34443975‘Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead and pulled the trigger. This is the story of how we got there.’

Beartown is a small town in a large Swedish forest.
For most of the year it is under a thick blanket of snow, experiencing the kind of cold and dark that brings people closer together – or pulls them apart.
Its isolation means that Beartown has been slowly shrinking with each passing year. But now the town is on the verge of an astonishing revival. Everyone can feel the excitement. Change is in the air and a bright new future is just around the corner.
Until the day it is all put in jeopardy by a single, brutal act. It divides the town into those who think it should be hushed up and forgotten, and those who’ll risk the future to see justice done. At last, it falls to one young man to find the courage to speak the truth that it seems no one else wants to hear.
No one can stand by or stay silent. You’re on one side or another. Which side will you find yourself on?

My Review

I requested  this from NetGalley quite a few months ago. I promptly forgot about it until I read some rave reviews recently by some blogging friends and picked it up in anticipation of a great read. Unfortunately for me the writing style, and possibly the translation, definitely made this just an okay read for me.

Like other readers I managed to get through the hockey dominated first half by telling myself that it would improve and pick up speed. It didn’t get fast enough for me and was something of a let down, with only the mystery of who pulled the trigger as mentioned in the synopsis) making me keep reading until the end.

I’d recommend this if you enjoy novels set around hockey and sports.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for my digital copy.