Published 1st April 2021 by Zaffre.
From the cover of the book:
Southern Sweden: Beautiful countryside, endless forests, coastal walks, dark days - and even darker nights. But beneath the beauty lies a dark heart . . .Skåne, 1986: On the night of Walpurgis, the eve of May Day, where bonfires are lit to ward off evil spirits and preparations are made to celebrate the renewal of spring, a sixteen-year-old girl is ritualistically murdered in the woods beside a castle. Her stepbrother is convicted of the terrible deed and shortly after, the entire family vanishes without a trace.
Spring, 2019: Dr Thea Lind moves into the castle. After making a strange discovery in an ancient oak tree on the grounds, her fascination with the old tragedy deepens. As she uncovers more and more similarities between her own troubled past and the murdered girl, she begins to believe that the real truth of the killing was never uncovered.
What if the spring of 1986 claimed more than one victim?
Rites of Spring was a number one bestseller in its native Swedish on publication in March 2020.
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Give me a book about small town secrets and lies and I am always going to be happy. Throw in a gorgeous Scandinavian location, a mystery to be solved, and some fabulous folklore, and I will be a very happy bunny indeed - which certainly proves to be the case with this glorious Scandi thriller by best-selling Swedish author Anders de la Motte.
Dr Thea Lind is newly arrived in the Skåne village of Tornaby, the childhood village of her husband David who hopes to open a Michelin starred restaurant in the old castle with the help of the Bokelund Foundation.
Thea is unsure of how her relationship with her husband lies, but feels obliged to back him in his newest venture after all the support he has given her with her recovery from the PTSD that troubles her after serving in war-torn Syria. But she still feels like a fish out of water and under close scrutiny in the tight-knit community she now finds herself a part of, and more than a little suspicious that the whole situation has been arranged by the machinations of her formidable mother-in-law, who co-incidentally heads the Bokelund Foundation.
As Thea settles into small town life, she comes across a strange token and polaroid photograph hidden in an old tree dedicated to the legend of the Green Man, near the castle. The picture shows a young girl tied down on a slab in the middle of the nearby ancient stone circle, surrounded by four young children in animal masks, and is clearly intended to be some sort of re-enactment of the old spring sacrifice ceremony.
When Thea discovers that a sixteen-year-old girl, Elita Svarts, was murdered at the stone circle in 1986, and that her husband is one of the children in the photograph, she is desperate to find out what happened all those years ago. No one wants to talk about the tragedy, least of all David, but Thea is adept at solving puzzles and the connection she feels to Elita, through their shared childhood experiences, compels her to pursue her investigation - leading her to find out that not only was Elita murdered, but that her step-brother was convicted of killing her, and strangely, the remaining members of Elita's family disappeared without a trace after the funeral.
Thea is convinced that there is something funny about the whole business and the way mouths clamp shut once she raises the subject, and as the puzzle pieces fall into place she is certain that the wrong man was blamed for Elita's death. At the same time, more than one person is unhappy about her prying into the past, and her quest is leading her into dangerous waters - and the risk that her own closely-guarded secrets may come to light too.
The tension mounts beautifully as Thea goes about solving the mystery of Elita's death, and we learn of her own secret past and repressed feelings. The action in the present is also broken up by glimpses of what actually happened all those years ago through the eyes of those present, giving some slick red-herrings to distract you, and short narrative passages in Elita's own words which make you question exactly what her intentions were. Both timelines collide beautifully with an eventful climax on Walpurgis Night during the inaugural dinner at the castle - but Anders de la Motte is not done with revealing all there is to know quite yet, and there are still some eventful scenes that play out before the sad truth is known in full.
The plot is deliciously twisty, the menacing mood draws nicely on the underlying supernatural themes of the folklore surrounding the legend of the Green Man and sacrifice, and the claustrophobic location of the forest backdrop and creepy castle is perfection. Think a mix of Stieg Larsson and C.J. Tudor, with a big dollop of The Wicker Man and you will get the glorious picture. I really enjoyed the way de le Motte uses the analogy of a jigsaw puzzle being put together throughout, and the similarities he draws between Thea and Elita's backgrounds - especially the way Thea draws strength from this.
Rites of Spring is by far the best Scandi thriller I have read in ages, and I was unable to put this page-turner down until I had consumed the gripping story in full. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that I have already pre-ordered the next book in the Skåne Quartet, End of Summer, which is coming in August, and will be making Anders de la Motte one of my auto-buy authors from now on.
Rites of Spring is available to buy now from your favourite book retailer.
Thank you to Zaffre for providing me with an e-copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Tracy Fenton of Compulsive Readers for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.
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