New Book: ‘Darkness Walks the Woods’

Today marks the publication day of Kallentoft & Kallentoft’s debut novel Darkness Walks the Woods, the first installment of the Ormaryd Murders.

Police officer Alexander Stenborg and his pregnant wife, Sofia, have barely had the time to settle into the quiet village of Ormaryd before a gruesome murder case lands on Alexander’s desk. A teenage boy has been found murdered, his clothes turned inside out and stained with blood. An axe has been left at the murder scene, and Alexander immediately notices the scene seems almost ritualistic.

While Alexander chases answers, Sofia spends her days alone in their house, searching for clues as to who her unknown father is. To pass the time, Sofia decides to visit the local church along the rest of the villagers. However, the townsfolk act strangely – it is almost as if the pastor has them under a spell, and they whisper about ancient creatures luring in the woods, almost like a warning.

When two more bodies are found, a pattern begins to emerge – the murders seem to bear the mark of a belief etched into the marrow of the land, woven from scripture and Nordic folklore. 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.

Darkness Walks the Woods is published by Norstedts today, May 5th.