I love it when one of my favorite books is turned into a TV series and Netflix is about to do just that with the thriller The Åre Murders. Let's hope they do as good a job as Apple TV Plus did with Mick Herron's "Slow Horses"!
Rather intriguingly The Åre Murders, which hits Netflix globally on Thursday, February 6, is actually based on two of the books by Swedish author Viveca Sten. The first of these — and the one I've read and loved — is "Hidden in Snow" and the second is "Hidden in the Shadows". It will be fascinating to see how much of the plot is taken from "Hidden in Snow", the first in the currently three-book series, which introduces us to Stockholm police officer Hanna Ahlander (played by Swedish actor Carla Sehn).
Judging from Netflix's plot tease the opening of the series will at least be sticking closely to "Hidden in Snow". It starts with Hanna's personal and professional life falling apart. She's told to get a new job by her boss after pursuing a colleague for a crime and then her "perfect boyfriend" dumps her and turns out to be a cheat.
Kicked out of the flat they shared, Hanna heads to her sister's immaculate lodge in the isolated Swedish ski resort of Åre. Sobbing buckets and drinking far too much wine, Hanna is shocked when a local teenage girl goes missing after a late-night party. With nothing else to do, Hanna starts to investigate and offers to help struggling local cop Detective Inspector Daniel Lindskog. Like the recent Netflix Nordic noir hit The Breakthrough, the book and hopefully the TV series very much makes the victims part of the story. You feel the pain of the parents as their beloved daughter goes missing. Could they have done anything different? And where could she have possibly gone?
"Hidden in Snow" is also wonderfully atmospheric. You can really feel yourself among the beautiful Swedish mountains, while Hanna is a great creation. She's likable and funny. Let's hope the Netflix series keeps in the book's humor.
Talking about her books being adapted into a six-part series for Netflix, author Viveca Sten says: "'The Åre Murders' means a lot to me and I'm very excited that it's now time for the TV series to see the light of day on a leading streaming service like Netflix! Both as the author of the books and executive producer of the series, it's hugely exciting to see the characters come to life through such talented actors. My dream, of course, is that the TV series will be just as popular and successful as the books have been both in Sweden and abroad.”
I also really enjoyed The Breakthrough, which was inspired by a real double murder case in Sweden, which was solved after 16 years using groundbreaking genetic genealogy techniques. It seems that after a lull Nordic noir is back and The Åre Murders is certainly going to be my next binge-watch.
The Åre Murders is released on Netflix globally on Thursday, February 6.
