*Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*
Last year, my great book pal Char, suggested I should check out ‘The Mountain King’ the first book in this series. I always listen to Char’s rec’s and I’m glad I did, because it was a blast.
Fast forward to early July, and I received an email from Atria, letting me know that the second book was being released with an English translation and asked if I’d like to give it a read. Absolutely!
I wrapped up a couple reads and dove in, with high expectations and believing I had more than enough time to get this one done prior to release date. Life got in the way a bit and slowed me down, as well, this was one of those books where sometimes I’d read for an hour or two and somehow I didn’t make any progress, so my apologies to Atria and the author for not finishing this one prior to release date.
What I liked: So, this is a book two and in this case, you absolutely have to have read book one, as this picks up literally during the phone call at the end of book one, so everything ahead in this review will come off a bit spoiler-ish, so read with caution if you’ve not read book one.
After surviving the events of ‘The Mountain King,’ Leo receives a phone call from her estranged father, Prepper Per, letting her know that a body has been found near his compound and that he’ll be implicated in the death. He suggests she help him, otherwise there will be bloodshed when the police come to raid his place. As well, Hill has come through surgery after the events of book one and is taking a leave from the university. Expecting to relax, he’s surprised by a phone call from Gunnar Irving’s company. Gunnar is a billionaire, medical tech genius who credits his tech discoveries to seeing a UFO when he was younger and getting the information from those onboard. He lives at Astroholm Manor, a secluded place with an island in the middle of lake where strange things have been said to happen.
As Leo struggles to decide if she should help Per, Hill heads to the Manor to write his dream book, but as is always the case, what you see isn’t always what you get.
The book bounces back and forth between Leo and Hill and we see them struggle with their unexpressed feelings towards each other, as well as with their individual storylines. de la Motte does a great job by juggling these two storylines and keeps the tension high with tight, shorter chapters. Everything feels snappy and fresh and very rarely does a cliff hanger happen and the shift to the next chapter feel like a let down.
As the mystery of both storylines deepens before merging, we get some phenomenal lore building within Hill’s storyline and we get a deep, robust father-daughter relationship dynamic plot line in Asker’s. This works really well to let areas of the novel breath, especially when the shit hits the fan in the final quarter.
At the end, we get a lot of questions answered, as well as secrets revealed and those revelations will either work for the reader or not, but within the context of the story, they manage to bring a conclusive element to the book.
Saying that, the ending suggests there’s more in store for Leo, and so far, there’s been four total books released in Sweden, so I assume we’ll be getting a third soon.
What I didn’t like: While we do get a lot of questions answered, I will say the portion of Per’s storyline where he’s seemingly planted somebody where they’ll perfectly help him and surveil for him seemed a bit too perfect. There’s a lot of questions unanswered on that particular plot point.
Why you should buy this: I mean, if you loved book one, you’ll love book two. Otherwise, book one dealt with urban exploration and book two deals with a crazy mansion with secret doors, UFO’s, something strange with red eyes roaming the woods and a family mystery that’s decades old. All very intriguing and all explored thoroughly within this one. What’s not to get your interest?
This one was a ton of fun and it was great following Leo on an adventure again.