Season 4 of HBO's legendary True Detective series began in January of this year. It's called Night Country and takes place in the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska, where 24-hour darkness has begun (based on the actual Alaskan town of Utqiagvik, where night reigns for 67 days) and a mysterious murder case begins to unfold.
It stars Jodie Foster - in her first starring role in a TV series since 1975 as Detectives Liz Danvers, and Kali Reis, as Detective Evangeline Navarro, investigating the disappearance of eight men from a remote research station.
The show has received positive reviews. Many critics and fans say it's a brilliant return to the first season with its supernatural atmosphere, astonishing actors, and clever screenwriting. Like the other seasons, it also dives into existential themes, exploring raw human emotions, along with complicated crime webs. The season ends February 18. You can catch up with the acclaimed series on Max with a subscription service, or, request the library to order it in the future.
If you're looking for a book to read that has similar elements to True Detective: Night Country, check out the recommendations below.
The Terror is a lengthy* (784 pages to be exact) but well-worth-the-read by horror author Dan Simmons fictionalizes the ill-fated 1845 Franklin Expedition and the men on board the HMS Terror, a steam-powdered vessel searching for the elusive Northwest Passage. With no thaw in sight for the second Arctic Circle summer in a row, the crew becomes stranded in a nightmare snowscape with ice and darkness as far as the eye can see. As the men struggle to survive in the deteriorating conditions, something else stalks them out there on the ice - something far worse than outdated rations and a dwindling coal supply.
AMC turned the story into the start of a supernatural anthology series, where each season is inspired by a different infamous or mysterious real life historical tragedy.
*The audio version linked above is 28 hours and 18 minutes.
City Under One Roof, is a debut mystery novel by Iris Yamashita, an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, who penned Letters from Iwo Jima for Clint Eastwood.
Cara Kennedy, a detective from Anchorage, Alaska, is sent to investigate a recently discovered severed hand and foot that washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, which can be accessed only by a tunnel. After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close, Cara is stuck among the odd residents of the town - all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski. Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide.
You Will Never Be Found, by Tove Alsterdal, is a twisted tale involving mysterious disappearances. In Malmberget, a small mining town north of the Arctic Circle, residents and their houses are being relocated because the mine is slowly swallowing it street by street, building by building. Remnants of the community have collapsed into the huge pit that's formed they call “the hole.” Only a few residents remain in their homes, refusing to leave. When two workers are making their final preparations to leave, they hear strange sounds coming from a basement and find a terrified man curled up in a corner.
Meanwhile, police officer Eira Sjödin is investigating the disappearance of a man reported missing by his ex-wife. The man seems to have vanished without a trace. To escape her own dark memories, Eira finds herself in a casual affair with her boss, who is 20-years her senior. When he doesn’t show up for work two days in a row, Eira and her colleagues quickly realize that something is wrong.
In Deadly Fate, by Heather Graham, Thor Erikson has been sent from the FBI Alaska field office to investigate several grotesque killings on Bear Island, with the dead being posed to resemble the victims of notorious murderers. The prime suspect is a serial killer Thor once put behind bars - a man who escaped from a prison in the Midwest, with all the evidence pointing to a trip to Alaska
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Thor and Clara, an entertainer working on an Alaska cruise ship called the Fate, share an unusual skill: the ability to communicate with the dead. Their growing relationship - professional and romantic - plus their contact with the ghosts of the victims, brings them together to solve the case and prevent a deadly fate of their own.
Fire and Ice is the first in a series by mystery author Diana Stabenow. It follows Alaska state trooper Liam Campbell who had everything - a rich wife, a loving son, and a career ready to take off. But then it all fell to pieces. Liam thought the bottle was about to take everything else from him until he found himself on a plane to his new posting - a small native Alaskan town in the middle of nowhere.
Fate isn't finished with him yet. No sooner does he set foot off the plane than he is confronted with a dead body... and finds his ex-lover and fellow detective presiding over the case. With the local law enforcement office going to hell, along with facing the accusing glare of the only woman he's truly ever loved, this new gig is going to be a lot more challenging than Liam thought.
