Yet we scatter our lives, helplessly and absently. This statement hints at an alienation between our thoughts and our lived lives. When Johan is trapped at the bottom of the well, he finds his only companion is an eel, which later becomes his pet. When Annie decided to move to the rustic commune, she had lost her teaching job, and desired a simpler life. Blackwater takes place near the border between Sweden and Norway.
Many figurative borderlines come into play as the novel progresses.
The setting of the novel is unfamiliar to most English-language readers. Like Smilla's Sense of Snow , it is beautifully written, absorbing and accessible. It makes you hold your breath. Blackwater works so brilliantly both as a mystery and an evocation an unfamiliar word. Graham Greene meets Dean Koontz.