Red Snow (Tuva Moodyson Mystery, #2)

by Will Dean

[zooloo1983]

It is my first outing with Tuva properly, I tried to squeeze Dark Pines in but only got 10% in before I had to get cracking on Red Snow. Now I will admit, I have not completely finished the book due to my poor scheduling skills and some personal things going on, but I am near the end and for that, I am sorry both to Anne and Will. So whilst I am in the dark about the ending I can still comment on the book.

I related a lot to Tuva, she did make me smile with her slight obsession with the new cop! She always seems to have trouble following her, but despite the #ferryman out there she still followed the scent for the story and stayed true to herself. There is a part of the book that resonated with me, a loss of a loved one, and she spent a lot of her time reevaluating what she would have done differently and said. To me this rung true, losing my dad I always sit back in my quiet moments and think about what I wish I had said to him and what I would say now. To me, this fleshed Tuva out and made her most realistic! Plus her love for Ronnies bar! I must admit I did crush on her a bit, she was such an interesting character to be able to be privy to.

Red Snow also reminded me of two things, one being the TV show Fortitude. Ok maybe extreme, where Gavrik isn’t completely isolated and there is no psycho parasite breeding but you get my drift. All there is snow, the nothingness, the feeling of isolation. The panic of being stranded in a car not knowing if what you might do and if in fact, you would survive. Not sure I could live that much on the edge. The other thing that it reminded me of is when I go skiing, now if this was a place I could go and ski I would, I have been on a mountain sometimes and been the only person. Nothing but you the snow and the peace and it is something rather beautiful and idyllic but also something quite sinister and unsettling if something went wrong!

This is how I feel about Gavrik, the only thing keeping this town of nine thousand people going is the liquorice factory. When you have an apparent suicide, a clear homicide and a couple of what the hell coincidences you do question what is going on! Is Tuva safe? Or is she becoming embroiled into something she needs to step away from?

Plus the snow skalle were just damn right terrifying, and were they a warning to Tuva?

I was worried when you pick up a book that has so much hype about it whether it would live up to expectations but BOY IT DID. This book will not throw you around a hundred miles an hour, Mr Dean sets the scene for you. He instils into you just how cold the town is, just how isolating it can be, how each look out for their own. All to reinforce how shocking these deaths are and to shroud the town in more mystery. If you sit there quietly reading Red Snow you can imagine that you can hear the crunching of the snow, the spinning of the tyres on the roads. You can hear the sounds of the factory and smell the bitter caramel. All of this town building, the little details are needed in this book. It is needed to show Tuva is not a native here, and with the need for her hearing aids, just amplifies how silence can be brutal for people.

I will be finishing this book and devouring it at the weekend. The plot is has been woven so tightly I really can not guess who or what is behind everything, no inkling. I love this suspense and mystery, it has made the reading for me intensify and it will not be my last winter with Mr Dean and Tuva for sure. It has however made me want to get my skies on and get down a mountain and refresh myself with a hot chocolate before moving on to Ronnies for a few drinks before bed! Now to find me this bar!!