With the release of his debut, THE WITCH HUNTER, Max Seeck made a name for himself in his home of Finland --- winning the Finnish Whodunnit Society’s Debut Thriller of the Year Award --- and beyond when it was named Best Crime Novel by Storytel. His follow-up, THE ICE COVEN, firmly plants him in the subgenre known as Nordic noir.

The story opens with a chilling scene. A sweaty man called Akifumi feels the plastic mask he is wearing slip down the front of his face as he reaches for the kitchen drawer that houses the knives. He is terrorizing a young woman known simply as Asuna, and readers will immediately fear for her in the presence of this madman.

"Not only is it interesting to see how law enforcement works in other countries, these Nordic-based tales bring along stark and frigid conditions that are their everyday life, which adds even more adversity to an already difficult job."

Next, we are introduced to Instagram star Lisa Yamamoto, who is dressed to kill for a night of club-hopping. She attends a certain event where somebody is watching her, and it will be the last time anyone sees her.

Investigator Jessica Niemi is a local hero in her department following the takedown of a serial killer six months earlier that left her with permanent mental scars. She is back in the saddle and put directly on Lisa’s case. It turns out that Lisa is not the only "internet influencer" to go missing that night, which surely is no coincidence. Unfortunately, Jessica’s new superior, Chief Hellu, has taken an immediate dislike to her. Regardless of her motives, Hellu is letting her issues with Jessica cloud her judgment and has requested Jessica’s medical files. I guess there are no HIPAA laws in Finland!

Jessica likes to keep her private life private to the extent that she has a façade apartment. Small and grubby, it is located next door to her actual home, which displays her love of fine art and the tens of millions of dollars her family has. Diving into the world of social media celebrities is completely foreign territory to Jessica, so she decides to rely on good old-fashioned police work. When interviewing Lisa’s father, her keen senses make special note that he is missing at least half of his right pinkie.

Lisa’s safety seems to be in peril once Jessica is able to decode a four-line “poem” left by those who abducted her. The creepy message reads: We found the girl. We used the girl. We killed the girl. (And her boyfriend.) The kidnappers are seen as a sort of cult group, or coven, and Hellu makes it her business to find out why they have chosen to correspond with Jessica. Readers will be kept on edge as every decision and move that has been made by local law enforcement may be tainted and corrupt.

Jessica has a lot to overcome in THE ICE COVEN, least of which is the Finnish landscape. I go out of my way to read any novel that falls under the Nordic noir umbrella. Not only is it interesting to see how law enforcement works in other countries, these Nordic-based tales bring along stark and frigid conditions that are their everyday life, which adds even more adversity to an already difficult job.