This Land is No Stranger

Veronika Brand, a former New York detective, is a granddaughter of the Dalgren family and is invited back to Sweden to attend a family reunion for her 95 year old relative where she becomes embroiled in an old feud.
In 1940 when the Nazi’s occupied Sweden, her ancestors began printing pro-Nazi propaganda.

A splinter group led by the family Voss decides to stop the paper by burning down the printing establishment. They are not aware that some of the Dalgrens are asleep in the apartment over the printing shop. The death of the Dalgrens in the fire starts the feud between the families.

The Voss family is very wealthy, ruthless, and are involved in many nefarious endeavors including prostitution and slavery. They have the power. The Voss family also owns and operates the largest trucking firm in Europe. Young Romani girls are kidnapped or otherwise drawn into a world of sex slavery and poor diets. They finally die from poor nutrition and continual sexual brutality from customers who use them in total depravity.

The inter-familial war of revenge is continual and brutal. Vicious murders and lack of any social responsibility drove me to the conclusion that this may not be a bucket list destination. Cruelty and death are portrayed as an integral part of the psyche of the northern Swedish families. There seemed to be no division between the young and old regarding a more innocent mind set.

The narrative is well written although exhausting to read. Continual brutal murder and total disregard for human life with wicked visuals of red snow were excessive. The ending, however, was satisfying and surprising! The conclusion explained a lot. 4 stars-CE Williams

This murder mystery is just the book I needed to get out of my slump.
I enjoy a good Nordic Noir book! And this delivered. The writing was just fabulous. The characters I was automatically pulled into their lives.
Just a really good story overall!

This book was a ride that I didn’t want to get off, but I also wanted to see how it ended. While I’m not a huge fan of the MC being a disgraced female, it lends the right perspective to allow this story to unfold beautifully. I was in Sweden with her, following the little bread crumbs that she discovers allowing her to slowly piece together both the past tragedy and the current murders she encounters at the same time.

As Veronika was linking them together, I was turning each page, hoping to get another piece of the puzzle myself.
If you love thrillers, murder, mystery, and family secrets that eventually come to light, this book is for you.

My thanks to the Author publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a Paperback copy of this book to read and honestly review.
As a big fan of the Scandi Noir genre this book was right up my street. Clever entertaining intelligent and very well written, atmospheric descriptive with superb characters especially our heroine, who hopefully as the ending suggests will ride again soon. Some nail biting tense action and surprises along the way.
Totally recommended.

THIS LAND IS NO STRANGER was quite a thrill ride!

It was smarter than the average thriller in the sense that the reader has the opportunity to learn about a different culture and perhaps realize that the problems in our world are not sequestered to one geographical place or to one specific group?

Veronica Brand, a New York detective has been forced to retire. She is instantly shown as flawed, complex and very real as she struggles with issues in her personal life and the cause and effect of her tough choices on the job and at home.

When she gets on a plane to attend a family reunion in Sweden and her relatives are basically strangers, there is a separation between the world she knows in New York City and life in rural Sweden.

The moment when a bored tourist becomes a witness to a grisly murder is when the story travels to dark and dangerous places. Showing us the unfathomable cost of human greed and how far one person is willing to go for revenge.

The haunting character of Varzha Luna is a courageous teenager with an old soul, but she carries the dangerous assumption of youth that what she stands for is stronger than the generational evil she faces.

There were more characters that fleshed out the story, but I took a deep liking to Dollar Boy. I have a soft spot for rebellious underdogs with Punk Rock hair. The assassins at the end felt a bit overdone for me, but it was exciting and quite unexpected.

Via unlikely partnerships and a game of cat and mouse, the truth reveals itself and the twist of what it is lurking in the woods was simply wild. I loved reading this book and having the opportunity to travel again and learn a little bit more about Swedish and Roma culture.

I have had my own experiences with both groups and I hope that rather than this being the sum of the whole for readers, they explore and try to expand their minds, especially pertaining to the mysterious and often misunderstood Roma or Romani.

The ones I have been fortunate enough to meet are talented artists, poets, dancers and silversmiths and lead very different lives than the ones we meet in this story. I deeply appreciate conversations about how difficult and heartbreaking things are for immigrants––regardless of where they come from or what country they start over in.

“An out-of-time feel took over the moment. She wondered if the Swedes had a word for the sound that falling snow makes during a blizzard.”

“The storm dropped a veil over the whole scene. They seemed to be nowhere. It was peaceful, death-like.”

Sentences like the ones above created a black and white noir over the landscape that often felt like a modernist canvas telling a story about class struggle, family values and the high price we all pay for our sins.

If you enjoy crime stories, noir and strong female leads. You will devour this one.

🏞❄Visit to her ancestral homeland: what a welcome😲!

An excellent, thrill-filled action adventure set in a freezing Swedish winter, starkly beautiful and deadly. Former NYPD Detective Veronika Brand has no idea of the web of violence and destruction she's been lured into with a simple invitation to her Swedish great aunt's 95th birthday celebration. Political corruption, racial prejudice and bloody revenge feature prominently in this suspenseful noir novel. It's quite graphically violent but that did not dampen my enjoyment of a well put together story with a strong though deeply flawed heroine.

Using a first-time visitor to Sweden to question and explain some Swedish culture and issues of the contemporary Swedish social landscape was a great way to familiarize the reader with the setting. Having lived for a few years in Sweden, I really enjoyed travelling back to the slippery, winding, cobblestone streets of Gamla Stan and Sweden's long, dark winter nights. Another great element to the plot--the slow revelation of past tragic events now coming to roost.

My only issue was with the scene involving an Embassy representative visiting Veronika during one of her interviews with the local police. There is no such thing as a Deputy Consul and the conversation was off. But then, the whole plot is pretty incredible, exciting but straining the bounds of credulity. It all makes for a page turner that held me enthralled right through to the surprising end.

This is an author whose work I would gladly read again.👍

Thanks to BooksGoSocial and NetGalley for providing a complimentary advance copy of the book; this is my voluntary and honest review.

I am a big fan of Scandinavian mysteries and was excited to read this book. This is a good book, featuring Veronika Brand. Brand is a suspended NYC police detective, who is visiting her relatives in Sweden for the first time for a family reunion. She becomes involved in investigating murders, and in an old family feud. I really enjoyed the atmospheric quality of the Swedish winter, of the cold and dark. Recommended.

With a career that is spiraling out of control and a nasty drug habit that has taken her to rock bottom, NYC detective Veronika Brand is looking for a way out. I love Nordic thrillers so much! This book did not disappoint!

This Land is No Stranger, co-written by Sarah Hollister and Gil Reavill is s thriller set in Sweden that any of the plethora of well-known "Nordic noir" authors would be proud to have written. In fact apart from the main character being female this book reminded me very much of Jo Nesbo's work both in style and the use of unusual methods of murder,flawed characters and murky goings on by people in authority. .

Veronika Brand is a troubled New York City detective with a drug habit and her life and career seemingly at a dead end . She receives a message from a very distant relative in Sweden almost demanding that she attend a reunion with her Mother's side of her family,the Dalgrens. Suspicious that there's some kind of ulterior motive to the invitation,all of her Swedish relatives are strangers to her,she's proved right when she's given an old photograph and told of a feud with another family going back generations.These are the Voss's,powerful,rich and ruthless.
A supposedly "spur of the moment" bit of sight-seeing,suggested by distant relative by marriage human rights lawyer Krister Hammar she finds her in the middle of a horrific situation and arousing the interest of the local police.. This is the beginning of a convoluted tale involving sex trafficking, events in wartime Sweden,family secrets, corruption,revenge and the culture and traditions of the Roma,which play a very big part.
It took me a little while to get into the book,Veronika isn't a particularly likeable character on first meeting but she did grow on me. There were a couple of things that had me thinking were too convenient ,only for me to to inwardly apologise to the authors when all became clear at the end.
Not having heard of either co-author before I didn't know what to expect but this is very good indeed,if you enjoy Jo Nesbo you'll love this.

NYC Detective Veronika Brand needs a break ... she's developed a bad drug habit and her job is in jeopardy. When a distant relative invites her to their home in Sweden, she jumps at the chance. She's sure some time away in a beautiful country will work wonders for her.

Unfortunately, the beauty only hides a brutal murder in a house owned by her family's rivals. This sends her investigating the links between her family history, a trail of missing girls, and a series of vicious murders.

BOOK BLURB:This Land is no Stranger is an intriguing family saga intertwined with the fascinating world of the mysterious Roma people. Set in Sweden’s dark winter, this compelling, edge-of-your-seat novel is rife with murder, mayhem, and bodes the question, who will survive.

This complex plot is suspenseful from start to finish. The characters are multi-layered and solidly drawn. There is plenty of action, plenty of suspects, that keep the reader guessing until the final unexpected conclusion.

Many thanks to the authors / BooksGoSocial / Netgalley for the digital copy of this Nordic Mystery Thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

This Nordic thriller with a great start grabs your attention and interest. Brand is a distinguished detective who has tarnished her law enforcement reputation.
At a loose end and after an old man’s phone call she travels to Sweden to visit relatives for the first time. Instead of a simple family reunion she finds herself drawn into investigating criminal activity connected to her family. Her Swedish relatives have an ulterior motive in bringing Brand over and its retribution they want.
Hammar meets her at the airport and acts as an impromptu guide. He is a lawyer connected to her relatives by marriage and surprisingly he lets her drive his car.
Varzha is seeking retribution for other women like herself who have been abused, disappeared and/or murdered. She wants the perpetrators to pay with their lives.
The Voss family are well off and a nasty lot. They wont let anyone stand in their way.
There were a few things I had doubts about. I was a little sceptical someone could use a finger nail and chocolate to write a message on a wrapper. Also, in Australia law enforcement are subject to regular unannounced drug and alcohol testing mainly targeted on staff in high risk roles. Perhaps it’s different in the US but I wondered how a detective could have a habit and it not be picked up earlier or at least become a risk to the officers who rely n her. It annoyed me each time she popped some sort of pill to keep her going as I felt she was too good at her job to have to rely on that sort of thing.
There were quite a few words/terms I hadnt heard before and I found the idea of Swedish bathing intriguing.
I thought it was a bit late for her to worry about her pledge to uphold the law, disgracing herself and the work she had done once she got to Sweden. Wouldn’t her downward spiral have started well before then?
My thoughts might give others the impression I didn’t enjoy the story when it was quite the opposite.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

Sarah Hollister's This Land is No Stranger presents a gripping and intricately woven narrative that seamlessly blends the elements of traditional Nordic noir with a fresh perspective, offering readers a tantalizing murder mystery steeped in cultural intrigue and suspense. With a captivating storyline that delves into the complexities of familial history and a web of dark secrets, the novel immerses readers in a world of enigmatic landscapes and gripping suspense.

Veronika Brand, the compelling and resilient protagonist, leads the charge in unraveling the intricate web of deceit and betrayal that shrouds the hauntingly beautiful setting of Sweden. Hollister's vivid descriptions and evocative prose create a palpable sense of atmosphere, transporting readers from the desolate landscapes of Härjedalen to the bustling streets of Stockholm, all the while maintaining an aura of suspense and mystery that keeps readers on the edge of their seats.

The author's adept portrayal of Swedish culture and Nordic identity adds depth and authenticity to the narrative, providing a rich and immersive reading experience that captures the essence of the region's unique charm and mystique. The intricate character dynamics and the intricately woven plot twists keep readers engaged and guessing until the final revelation, making This Land is No Stranger a compelling and memorable read.

While the novel successfully maintains a gripping pace and a suspenseful plot, a slight deduction from a perfect rating is attributed to certain pacing elements that could have been further streamlined to ensure a seamless narrative flow. Additionally, some aspects of character development could have been more pronounced to deepen the emotional resonance of the protagonist's journey and struggles.

In conclusion, This Land is No Stranger is a must-read for fans of atmospheric suspense and Nordic noir thrillers. Sarah Hollister's masterful storytelling and the richly developed setting create an immersive reading experience that lingers long after the final page. With its gripping suspense and well-crafted plot, This Land is No Stranger is a testament to the author's skill in crafting an enthralling narrative that captivates and entices readers into a world of dark secrets and chilling revelations.