COLD SEA (KALLT HAV)
Håkan Östlundh
April 2026
A decade ago, the sea took two young lives. Now, it has claimed another, and tragedy begins to look like murder.
A decade has passed sine the sea claimed Stella and Albin during a late night swim. What truly happened on the beach in Austre that night after the party has remained a mystery. They knew all too well how dangerous the Baltic Sea’s undercurrents can be, yet they still entered the icy water. The grief was heavy to bear for Freja and the rest of their close-knit group of friends.
When, ten years later, Freja receives the devastating news that her brother Jakob has unexpectedly taken his own life in the family’s summer house, just outside Austre, her world collapses once more. With no help from the police, who are convinced that Jakob’s death was a suicide, Freja has no other choice than to start her own investigation with the help of her childhood friends.
In COLD SEA, readers follow a group of young summer visitors desperately trying to hold one another together in the aftermath of tragedy. Here, Håkan Östlundh returns to the sun-drenched island of Gotland, and readers familiar with the Fredrik Broman series will not be disappointed. This time, however, there is no police team leading the investigation. Instead, the story follows Freja, a passionate thirty-something singer-songwriter who becomes entangled in mysteries and crimes, alongside her close group of childhood friends, each of them carrying secrets and darkness of their own.
COLD SEA is the first book in a series featuring Freja and her best friend Toni.
329 pages
Rights
Sweden: Gyldendal Astra
Denmark: Gyldendal Astra
Norway: Cappelen Damm
Film and Theatrical rights
Available
REVIEWS
‘…an extraordinarily well-crafted group dynamic. …[The author] moves skillfully between the three time frames… and the reader thoroughly enjoys the exceptionally well-written and surprising journey [to the conclusion]’
Anders Kapp, Kapprakt / SWE
‘Östlundh’s strength lies in his writing: sharp, pleasant and well-balanced. All in all, COLD SEA is a well-written… book with a fundamentally good and engaging story, offering an enjoyable reading experience.’
BTJ / SWE