A very readable Scandi Noir with a strong historical thread as well as a compelling present day police thread. Gave a good insight into the political situation in Sweden around the time of the Vietnam war, which was interesting for its own sake as well as being integral to the story.

Tove Alsterdal’s “Deep Harbour” isn’t just a murder mystery; it’s a tapestry of suspense, social commentary, and personal revelation. Alsterdal plunges us into the depths of a mystery, where the discovery of a murdered man unearths a long-buried past.

The novel blends the investigation with the fascinating social history of Swedish communists and the plight of American Vietnam War deserters who sought refuge in Sweden during the late 1960s. This dual timeline adds remarkable depth, with the lingering shadows of the past.

But what elevates “Deep Harbour” is its exploration of Detective Eira Sjödin’s own family history. As Eira delves into the present mystery, she uncovers secrets that force her to confront a past she never knew existed. This personal journey adds an emotional layer to the narrative, making us deeply invested in Eira’s well-being and the truth she seeks.

Alsterdal’s writing is crisp and suspenseful, keeping you on the edge of your seat as the investigation unfolds. The characters are richly drawn, each with their own complexities and secrets.

Highly recommend!

Any Scandi noir book has to be good to keep me reading the difficult names ( difficult for me not the world in general). So I have to say this did hold my interest despite the very multi layered timeline and plot(s). So many strands and so many odd characters. Not exactly a hard read but neither was I totally convinced by the book as a whole. When I thought about it all after I had finished it I realised the one piece of information I was most committed to discover was who the baby’s father was. So that at least was a thread worth waiting for.

Very good. I enjoyed the setting and characters as well as the 2 different time periods, I was born in 1968 and the descriptions and backdrop were interesting. .

Artic Noir can be a hit or miss for me and this one was a hit as I enjoyed the story and loved the FMC.
If you are watching Night Country you could feel some common elements.
I'm fascinated by the extreme climate, the spriing and the solit plot
Well done
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This is the latest book I the High Coast series and is written in an easy-to-read style. Having not read the earlier books in the series, I found it difficult to understand all of the characters. The story jumps around a lot between characters so it takes a bit of concentration to figure out. Given that, it might be worth starting at Book 1 in the series.

A delightfully readable novel set in Sweden which explores how the past can be carried forward into the future and how secrets can impact on us even from beyond the grave.

A well written book about a discovery of a body from around the time of the Vietnam war. This discovery leads a pregnant police officer on a hunt find out what happened. People from her past return to a shocking effect, however, I found some of the story a little long winded and drawn out.

This book was quite the journey! I read it as a standalone but think I'd have had a lot more clarity had I read the precious books and had a bit of background on the characters. It's well plotted out and multilayered, there's the main plot and then a few subplot strands that all weave together very well, although sometimes i did lose where I was in each sub plot and get a bit muddled. That said, the multiple plots/ povs work well. The characters are well fleshed out and brought to life, it's got a good pace to it and some really well done twists. Can't wait to go back and read the other 2 books and see how I feel about the series as a whole

I really enjoyed this book, a third in the series. The characters are great and makes for a very enjoyable read.

It has maybe coloured my view of this book that this is the third in a series which I haven't read before. All the characters are therefore new to me. I can't even say whether reading the first two would make me enjoy it more.

The story is a mixture of a few strands. The first is the discovery of a corpse that has been in the water for around 50 years. As Eira Sjodin is almost on maternity leave she is given the task of unravelling the mystery from her desk. I get the feeling that Eira doesn't like being put of the loop.

The second part which intertwined with the historic murder is the reminiscences of Allan Westin, another resident of the small town of Kramsfors.

The third strand is the imminent birth of Eira's baby and her insecurity over who the father is.

And finally we have what I assume is the reappearance of Lina Stavred, believed dead but now wanted for a different crime. Eira's brother, Magnus, is already serving time for a murder that Lina committed.

So what I ended up with was a jumble of different stories and just when you were getting into one part, the story switched leaving you feeling a little bereft and having to remember where you'd left the previous strand.

It is reasonably easy to follow but very disjointed. I didn't particularly like any of the characters as they all seem to be quite marginal people. There's a lot of anti-establishment, dysfunctional family stuff and it left me feeling a little cold.

I didn't realise this was the third in the series until I'd started reading so perhaps reading the first two might make me like the characters more.

Thanks to Netgalley and Faber & Faber for the advance review copy.

As the spring warmth melts the ice, divers search the wreckage at the bottom of the Ångermanland River - but the murdered man they recover was put there much more recently than the historic artefacts they were seeking.

This is a great, well-written story. Believable characters in true situations. It does, however, flit about a bit and is sometimes difficult to follow but the story pace is okay. I am a big fan of Scandi writers but haven’t read anything else by this author. On the whole, an enjoyable read.

Deep Harbour is an excellent page-turner. This is the third book in the series, and the best so far. Tove Alsterdal continues to go from strength to strength

This is the first novel i have read by this author and certainly makes me want to read more.
Unfortunately none of the earlier books are available on my paid book subscription.
Eira has notionally been moved to a desk job in the police force of a small Swedish town due to her pregnancy. But a body has been found in the mouth of the local river by divers and she takes on the investigation. The bones prove to be decades old and the investigation focuses on the Sixties and the part played by Sweden in accepting deserters from the Vietnam war. This is a part of history i knew nothing about and found it very interesting . Cold war paranoia also affected this small town where Eira was brought up , so not surprisingly members of her family and neighbours feature in the case and long standing secrets come to light.. I liked the way Eira doggedly investigates this despite her advancing pregnancy and the fact it is too old to lead to any possible prosecutions.
I thought everything was very plausible and led to a satisfying ending.
Thanks to NetGalley and Faber&Faber for the ARC of this novel.

I was unaware when I chose to read Tove Alsterdal's gritty Swedish book that it was the 3rd in the series, and I was curious about and did feel that it would have helped to have read the others. With the melting ice, divers are focusing on the sunk wreck in the Angermanland River, only to make a surprising discovery of a murdered body, a man shot and placed there in significantly more recent times, approximately around 50 years ago. Looking into the case is the pregnant Detective Eira Sjodin, on deskbound duties, unsettled by and uncertain who is the father of her child, something that only becomes known to her at the end. She is a determined woman, as she begins to dig, learning that little is as it first appears.

There are buried local secrets that the bones point to, a mystery with its twists and turns, local and global, with tentacles that reach much further afield, and which Sjodin could hardly have expected to have become so very personal to her. It leads to her family and her mother, residing in a nursing home, afflicted by dementia, and her fragmented partial memories. The shifts to the past prove to be intriguing, and going back to the Vietnam War, the involvement of the CIA, the links to the present, and more. Then there is Lina, Sjodin's brother, Magnus, is serving time for a murder he is not responsible for. This is a thought provoking, well plotted, engaging, enjoyable, and compulsive mystery that had me in its grip from start to finish, and with a marvellous sense of location.

However, I could not eradicate the notion that I should have read the other books to have a greater understanding of this one with its wide cast of characters. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

This is my first Tove Alsterdal book and I hadn't come across this author before.
When a body is discovered by a diver, Detective Eira Sjödin, takes on the case of identifying the deceased and discovering what happened to them.
The mystery takes Eira back into past decades.
I love Scandi crime fiction and I'm happy to have found a new author! This was not as pacy and gruesome as some in this genre, but it's an interesting and thoughtful read.

Detective Eira Sjodin is meant to be meant to be doing primarily deskwork as she is several months into her pregnancy. But when a team of divers, looking for old sunken wrecks, come across a body she is drawn into the investigation. Eira's problem is she goes at it like a dog with a bone and so gradually follows a trail that spans 50 years. The ramifications arising are destined to impact both the local community and her family, sometimes with grim consequences.
This reader struggled to carry the names of characters and locations but this is predictable as this story has a Swedish author and is set in that country. And, as a result, the flow of the story was somewhat lost in translation. But the investigation, characters and setting are all very believable and Deep Harbour is a novel that shall draw you by releasing surprises and twists that make the outcome genuinely unpredictable.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Faber and Faber Ltd for an advance copy of Deep Harbour, the third novel in the Highlands Coast series featuring Detective Eira Sjödin and set in Northern Sweden.

Divers find a skeleton in the Ångermanland river, but it’s not nearly as old as the wreck it is found in. Eira is put in charge of the investigation and the more she discovers the closer the investigation gets to her own family.

I have not read this series before, so, always up for a new challenge, I requested Deep Harbour. I think that it quite a deceptive novel in that it slowly reveals a number of shocks in an even, nothing to see here tone. The contrast is amazing.

Eira is pregnant and unsure about the father, neither of whom in my eyes is a good candidate for the role with one wanting to involve his girlfriend and the other prone to tinfoil hat thinking. This dilemma plays out through the novel, while Eira is investigating the bones. Obviously with bones there is a trip to the past and what a past it is. I’m not going to name the era out of respect to the author’s wishes, but it is one shock after another and tells a story I had never heard of. I like the way Eira relentlessly pursues information and manages not only to name the bones but produce a full history. This involves various people she knows with some surprising secrets uncovered.

The novel is told from various points of view and even introduces a subplot which is considerably more dramatic than Eira’s no frills investigation. It takes the reader some time to assimilate where each voice fits in, but once in place they all have a role to play.

Deep Harbour is a good read that I can recommend.