Devil's Fjord

Tristan Haraldsen, the new District Sheriff, decides to move to a remote village on the island of Vágar in the Faroes with his wife Elsebeth, following a health scare. They both hope this will be the chance for a quiet peaceful life but his first few weeks in office make him realise how unprepared he is for the brutal ways of existence in the new location.

His job is to make sure that the rules of the grind, or the whale hunt, are properly followed. The bloody slaughter is a condemned by the rest of the world, but the shocking practice remains an important part of life in the Faroes.

Against his will, Tristan is provoked into taking part in the village's whale hunt, much to the horror of his wife, and he blunders badly. As a result, complete chaos ensues, anger and violence take priority, and two local boys go missing. The younger, ten-year-old Jonas, is known for his wild reckless behaviour and his brother Benjamin, two years older, is timid, and has serious learning difficulties not recognised by his parents nor the community.

Tristan blames himself for their disappearance and begins first an online investigation, logging into the police database, without permission. The search for the boys brings a devastating conclusion: Jonas is found dead, and Benjamin, hiding somewhere in the wilderness, is immediately named as his killer.

Soon Tristan realises that the boys are not the first to have gone missing on Vágar. In addition, he senses a terrible injustice in the community. Hanna Olsen, the area police officer, is discreetly looking for her troubled brother Søren who was last seen on the island. Tristan and Elsebeth become increasingly entangled in the island's past and recognise that its wild magnificent beauty hides a totally uglier and sinister truth. Together with Hanna they try to find out why other disappearances were not investigated and why Djevulsfjord is indeed a Devil’s place.

After setting his earlier books in Italy and Denmark, now David Hewson this time takes on the Faroe Islands. He creates a foreboding atmosphere, punctuated by small discoveries of events from the recent past that apparently have no impact on the present. This is shaped by the locals and their attitude to the extremely harsh life on the island that although incredibly beautiful in good weather, nevertheless, has a medieval-like social system in the village.

One heartless businesswoman provides work for desperate villagers, while the police seem to be following their own convenient moral code. Modern technology is present, yet the overwhelming feel is that of a feudal world, locked in outdated thoughts and beliefs, with deep distrust of tourists, newcomers from other islands, and all those who came from Denmark. There is no space for dealing with emotions when the main purpose is just to survive. In this context, so alien to the Haraldsens who arrived from the capital city of Torshavn, they need to fight against the time, prejudices and violent nature of weary tired locals.