The One-Eyed Rabbit

In a sleepy part of Sweden, hidden deep in the woods on the outskirts of the little community of Dalen, lays an old abandoned house. That’s the first thing David Flygare learns when he returns to spend the summer in his childhood home. David’s closest friend Lukas, unemployed and always on the lookout for kicks, takes him to the house in the woods. There to greet him is a motley group of old friends: the incestuous siblings Julian and Justine, and the closeted Martin and Rickard. The group spends their days at the house, grilling, swimming and hanging out. Soon enough, the group lets David in on their secret: they’ve been robbing homes and storing the stolen goods in the abandoned house all summer. David soon joins them in their criminal adventures, but underneath the surface old and new tensions start to build.

The summer idyll gradually cracks when the youngsters begin to commit increasingly serious crimes. As the house fills with the friends’ collective angst and fear, it begins to transform into a haunted place that brings the group together. Soon, the locals become suspicious. When an old man disappears, the secret pact based around the abandoned house starts to crumble. As things begin to slip out of their hands, there is no going back.

Dubbed a “rural-noir,” The One-Eyed Rabbit is an unnerving story of secrets and lies, and friendship conditioned by fear. Carlsson creates an oppressive atmosphere that creeps under your skin and, in a sophisticated voice, scrutinizes what happens when a tranquil small town is faced with serious crime. Lauded by press and readers alike, The One-Eyed Rabbit is the second novel by Christoffer Carlsson and secured his place as one of the most gifted young crime writers in Scandinavia.