The Forbidden Place

Richly atmospheric and haunting to the last page, Susanne Jansson's stunning debut will captivate fans of the celebrated suspense fiction of Jane Harper or Tana French.

The murky, windswept peat bogs of northern Sweden are a profoundly desolate place. Once upon a time, here amidst the stunted trees, marshy fields, and treacherous quicksand, ancient people came to leave offerings to the gods. Including human sacrifices.

Nathalie, a young biologist, has just arrived in the Mossmarken wetlands to begin field experiments. But Natalie has a secret. Her reasons for visiting the marsh are more than just scientific-her dark fascination with the bog is rooted in a traumatic event from her past that haunts her to this day.

When Nathalie finds an unconscious man out on the marsh, she's horrified to discover that someone has filled his pockets with gold-just like the ancient human sacrifices. Then Maya, the crime scene photographer assigned to the man's case, stumbles upon another body with coin-filled pockets-this time, dead-and it becomes clear that a dangerous serial killer is on the loose.

With the local police overwhelmed by a growing number of murders, Maya quickly finds herself entangled in a web of secrets spun by the superstitious locals. And Nathalie will be forced to face the buried horrors of her past, even if it means confronting a dangerous killer who may be closer to home than anyone else realizes ...

In her evocative debut novel, Susanne Jansson weaves a tale that is as much about the stories we tell ourselves to survive, as it is about what may drive ordinary people to kill.