New Book: ‘The Boys of the Marshlands’ by Henrik Hollbox

Today marks the publication day of Henrik Hollbox’s suspense novel The Boys of the Marshlands, the first installment of his Småland Suite.

There is a place in Småland, Sweden where people vanish under mysterious circumstances. It is as though the landscape itself devours them, as if the marshlands open up and swallow them whole. Here, the past leaks and the present bends, and reality seems to warp by a quarter turn.

Set in a rural town in Småland during a sweltering summer, The Boys of the Marshlands follows journalist Nancy as she returns to her hometown of Ljungbyholm in pursuit of a scoop. She has received a tip concerning Jakob, a teenager who vanished without a trace thirty-five years prior. Meanwhile, another boy is discovered dead, adrift on a raft in the river coursing through town. When Nancy and the grieving father of the newly deceased boy dig deeper, they uncover that both cases are connected to a mysterious caravan  – it seems that, whenever it appears, death follows.

The Boys of the Marshlands blends a fever dream of psychological horror with a grounded, elegant crime case. With the reality-slipping atmosphere of Dean Koontz and a mystery worthy of Tana French, Henrik Hollbox has written an utterly suspenseful story that teeters on the edge of illusion, where reality hangs by a fraying thread.

Rights have been sold to six territories so far.

The Boys of the Marshlands is published by Norstedts today, April 23rd, 2026.