This is an enjoyable, but rather sad Swedish story about a father searching for his daughter, who he is sure has been abducted 3 years before. He searches relentlessly throughout the endless summer nights on long empty roads. You really do feel for him in his anguish, as his life falls apart and he self destructs in many ways. The story builds to a rather surprising conclusion which is both sad and happy.
I very much enjoyed the Swedish atmosphere of the book, with the 24 hour daylight in summer and deep snow in winter. Very good book

The current trend of Scandinavian crime thriller noir, has come a long way since Wallander. The story of a fathers search for his missing daughter leads to the break up of his marriage and spirals into depression and alcohol abuse. His life changes irrevocably when the body of his daughter is finally discovered.

I enjoy Scandi fiction and this debut did not disappoint.
A fantastic debut novel,
Gripping, unpredictable, I found myself racing through it to find out who was accountable for the abductions - and I can honestly say that when I did find out who it was, I hadn’t guessed - which is unusual!
The characters are likeable, the style of writing beautifully descriptive, I got lost in this book, it really is that good.
Highly recommended.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Atlanticbooks for my eARC of this book in exchange for my unbiased honest review.
Sadly I didn’t really enjoy this book. I found that it lacked identity and focus. It also appeared a little confusing.

Terrific debut from Stina Jackson with The Silver Road. Packed with atmospheric descriptions of its Swedish midnight sun setting and several finely drawn characters especially the devastated father Lelle who cannot stop searching for his missing daughter and the student to whom he is drawn, Mela and her dysfunctional mother Silja. The alternating chapters from Lelle’s and Mela’s point of views worked well and I found the writing style immersive. It was a slow build, but that’s no criticism, and the climax is a veritable page turner with twists aplenty. As the proof copy so aptly says The Silver Road is both haunting and tragic. I’m sure Stina Jackson will be an author to watch. Thanks to Netgalley, Atlantic Books and Corvus.

It was a usual Nordic style novel. Veery atmospheric, dark, and gripping.
In this one, we follow 2 stories that connect to each other in time. I loved the scary, dark atmosphere of Sweden. It's perfect for winter reads. Meja's story was emotional, disturbing. A bit hard to read. But, well written.

So, if you like dark, Nordic thrillers that will put you at the edge of your seat, this is a good option.
Thanks a lot to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Silver Road is the debut novel of Stina Jackson, a Swede currently living in Denver USA. The events of the novel take place in a remote area of northern Sweden, with little for local inhabitants to do other than survive. The authors background knowledge has allowed a superb ongoing description of the isolation, bleak conditions and relentless boredom experienced by the local population. The reader is initially exposed to a father endlessly searching for his daughter who went missing three years previously whilst those around him seem to have given up all hope. Simultaneously a seventeen year old girl from a seriously dysfunctional background arrives in the area. Initially I felt frustrated at the slow pace of events and two stories that did not appear to be going anywhere. Then from nowhere, suddenly the writer moved along from background and place to people and events; my interest was fired up and I became interested, then seriously involved in a good storyline reaching the cannot put this book down until conclusion. Perhaps the emphasis on the conditions of the area and more general background information prevented initial involvement and identification of the depression and general hopelessness felt by the main two characters When the events are allowed to take precedence there is an excellent storyline with several characters coming into play allowing interaction and development of relationships and animosities leading to a thrilling conclusion. Not sure if the tying up of loose ends felt contrived and an unnecessary ending to a more than satisfactory culmination of events.

Outstanding debut novel ! The need for Lima’s father to find her is so intoxicating that you can feel his rage and desperation. I could not put it down as I desperately wanted a conclusion for this strong character. Highly recommended #TheSilverRoad #NetGalley

A heart breaking story about a missing girl and the impact on her father running alongside a story of a girl who has been brought up by an alcoholic single mother and just wants to be loved

An intense and dark read in the Scandi-noir tradition. There is a lot of coffee drunk, cigarettes smoked and nights that are either way too light or far too dark. This is an amazing debut thriller.

Three years ago Lelle’s daughter went missing and he has not stopped searching for her since. He spends the summer nights driving the Silver Road trying to find his daughter. Meanwhile a young girl, with a troubled life, arrives in the same remote Swedish town. It is inevitable that their paths are going to cross.

This is such an atmospheric novel imbued with the sadness of a father searching for his lost daughter and a young girl’s desperation to find some security in her life. It is very well written and translated, with suspense building from the first page to the tragic conclusion.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

Oh my goodness this was so so good and so so dark and what a wonderful author Stina Jackson is with this absolutely stunning debut novel and it's a definite must read!!
I am such a big fan of Scandi fiction and this book filled all of the requirements and so much more. Intoxicating, atmospheric and set in a bleak landscape of the midnight sun, filled with the desperation and sadness of a father trying to find if his missing daughter is alive driving the Silver road night after night.
Along side this we also have the story of Meja a 17 year old with a dysfunctional mother struggling to find some happiness when moving to live close to the Silver road. There is a feeling of menace in this book from the start and as it progresses the suspense increases leading to gripping climax. I loved the book it was beautifully written with empathy and wonderful descriptions of the landscapes making it a read I found compelling and difficult to put down making it one of my all time favourite books and highly recommended.
My thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic books/ Corvus for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I love all things Scandi noir and this book was no exception. Lelle searching every inch of the Silva Road for his missing daughter Lina. His life became a macabre record continuously on loop for the three years since her disappearance. You see the complete agony and grief played out in this man and your heart goes out to him. A seventeen year old girl Meja, new to the town after her mother meets a man on the internet is a lost soul looking for somewhere to call home. She thinks she.gets it with her new boyfriends family, but they really are nothing like the Walton's. The book was a slow burner but the momentum was enough to keep me interested. I confess I did guess the twist long before it happened but the ending was still a brilliant conclusion. I am interested in reading more from this author as book is a good start to the Scandi noir crime genre.

Utterly brilliant thrill of a book, dark and deep as a Swedish forest in winter and yet set in the endless light of summer.

The characterisation is superb, you very quickly get a feel for who is who and this builds the suspense as you start to understand just who is at risk ...... wonderful read which I hope is followed up by many more books

Highly recommended

This was an extremely atmospheric and haunting novel. Two separate stories which intertwine and grow into each other and the contrast of the relationships in the two is beautifully evoked. I really enjoyed the images of Sweden which I was able to picture so well as I read. I found the story of Meja dark and disturbing but also very real. The parental pain of Lelle was tangible through the pages. A disturbing story but a gripping one.

The more time I spent in the company of this book the more the story intensified and I became increasingly curious as to where "The Silver Road" would eventually lead me.

In the search for Lelle’s missing daughter I was only a silent passenger. But even from my safe distance I could hear alarm bells ringing as people were utterly oblivious to the trauma lying ahead, as well as seeing Lelle loose a little more of his soul with every demoralising journey he made.

The ebb and flow of a father’s hopes and fears provides an effective hook, as does the tough spirit of Meja, a new arrival looking for somewhere to belong. And just when I thought the story must have exhausted all avenues I learned it had kept a few well-hidden surprises up its sleeve.

Without doubt "The Silver Road"’s most striking quality is the subtle air of suspicion that quietly attaches itself to many of the characters. For some this originates from the stigma attached to their lifestyle choices. For others the slightest irregularity is a red flag adding them to a growing list of potential guilty parties.

Overall, it has a well-controlled plot and intriguing familial dynamics that simmer gently to the boil.

*** ACTUAL RATING: 3.5 / 5 ***

A gripping crime thriller, The Silver Road is beautifully written and brilliantly executed. It hooked me from the first page, drawing me into Lelle's story and the mystery of his missing daughter. I held my breath as the story slowly unravelled, and was not disappointed by the climax.

2.5 stars

I'm not sure I can really say this was more than ok. A book I read because I had spare time,not a book I looked forward to picking up.

The two seperate strands of the story took too long to cone together,and do felt like seperate stories.
Despite that,I'd guessed the ending way in advance.


It wasn't bad... just didn't grab me.

A Dad takes his daughter to the bus stop ready to catch the school bus, BUT she never catches that bus. We follow the search which is never given up by her father and given a glimpse of the pain of not knowing what has happened to her. How can life go on as normal. A book with excellent characters and twists and turns that lead to a dramatic ending. A great read, highly recommended.

I’m afraid I found The Silver Road formulaic and rather tedious. I tried it hoping that the setting in Northern Sweden would give it some atmosphere and originality, but it didn’t and I had to struggle to the end.

The central idea is oh-so-familiar. Lelle’s daughter has been missing for three years, having disappeared from a bus stop one morning. Lelle’s marriage has broken up as a result, he has developed an alcohol problem and he obsessively searches the remote countryside looking for her. Meanwhile, a dysfunctional mother and her teenage daughter move in with a local, reclusive resident...and that’s pretty well all that happens for at least the first half of the book. It’s all very, very familiar stuff, it moves very slowly and I wasn’t convinced by either the events or the setting, so even when things did begin to happen I wasn’t really involved.

The prose is adequate but tends to be repetitive and over-written in a search for atmosphere, and finding a dreadful cliché in the first couple of pages (“he knew the road like the back of his hand”) didn’t augur well. It’s not terrible by any means, but it wasn’t good enough to engage or grip me.

I’m sorry to be critical but, despite the publishers’ claims, I didn’t find The Silver Road either compelling or haunting. It’s an unoriginal story in a setting which isn’t sufficiently well painted and I can’t recommend it.

(My thanks to Corvus for an ARC via NetGalley.)

Lina is 17 when her dad, Lelle, drops her at the bus stop – a day like any other – and that is the last anyone saw of her. Three years on, Lelle spends the endless daylight hours driving the Silver Road in the barren landscape of northern Sweden, searching for her, thinking of her, pining for her.

In another part of time, another 17-year old girl, Meja, arrives from the south with her incompetent mother, who is moving in with ‘yet another’ unalluring lover. Meja despairs of ever finding a happy and independent life for herself or even finding a friend. But Lelle is her school tutor and she reminds him of his own lost daughter, and we see their lives and stories becoming entwined in an unexpected friendship.

Along the way, all kinds of odd characters are thrown up from the strange and barren background of this isolated community, not least a family of survivalists, isolated and self-sufficient, who may offer Meja a sense of belonging and friendship but possibly something more oppressive and darker …

This is a haunting story of damaged people and relationships, loss and grief. There is no shortage of candidates in terms of who may have taken Lina and possibly done worse. There are glimmers of hope in the fragile friendships formed along the way and the tale is woven with great skill and empathy while holding your attention, though all in all I found this a little too dark and, at times graphic, for my taste. If ‘Nordic noir’ is what you’re expecting from this book, you won’t be disappointed though, and you will find a gripping tale expertly told.