Long ago, Cassandra Neary roamed the streets and rock clubs of the Lower East Side, photographing punk-scene habitués as damaged as herself. After making a small name for herself with a single book of photographs, she spent decades drifting, alcohol and drugs her only faithful companions. Her reputation brings her an offer of a rare lucrative job, authenticating some extremely transgressive photos shot by a Finnish photographer. New York is quickly getting uncomfortable for her and she takes the job—to find that her certification of authenticity lands her in the midst of a series of murders in Finland and Iceland, with herself on the target list. With little help, she must find clues to decades-old crimes, while staying ahead of pursuit by shadowy, and deadly, enemies.

The gloomier elements of Nordic culture, expressed in modern takes on its mythology, and in black metal rock music, provide an armature around which Hand shapes her story. The story's events occur mainly in Iceland, just after the 2008 crash of its banking system. The darkness of a North Atlantic winter is made worse by the economic misery that Cass finds, comprised of decaying, partly-built mansions and people scrambling to keep food and shelter together. Not merely post-apocalyptic, this story feels almost post-Ragnarok.

Scarred physically and emotionally, Cass Neary is a fascinating character. She provides the book with an excellent noir voice, as in this conversation with a young vinyl-record dealer, who calls himself Baldur after the Norse god:

As its title suggests, Available Dark also integrates photography, its history, esthetics and techniques, into the story. The technical difficulties of the secret production of large photographic prints, and the properties of antique cameras, both matter. Readers who care about vinyl records will enjoy Hand on the joys of record hunting, and her fond reference to a particular make and model of turntable.

Available Dark begins immediately after the events of Hand's earlier Generation Loss, and ends with the promise of more trouble to come for Cass. However, the novel works perfectly well as a standalone story. If you love a crime story with a well-imagined heroine, and especially if you are interested in such stories in a Nordic setting, this book is a must.