The Drowned Fjord

by Aidan Blackwood

When a series of whale strandings draws marine biologist Dr. Emil Strand to a remote Norwegian village, he expects harsh weather, superstition, and a long winter of scientific reports. What he doesn't expect is the silence. The unnatural kind. No gulls. No waves. No answers.

The villagers are wary. The fjord is watching. And something ancient has begun to stir beneath the black water.

As Emil digs deeper into the strange occurrences and into his own buried past. He’s drawn into a chilling mystery that stretches back centuries. A ghost ship glimpsed through fog. A stone pulled from the depths. Voices that whisper your name when no one else is near.

179 pages, Paperback

First published June 30, 2025

Reviews

[John Morris]

This was a disturbing story, something like a nightmare from which you cannot awake. No screaming banshees, demons or otherworldly horrifying creatures, just the readers own imagination.

A marine biologist is despatched to a remote Norwegian fjord, in order to investigate a number of dead whales that had been washed ashore. However, what he finds is something extremely ancient, a link to a pre-human existence, something that should never have been disturbed.

This was a highly atmospheric horror story, told in such a way that draws you in and leaves you looking over your shoulder. Are you a witness? Are you remembered? If so, then may God help you.

[Clare Johnstone]

'The Drowned Fjord' by Aidan Blackwood
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


Following on from the Black Bothy......
Another great read by Aidan Blackwood.
I was so immersed in this story that it kept me reading until the end. It almost felt like time itself just paused and i was there! The uncertainty.... the unease! The writing style added to the tension and helped create the atmosphere. It was so quiet that you could almost hear the whispers where there was nothing.
This story just spiralled into the unknown and I enjoyed unearthing the ancient mystery and the secrets of the deep.
I can't wait for the next book that follows on.

[Scatty Mermaid]

This story felt like those dreams we sometimes have where there’s no sense of time or location, things just are but they’re not what we normally see. It’s the flicker of movement or shadow in the corner of the eye, a sense of déjà vu even though we’re sure we’ve never experienced it before, though the feeling remains long after we’ve felt it. That stifling loneliness and existential dread we imagine and carry in our chests that hollows us out and leaves us terrified of what might happen next. It was unsettling, but left an awareness not before noticed.

[Olivia]

I just have to say I LOVED the way certain things mirrored itself in both this book and the first one. Especially because it’s the same stone. Once I got to about 54% into the book, I was hooked (even though I already was with the first book). I especially loved the atmosphere in this one, it FEELS cold to read with how much it was described. I also loved the world building we are seeing, and excited to see what the last book has to offer.

[Liz the Little Book Gremlin]

Bloody hell. This series is amazing.

I finished reading this one last night, and by god, it is as creepy and excellent as the first! Aidan Blackwood is the absolute king of atmospheric writing. His words just creep under your skin and you feel like you are there, in these situations with the characters.

Can’t wait to get my grubby little hands on the next in the series!

[Ruth Shaw]

The Drowned Fjord (The Archive Files Book 2)

A solid 5 star 🌟 review.

Lysefjord, Norway, a small village where some whales have washed up dead with no apparent reason to why they died.
Emil Strand a marine biologist has arrived to investigate, then things start to happen.
A pebble with a spiral 🌀 carved into it, voices that are there, but no people, a Black Ship moving on a still fjord that looks like black glass and silence, but not really silence.
The spiral has been seen in different cultures over the generations and before, this one feels as if it choose someone and then gathers them in and doesn’t return them, this seems to be happening time and time again almost out of time as we know it.
A multi layered story, that builds, where there’s something or someone just on your peripheral vision, but outside it as well, they call to you but you can’t see them. When you turn your head they’re gone.
Definitely a book that works into your mind and leaves you wondering if there really is something out there watching you.
Definitely 👍🏼 worth reading.
They take what they want and don’t give it back. 🌀

[David]

This book seriously got under my skin. It starts as a marine biologist’s trip to investigate dead whales, but quickly turns into something way darker and more unsettling. Think cold, creeping dread.

The writing is sharp, atmospheric, and weird in all the right ways. No cheap scares, just a steady unraveling that makes you question what’s real. I couldn’t stop reading, even when I wanted to.

If you like smart horror that sticks with you, read this. Just maybe don’t read it at night.