Bestselling Irish author and screenwriter Jo Spain offers readers small-town thrills of a chillier kind as her latest page-whirring tale takes us above the Arctic Circle. While Lapland can be a popular spot at Christmas time as tourists flock to the land of reindeer and ‘the home of Santa’, young London political lobbyist Alex Evans must visit for far less festive reasons: his wayward sister Vicky’s body has been found in a frozen lake.

Alex and Vicky’s mother has had a heart attack following the news, and Alex’s father asks him to travel to northern Finland to escort their ‘baby girl’ home to the UK. The first of many problems: it turns out Vicky’s death wasn’t an accident. And Alex believes the small-town Finnish cops, including Detective Agatha Koskinen, aren’t up to finding the killer, or the truth. Had his partly-estranged sister reached out to him before her death? Was she in trouble? And what about the other missing women from years past?

Spain delivers a tension masterclass as a man who is used to massaging things to get his (client’s) way may be in way over his head. But is he right about the Finnish cops and the small-town connections? An engaging read, a propulsive thriller in a majestic setting.

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson

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