Tomb of Silence takes place in the very north of Sweden, on the banks of Torne River and the Swedish border to the east. It’s ice cold midwinter, when a former cross country skier, the loner Lapp-Erik, is beaten to death in an old farm, isolated from the rest of the village.

In the meantime, further south, Katrine returns from London, where she has lost her job as a correspondent for Swedish Radio. She discovers that her mother has gone into dementia, and when going through her belongings she reveals secrets about their past that has been kept in silence for decades. It all leads to the northern village Kivikangas and further east, into the fallen empire of the Soviet Union.

Tomb of Silence is a page-turning crime novel that develops into a dark family chronicle, with strings back through the entire twenties century. It describes the human longing for a life worth living.

Reviews

"Alsterdal’s diligent research, combined with her strong language, has created a book where the story floats beautifully over the people and the whole social community. This is both elegant, readable and thrilling."
Alt for damer/Denmark

"With Tomb of Silence Tove Alsterdal repeats the success from her first book. This crime novel becomes so much more than a thrilling story. It gives an insight in how the system lures (poor) people into disaster. As it has done, so many times. In the past as well as today."
Fyens Stiftstidene

"Tove Alsterdal's new suspense novel is more than a gripping thriller - it's a great psychological drama, a contemporary historical novel and a small melancholy love song."
Västerbottens-Kuriren

"Tove Alsterdal is a new star on the Swedish crime sky who really found her own style, a harsh criticism of society and a Swedish noir."
Borås Tidning

"Tomb of Silence is so much more than a harrowing and suspenseful thriller that deserves many readers since it is so eerily well told. Furthermore, it is a great psychological drama, a contemporary historical novel and a little melancholic love song."
bokcirklar.se

"Tove Alsterdal has written a brilliant detective intrigue, where the old north Sweden meet the new, the old and new Russia collide and where a woman tries to find her family's history in a tangle of lies and helpless idealism."
Dagens Nyheter

"In her second novel, Tomb of silence, she keeps the international grip, while confirming that she owns a very special and impressively strong author's voice. Tomb of silence keeps me in a stranglehold from the opening scene at the ruined homestead where everything comes back until the surprising and bold ending."
Göteborgsposten

"Maybe it's a thriller, but in my eyes it’s much more than that. I think I have to resort to big words, in my world she stands side by side with authors like Dennis Lehane and Ross McDonald. With Tomb of Silence Tove Alsterdal confirms that she belongs among the elite crime writers or Sweden."
Norrbottenskuriren

"This is just so exciting. Based on extensive research and peppered with authentic details from both the past and most recent time. Most important is still the main thread, the story of the early 30th century Norrbotten emigrants. All this makes Tove Alsterdal’s Tomb of Silence a very strong and very important novel."
Östgötacorrespondenten

"This is a novel about dreams and aspirations for a better life. The wandering in and out of a black family history makes Tomb of Silence so much better than the regular Swedish action detective story."
Sundsvalls tidning

"Alsterdal has an incredibly feeling for details which brings the story exactly the tone that it needs."
A Book A Day

"It may be a fact that the best detective novel of 2012 has already been published. This is the best I’ve read in a very, very long time."
DAST Magazine

"Anyone who writes a book should have something to say, he or she should have a good story. Tove Alsterdal has not only a good story, she has several, and she also highlights the history of northern Sweden. This is so much more than a detective story."
Norrländska socialdemokraten

"Alsterdal offers more than just a crime novel in the northern environment. This is also a pretty sad family chronicle throught the twenties century, ranging from the very north of Sweden to the darkest parts of the Soviet Union history. Alsterdal carries the reader all through the story without ever loosing momentum. This is a very worthy sequel to her first novel."
Kristianstadsbladet

"Without anticipating my upcoming review of the second Alsterdal novel too much, I can still say that it will probably take a position on 2012's list of best crime novels."
Skanskan.se

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