Set in a rural Swedish town, Tove Alsterdal’s We Know You Remember, like any good mystery, wastes no time introducing its first victims. Scarcely seven pages go by before an exiled son, Olaf Hagström, stumbles across the dead body of the father he hasn’t spoken to in years. The detective officer called in to handle the case, the dedicated Eira Sjödin, was only nine when Olaf, then fourteen, was found guilty of the rape and murder of a girl in the community. Spared a sentence, Olaf was instead sent away and excommunicated by his family; but the crime never faded from Eira’s, or the town’s collective memory. These two murders, set twenty years apart, slowly unravel under Eira’s relentless investigation, and suspense builds as Eira realizes just how personal the truth might become. The obvious grows less so, as guilt and memory intertwine to rewrite a narrative that scarred an entire town and destroyed many of its lives.
We Know You Remember is one of those books whose characters you don’t entirely want to root for, but from whom you can’t quite walk away. Their lives are messy, complicated, and marked by the negatives in life. Everyone has something to hide, and as Eira increasingly discovers, each character’s history plays a role in filling the gaps in her investigation. Alsterdal masterfully blends the past and present, infusing violence and fear into the backdrop of an otherwise peaceful town. What begins as a relatively one-dimensional group develops into a rich character study on what makes us all human.
Alsterdal’s writing style is unassuming yet descriptive, and her reluctance to share more than the essential leaves room for the mystery to take center stage. The novel is structured a bit like a Russian doll, positioning the reader as the detective rather than an omniscient observer. Each time the facts threaten to line up, Alsterdal throws a new wrench in the works, uprooting the whole case but keeping her readers perpetually invested in the final outcome. We Know You Remember isn’t a book done justice by a quick read, or skipping to the end, because its appeal comes from the building anticipation of the journey. No conversation, hunting knife, or cardigan is unimportant, and what results is a disturbing portrait of how much people will risk, and excuse, to protect those they love. Readers will soon find themselves ensnared in the perfect formula of nordic noir, yet one which continually subverts expectations. Alsterdal weaves in pertinent social commentary on police, the treatment of minors, and the dangers of social media, all while building a world of characters that feels incredibly genuine. In the spirit of Halloween season, anyone in the market for a mystery should consider this novel required reading. Or for anyone new to the genre, the winner of Swedish Crime Novel of the Year is a great place to start. We Know You Remember will shock you, and make you question what you do remember, and all that you don’t.