Viveca Sten in Jämtland

 

This is the Viveca Sten novel from 2021 titled Dalskuggan in Swedish and published in English translation as Hidden in Shadows. As you can see I read it in the French translation by Amanda Postel and Anna Postel, Les Ombres de la Vallée. It's Verborgen in de Schaduw in Dutch, Tief im Schatten in German, Skyggedalen in Norwegian and Danish, Laakson Varjo in Finnish, Ascunsă în umbră in Romanian, Daladrungi in Icelandic,  . . .

The titles hint at the "valley of the shadow of death" in Psalm 23 (which is mentioned in the novel, Ch 52a). But this time the Lord doesn't defend against evil, seemingly. 

I'll admit I picked it up at the French service station because of the Jämtland setting; I might not have spent my money on one of Viveca Sten's earlier Sandhamn Murders, which are set in the Stockholm archipelago, but I was intrigued by the thought of readers all across Europe reading about Jämtland. In this case "Jämtland" mainly means the area around Åre that tourists flock to every winter. The novel's locations are strung along the central stretch of the E14 (the E75 of my youth), and its abiding image is of the exhausted investigators driving back and forth along this wintry highway, reactively swayed by priorities and struggling to reflect. 

E14, east to west.

(The novel moves forwards and backwards from the initial discovery of the corpse of Johan Andersson. I've done my best not to give away crucial developments, so some of these notes are a bit mystical.)

Sundsvall. The eastern terminus of the E14, a long way east of the other locations. This is where, ten years ago, Daniel's mother was killed by a hit-and-run driver.

Östersund. Largest town in the county of Jämtland, police HQ. Johan's parents live here. Marion picks up her brother Florian from Östersund airport. The helicopter goes to Östersund hospital.

Mattmar. Carina Grankvist (forensics) lives here.

Järpen. Rebecka went to college here. Ida's mother Elisabeth lives in a flat here. The witness Elin works here. Raffe lives at Kall, a few kms north of Järpen; also at Kall, the isolated cabin lent to Johan by a friend. 

Åre. Site of the police station where the team gather at the start and end of each day, with video link to Östersund.  Daniel and Ida live here, they first met at the nightclub Bygget, the same place Anton meets Carl. Anton was born and raised in Åre (or Duved?). Åre has become a tourist sprawl. Hanna lives in her sister Lydia's fancy chalet at Sadeln (new development to the E of Åre). Richard takes the children swimming at the Copperhill Hotel, also in this bit of Åre. On his last afternoon Johan was working at Sadeln with a lunch-break at Björnänge. Linus' wife Sandra works at a beauty salon in the central square of Åre. Near here, Hanna and Daniel eat pizza at the brasserie Werséns. Ida meets her friend Tove at a grill in Åre. Hanna and Daniel are tempted by a maxiburger at Brokens but instead grab a hot-dog at the service station near chair-lift VM6. Hanna drinks alone at the Veranda. Edsåsdalen, where Daniel and Ida planned an excursion, is south of Åre. 

Duved. Johan was born and raised here, went to school here with Linus and Carl. He met up with Carl at the restaurant Pigo on his last night. Carl lives here. Anton lives here. Linus and Sandra live in the countryside a few kms from Duved. Ole's father is in an old people's home in Duved. The van smash takes place near Duved.

Staa. Home of Johan and Marion. They live N of the E14. Staa also has a waste disposal site on the S side. On his last night Johan's van was seen parked south of there ("Klubbvägen", but the street-names in the novel are fictional).

Gevsjön. Johan's van is found here, on a minor road.

Tångböle. Johan's corpse is found near here.

Ånn. Where Rebecka works at the (fictional) kindergarten. 

Enafors. Ole and Rebecka live here, in the house that belonged to Ole's parents. Johan planned to pick up Rebecka at the car-park in Björkvägen (fictional street-name). Jan-Peter Jonsäter, the pastor of the Light of Life religious group (sect? free church?), lives at Handöl, a few kms SE of Enafors. The church and meeting-house are at Snasadalen (a fictional location named after the real mountain Snasahögarna, five minutes drive from Handöl).

Storvallen. Rebecka's parents live here. 

Storlien. The frontier with Norway. The helicopter lands here.

Meråker (Norway). The empty house that Ole inherited from his grandfather, is near here, NE of the E14.

Trondheim (Norway). The western terminus of the E14, a long way west of the other locations. Johan and Marion visited friends here a year ago. The Light of Life has a presence here, and Ole has family here.

Other places

Strömsund (50km NE of Östersund). Home of Johan's brother Pär.

Umeå. Ole studied here. Johan's autopsy is here. Daniel's estranged father lives here with his second family.

Gävle. Carl went to university here.

Nerja (Spain). Hanna's mother lives here.

*

Hidden in Shadows is quite a generic scandi noir, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to say about it. Apart from driving along the E14, it's about violence and relationships and society. Crime in a professional sense turns out to be virtually absent. Life in mainstream society isn't necessarily easy, but the novel's values appear reassuringly mainstream; work, leisure and consumption are positive things. Public services are reassuringly present when you need them. On the other hand, non-mainstream activity (e.g. the Light of Life) is intrinsically suspicious; bad things happen in the shadows. It's what you'd expect in the definitive mass-market book genre.

But in scandi noir there's often a discussion going on in the background, and the picture by the end is more nuanced. Violence in relationships takes many forms, not just physical, and it isn't only horrible people who turn violent.  The novel observes the violence of mainstream society too. I don't recall another police procedural so aware of how police investigations wreak their own kinds of violence. Outcomes are hard to control. Modern society is complicated; like love, like life. . .

*

Vocab for reading scandi thrillers in French:

Recroqueville: curls up.

Pathologique: high-risk. "Sa grossesse est pathologique"; her pregnancy is high-risk. 

Déchetterie: waste disposal site.

Étayer: confirm, support, prop up (a theory).

Bouleau: birch.

Soucis de canalisations: plumbing problems.

Lance: another word for "says". 

Bredouille: stammers.

Lâche-t-elle: she blurts out.

Aller fureter: go poking around (on Facebook).

Sa mâchoire sur le point de se déboiter: her jaw on the point of being dislocated.

La ferme! rugit-il: Shut up! he shouted.