly die just so she could save herself from the mortification of revealing her affair, it still felt bland and uninteresting.

I almost wonder if it's the translation, since sometimes books don't translate well, even if the translation is done really well, so maybe I'll grab the Swedish edition if I have the opportunity in the future, but for now, this was a no for me.

My group of what I call "Nordic Readers" is growing and this title is a perfect crossover for those not familiar with the genre. We love twisty-turns and interconnected drama. Black Ice had it all and more. I cannot wait to introduce my readers to what will be a new favorite!

For me, this book sounded way more interesting than it was. I think for plot twist reasons we were never really able to get properly involved with or invested in the story of the characters and that made me a little disinterested towards the middle when the story began to drag. It is a good story, I just feel like it could have been much better.

A group of strangers are brought together with a force devastating enough to change their lives forever when, in the midst of a brief period, a deadly accident and two separate crimes leave victims in their wake.
Four years later a single phone call is all it takes to bring back the terror of that day and to set in motion a plot for revenge. For Sandra it started as an unremarkable wintery day of shopping followed by a kind gesture from a stranger. For Jeanette it began with the thrill of an illicit rendezvous with her lover. Both women had driven past the same icy ravine, but only one was in the car that caused a deadly crash, and only one left a man to die alone in the snow.
Each one has a secret! And someone knows a whole lot more!

This was such an intense read! I was hooked from start to end with this amazing writing and character development. I loved the suspense. The plot the twist!
Such a good quick weekend read!