Tove Asterdal | We Know You Remember

The Book: 

We Know You Remember by Tove Asterdal (High Coast #1)

Published September 28th 2021 by Harper
Date read: October 13, 2021

The Characters: 

Detective Eira Sjödin

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon


The Plot (from Goodreads):

A missing girl, a hidden body, a decades-long cover-up, and old sins cast in new light: the classic procedural meets Scandinavian atmosphere in this rich, character-driven mystery, awarded Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, that heralds the American debut of a supremely skilled international writer. 

It’s been more than twenty years since Olof Hagström left home. Returning to his family’s house, he knows instantly that something is amiss. The front door key, hidden under a familiar stone, is still there. Inside, there’s a panicked dog, a terrible stench, water pooling on the floor. Upstairs in the shower, the father Olof has not seen or spoken to in decades is dead.

For police detective Eira Sjödin, the investigation of this suspicious death resurrects long-forgotten nightmares. She was only nine when Olof Hagström, then fourteen, was found guilty of raping and murdering a local girl. The case left a mark on the town’s collective memory—a wound that never quite healed—and tinged Eira’s childhood with fear. Too young to be sentenced, Olof was sent to a youth home and exiled from his family. He was never seen in the town again. Until now. 

An intricate crime narrative in which past and present gracefully blend, We Know You Remember is a relentlessly suspenseful and beautifully written novel about guilt and memory in which nothing is what it seems, and unexpected twists upend everything you think you know.

Click here for book spoilers for We Know You Remember
Book spoilers ahead–if you haven’t yet read We Know You Remember, I suggest you turn back now.

The Twist: 

Lina was still alive. She had been planning to run away from home. The day Lina disappeared, Eira’s brother Magnus had come across Kennith Isaksson raping her in the woods. Magnus tried to fight Kennith off, but Kennith got the better of him. Lina saved Magnus’s life by killing Kennith. They buried the body together, and then Lina left town on Magnus’s motorcycle.

The same day, Olof had been messing around with Lina in the woods. She made fun of him for trying to kiss her, and he lied to his friends that they had hooked up. Magnus didn’t speak up when Olof was accused of killing her. The police had pretty much forced a confession out of Olof.

Eira found Lina working as a waitress under a different name.

The Ending:

Magnus confessed to Kennith’s murder, but refused to speak up about Lina’s disappearance. It ends with Eira and Magnus talking on their front porch, while he’s released pending trial. Eira had taken some DNA evidence from Lina, just in case it could help Olof in the future. She was also taking care of Olof’s dad’s dog.

The Review: 

Thank you to Harper for a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m so happy to have another great series of police procedurals to add to my TBR. Swedish crime novels are where my interests overlap the most with Pat’s, so I’m excited for him to read this book as well so we can discuss.

I really loved Eira as the protagonist. Although she’s young, there isn’t any plot wasted on her trying to prove herself in her police force. I enjoyed her relationship with her superior GG, and appreciated that her colleagues treated her as an equal. She was clever, but attributed her success as a detective to hard work rather than natural skill. She also had a complicated home life to balance with a busy work schedule. I don’t know anything about the next book in the series at this time, but I’m hoping she’s the protagonist again.

The plot unfolded at a comfortable pace. It helped that we were following multiple cases at once: one in present-day with multiple threads as well as a cold case that Eira decided to look into of her own volition.

There were a lot of characters to follow here, many with Swedish names that I’m still not sure how to pronounce. I’d be interested to get my hands on an audiobook to figure out how the names are meant to sound. I got the hang of the various characters by the end of the book, but certainly had to flip back a little at the beginning to recall who was who.

Overall, this author is certainly one to watch. Fans of Swedish noir and Swedish crime fiction should definitely pick up a copy of We Know You Remember.

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we know you remember tove asterdal
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