Are you ready for the darkest case of Jessica Niemi’s career?

A young woman’s corpse washes up on a near-frozen beach.

Then, two famous Instagram influencers go missing.

All three have ties to a cult, famous for their cruel and violent worship.

But before Jessica can save the girls, an old enemy emerges and threatens to destroy her.

Soon, she is hunting for much more than just the truth . . .

My thanks to at Maddie at Welbeck Publishing for my review copy and for the opportunity to join the blog tour

The Ice Coven releases this week and I am flagging it up as a book to be watching out for. I really enjoyed this Scandanavian thriller and at times found myself wondering how Max Seeck had managed to get so much story into 400 pages.

Two social media influencers have disappeared after a large launch party for the new album of one of Finland’s best rap artists. The missing pair were once a couple (no longer) and while Lisa Yammamoto was very visible at the party her former boyfriend would not have been welcome. So why have they both disappeared?

More alarmingly for Jessica Niemi and her colleagues is a picture which appears on Lisa’s Instagram feed after her abduction which shows a remote lighthouse and has a haunting stanza below the image which speaks of Death and a frozen tomb.

While looking for leads at Lisa’s apartment Jessica finds the girl was a talented Manga artist and had many characters images on her walls. One image catches particular attention as the clothing Lisa drew on the Manga girl was identical to those worn by a murder victim pulled from the water after Lisa had disappeared.

How does a missing Finnish Social Media star link to a dead Ukrainian woman? Jessica is made lead investigator but the reader knows this is so her new boss can set Jessica up to take the blame if this high profile case goes wrong.

It’s an unusual but exciting twist to have the department head actively working against the lead character and the tension between Jessica’s team is very evident – even to Jessica.

I am scratching the surface of this story as it’s an intense one and I don’t want to reveal too much here. The Ice Coven felt much more accessible than many other Scandi thrillers I have read and that is a huge plus when I am recommending it.

Translation responsibilities seem to sit with Kristian London (who also translated Seeck’s The Witch Hunter). An excellent job completed by London, the prose flows smoothly, there are still some Finnish phrases in the text which reminded me this is very much a Scandanavian tale and bring the story firmly back to its setting. Great stories such as The Ice Coven would not be available for me to read were it not for the work put in by Kristian London and all the other translators who graft to ensure the best books make it to the widest possible audience.

Not the first Jessica Niemi thriller but this can be read as as stand-alone – the author references past incidents and events but at no point did I feel I was missing something important in The Ice Coven as a consequence of not having read the earlier work. So put aside any qualms you may have and feel confident picking up this book knowing a cracking thriller awaits.

The Ice Coven is published in hardback, digital and audiobook on 16 September and can be ordered here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08ZJVQ7JD/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0