A great read from an author who is new to me, I love historical fiction and was straight away drawn to the blurb.

I really enjoy a story that jump between timelines and this just draws you in and keeps you turning those pages so that you have to discover the truth - is her brother is still alive?

A thoroughly enjoyable read by an author I'll definitely read again.

End of Summer is a dual timeline story, set in the present day and in the summer of 1983 when a small child, Billy, goes missing.

First though we meet Veronica Lindh, a grief therapist who is taking a bereavement counselling group, under supervision. It is clear that this supervision is warranted. Veronica is struggling to focus on the needs of her group because she can’t keep her own emotions in check. For her, working with this group is her therapy – she hopes that by immersing herself in the pain of others, she can somehow diminish or subsume her own. She wants to be a sponge – soaking up their pain until her own is drowned out.

It is working; though her thoughts when alone often stray to the unfortunate behaviour she exhibited as a result of the break-up she went through and the near breakdown she had. It is clear that Veronica is still a little on the edge.

When a newcomer joins the group he tells his story and Veronica cannot quite believe what she is hearing. For the story that this newcomer, Isak tells has uncannily similarities to her own experience.

End of Summer moves between past and present in alternating chapters for the first part of this story. Interspersed between these are occasional extracts from love letters though from whom and is not clear; neither do we know the recipient.

What we do know is that Veronica Lindh is troubled because, as she shares with her bereavement group, she lost her own mother in very sad circumstances. Not only that, her six year old brother, Billy disappeared from the family farm one summer and was never seen again. The appearance of Isak is the catalyst for her to go back home after a long absence of many years.

End of Summer is an atmospheric, melancholic book. Set in the heart of the rural farming belt, De La Motte brings us into the heart of this farming community where everyone knows everyone else and knowledge is power. This is a place where loyalties are tested and you are measured by your commitment to the community. Veronica’s older brother Mattias never left, despite promising to leave with her and she has never really forgiven him.

As a piece of rural noir it is replete with small town life, lies and secrets and the claustrophobic elements really add to the cloying, thick atmosphere that greets Veronica when she finally returns home to confront her demons.

Meanwhile, la Motte takes us back to 1983, when Billy disappeared. Here we meet the key characters involved in the investigation and see how the whole town became involved. It’s clear that there is a prime suspect, and Chief of Police Krister Månsson is under enormous pressure to make an arrest but proof is another matter. The local town personalities are all conducting their own power battles and the Chief is struggling to ensure that the law is followed at the same time as the baying crowd leaders are pacified.

La Motte beautifully combines rich atmospheric descriptions of the southern Swedish countryside with compelling characters and a tense and fraught atmosphere – so fraught that at times you can see Veronica’s jagged edges.

End of Summer has a tension that is palpable as we consider whether Veronica is a reliable narrator and wonder who the newcomer, Isak, might be.

End of Summer is a slow burn of a book that builds, layer upon layer, taking the reader with it, until al, the pieces of the puzzle are laid out, like a jigsaw if only we could find the right order to slot them together. All credit to Neil Smith’s translation which underscores the beautiful slow burn of this novel without a single jarring note.

Verdict: A beautifully written slice of rural Nordic Noir that is tense and suspenseful and rich in atmosphere. Despair and betrayal seep from the pages and the characters are compelling. End of Summer is an emotiona

This is one of those books that may end up being something very different from what you expected. I’ve read & enjoyed another series by this author & freely admit my own preconceptions got in the way.

What we have is a story of domestic drama told in dual timelines by 2 MC’s. In the summer of 1983, a little boy named Billy went for a walk & was never seen again. Through the eyes of police chief Månsson, we follow the ensuing search & investigation that envelops the small town of Reftinge.

In alternate chapters set in present day, we meet grief counsellor Veronica Lindh. She’s a fragile woman who is clearly dealing with her own baggage as she attempts to help others deal with theirs. When she was 14 years old, her little brother disappeared & no one in her estranged family ever really recovered. Now she lives in another city & spends her days leading therapy sessions. Then a newcomer joins the group, a young man who speaks of losing his best friend in 1983.

Veronica becomes obsessed, not just with his story but his very identity & realizes if she is to find any peace she will have to return to her childhood home & figure out what happened that summer.

I’ve seen this labelled as a thriller & I’d have to humbly disagree. There is plenty of mystery to unravel in terms of Billy’s disappearance. But this is a story about secrets & grief & how the lingering presence of both can quietly destroy a family.

Long before Veronica & Månsson connect in the present, we witness how their lives & sense of self were impacted by that summer. The disappearance of a little boy continued to shape these characters for years & there’s a palpable sense of relief when they meet. There is an intuitive recognition & understanding between them.

Neither character is very chatty & dialogue takes a backseat to their internal thoughts & emotions for the bulk of the book. Because of this, the story is a slow burner until the final chapters when Billy’s fate is revealed.

I found the slow pace challenging & I think this was mostly due to the preconceptions mentioned earlier. I read this author’s “MemoRandom” series & enjoyed it immensely. Both books are intricately plotted & full of suspense, guaranteed to keep your butt in a chair. I would never have guessed de la Motte wrote this which showcases his impressive range.

So, just a matter of taste. I would recommend this for lovers of general fiction & family drama. Through the use of imagery & well defined characters, it’s the tale of how we all deal differently with loss. Or not

Anders de la Motte is a writer I have discovered quite recently and this novel is a great introduction to his writing and subjects he likes to write about.. ~This one is of a missing five year old boy who disappears from a field one summer evening. The way you read about the boy and how he vanishes is quite something. The tense is there from the off.

No soiler to say that he remains missing years later when the story picks up in stockholm. The boy's sister is now an adult and working in a group psychotherapy talks in Stockholm. A man joins the group and mentions a trauma, of a missing child...

Veronica is taken back to that day and that summer when it all ended.....or did it? A Scandi Noir novel from start to finish

Sorry but this book just didn't have any pull for me i couldn't even finish it books in this genre need to grip the reader but this one failed.