Sara Bergmark Elfgren’s Grim is a haunting, genre-blurring triumph—part coming-of-age mystery, part love letter to the raw power of death metal, and part ghost story that lingers like a half-remembered riff. With dual timelines winding through 1980s Stockholm and a present-day amusement park, this atmospheric novel explores grief, legacy, and the secrets that refuse to stay buried.

In the present, 18-year-old Kasper is just beginning to piece his life back together when he lands a job at Gröna Lund, Stockholm’s iconic amusement park. There, he bonds with Iris, a fellow outsider who schools him in the art of scaring guests in the haunted house—a skill that becomes eerily relevant when Kasper starts dreaming of Grim, his father Håkan’s long-dead best friend and bandmate.

The narrative shifts seamlessly to the 1980s, where teenage Håkan’s world is electrified by his friendship with Grim, a magnetic misfit whose passion for death metal sparks the creation of their band. Their bond is intense, chaotic, and ultimately tragic—cut short by Grim’s mysterious death, which Håkan has never fully explained. Now, Kasper’s investigation into the past unearths unsettling questions: Who was Grim, really? Why does his shadow still loom over Håkan? And why is he reaching out from beyond the grave?

Elfgren’s prose thrums with visceral energy, whether she’s capturing the sweat-and-leather grit of the ’80s metal scene or the eerie, liminal space of an amusement park after hours. The haunted house becomes a brilliant metaphor for the novel itself—a place where the past is performative yet palpably real, where screams are scripted but fear is genuine. Kasper and Iris’s friendship crackles with wit and tenderness, offering levity against the darker currents of Håkan’s unresolved grief.

Fans of The Raven Boys and The Ghosts of Heaven will adore this book’s blend of supernatural intrigue and emotional depth. But Grim is wholly original, a story about how music can be both a lifeline and a requiem, and how the people we lose never truly leave us.

I just finished Grim by Sara B. Elfgren, and it was such a dark, haunting read. It blends mystery, metal music, and Swedish folklore in such a unique way—I was totally drawn in.

The story follows Kasper, a teen working at a haunted house, as he digs into the strange death of a metal singer from his dad’s old band. It’s eerie, emotional, and full of unexpected twists.

If you’re into moody, gothic stories with a supernatural edge, Grim is definitely worth picking up.