Land of Sin – Series Review | Netflix

LAND OF SIN on Netflix is a Nordic crime thriller series from Sweden (org. title: Synden). The most obvious way to describe it would probably be as a Scandinavian Ozark. Only even darker and much more sad. With five episodes, it’s a fairly quick watch that offers all the answers you’ll need. Read our full Land of Sin series review here!

LAND OF SIN is a new Netflix series from Sweden (org. title: Synden). It’s a crime thriller set in a part of Sweden where there isn’t much hope. We’re in the countryside, where families have lived (and even thrived) for generations, but times are changing, and the younger generations are not interested in having a farm.

Instead, gangs and drugs have started using the area as a sort of safe haven. A place to recruit dealers and hide their product – even produce drugs, if possible. This is the sad setting of the story you’ll see play out over five 45-minute episodes. Despite the very dismal setting, there is still some hope, and it’s an important story that feels eerily universal.

Continue reading our Land of Sin series review below. Find it on Netflix on January 2, 2026.

The brooding female detective

Unlike so many crime thriller series, the lead character of Land of Sin is a woman. She is as brooding as any of her male counterparts in Dept Q (based on the Danish book series) or the December 2025 Netflix release City of Shadows. With this Swedish crime series, we see that a woman can be just as angry and brooding.

Dani is described as “the perpetually angry, odd but highly intelligent investigator”, which is spot-on. Dani (Krista Kosonen) is given a new partner to work on the latest case in the department: The teenager Silas has been found dead at a farmhouse on the Bjäre peninsula.

Her new partner is the fairly newly graduated police colleague Malik (Mohammed Nour Oklah), and she isn’t ready for a new partner, so she largely ignores him. Not fair to him, as he actually seems to know what he’s doing. Yes, he is playing the classic capable female detective to the brooding senior male, so it is a classic gender-swap.

And it works perfectly!

A depressing Scandinavian Ozark

The investigation into the death of Silas quickly leads Dani and Malik into a patriarchal-run countryside in Scandinavia. Without realizing it, they end up dead in the center of a decade-long, sinister family feud. To make matters much more difficult, Dani has a (very) personal connection to the victim: Silas.

As such, she should not be on the case. However, it also makes her uniquely qualified to be on it. Not least due to the obvious unwillingness of the family to speak with the police in general.

The Patriarch Elis (Peter Gantman) “offers” Dani a deadline to solve the case. If she isn’t successful, he will be taking
matters into his own hands and handle it “the family way”. In this world of generational feud that tends to be solved with violence, everyone needs to watch their step.

And that’s before having to deal with the gangs running the drug business. Oh yes, this is very much a Scandinavian Ozark. Only much darker and even more depressing – and not just due to the short days with very limited sunlight.

Watch Land of Sin on Netflix

Land of Sin (org. title: Synden) comes from Peter Grönlund. He is the creator, writer, and director of the five-part Netflix series. As creator, writer, and director, this is very much Peter Grönlund’s project. And it is a very dark and depressing one, but also a very honest and direct one. I can certainly appreciate this.

For me, Krista Kosonen (Blade Runner 2049, The Swarm) is the absolute star of Land of Sin as the police officer Dani. If you look her up on IMDb, you’ll realize that this actor from Finland is almost unrecognizable as Dani. Usually, Krista Kosonen appears as a happy and beautiful woman, but in this Netflix Nordic Noir series, she is depression personified.

If you’re a fan of Netflix productions such as Ozark, Bloodline, or The Waterfront, but feel ready for everything to get even darker and more depressing, then Land of Sin is for you. Not least thanks to the solid crime mystery at the heart of this series. And yes, before episode 5 is over, you will get all the answers you need.

Land of Sin is out on Netflix on January 2, 2026.

Details

Creator, writer and director: Peter Grönlund
Cast: Krista Kosonen, Mohammed Nour Oklah, Peter Gantman