In the deep, quiet woods along Sweden’s Bible Belt – where faith is as vital to the people as the blood running through their veins – a chilling discovery is made: a stallion lies dead in the black waters of a tarn, its lifeless body stirring whispers of something unholy. When a teenage boy is found murdered the very next day, his clothes turned inside out and stained with blood, the murmurs grow louder – what kind of darkness has taken root in these sacred lands?
Police officer Alexander Stenborg and his wife, Sofia, have barely had time to settle into the quiet village of Ormaryd before two disturbing cases land on Alexander’s desk. A drowned horse. A murdered teenage boy – his body mauled, nearly torn in half, with an axe left beside him. Alexander soon learns that the boy was a refugee from Syria, and before long, the questions pile up. Is this a hate crime, or does the strange method point toward something ritualistic?
While Alexander chases answers, Sofia spends her days alone in their house, searching for clues as to who her unknown father is. The hours of solitude are tearing at Sofia, and she begins to hear strange noises and see shadows moving between the tree trunks outside the windows. It feels almost as if someone is watching her, but it is all in her head… right?
To pass the time and find a sense of community, Sofia decides to visit the local church along the rest of the villagers. The congregation and pastor Samuel welcome her warmly, yet something feels… off. The townsfolk act strangely – it is almost as if Samuel has them under a spell, and they whisper about ancient creatures luring in the woods, almost like a warning.
As Alexander plunges deeper into the investigation, another gruesome murder shakes the region. The charismatic pastor, Samuel, is found dead by the town’s lake. His body is stripped bare and left in a strange display, with a single lantern burning beside him, its flame flickering ominously in the darkness. The townsfolk mourn him deeply, yet Sofia can’t shake the unsettling images from his sermon – the unflinching devotion in the eyes of the observers.
At first, the killings seem unconnected, but when a third body is found in the woods, a pattern begins to emerge – a pattern woven from scripture and Nordic folklore, from the Gospel and the old tales passed down through generations. The murders seem to bear the mark of something ancient, of a belief etched into the marrow of the land. What sinister forces linger in these woods, where the calls of the old gods have never truly faded?
Set against the deep inland of rural Småland, Darkness Walks the Woods is a hauntingly suspenseful novel, brimming with spellbinding atmosphere. Here, Mons and Karolina Kallentoft have masterfully crafted a world inspired by Nordic folklore, where myth and faith intertwine, and the belief in ancient tales is as strong as the belief in God. The first in a planned trilogy, this novel is an arresting journey into the heart of the Swedish Bible Belt, where the past is never buried – and neither are the dead.
