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celia25's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lezreadalot's review
4.0
She knew that in Agla’s eyes she would always be perfect; and perfection was like a coke buzz – liberating, satisfying and dangerously addictive.
3.5 stars. An interesting crime thriller that's simple in a lot of ways, but had enough little twists and enough intrigue to keep me going. We're following Sonja, a young divorced mother in Iceland who has been duped into becoming a cocaine mule, and the steps she takes to attempt to free herself from the snare. We're also following Agla, Sonia's deeply closeted on-and-off girlfriend, who is caught up in a major banking scandal after the financial crisis; and Bragi, an older customs officer who becomes more and more suspicious of Sonia after each of her many flights.
It's the kind of thriller that's more focused on the crime and drama than it is on outlandish twists, and I liked that a lot about it. There were a lot of details about all the precautions and preparations that Sonja had to take that made it all pretty realistic, and it was interesting getting the details of Agla's crimes and how it intersected with the financial crisis. Ooooooon the flip side, there were also a few scenes that felt deeply manufactured, like they were lifted from a badly acted and mildly racist 2000s cop show. So yeah. There was good with the bad. I did really enjoy the setting, descriptions of Icelandic food and culture, descriptions of the dust from the recent volcano eruption. I love feeling so grounded in a place/culture, and Iceland is a place I haven't read many books about! The romance isn't quite central to the plot, but important enough that I was really rooting for them, and I'm interested to see where things will go in the series. Agla's agonising over her sexuality and labels manages to be really heart-rending, even from a character who's not the easiest to sympathise with. Something interesting about the book is that we start in the middle of things; we don't see how Sonja got caught up in drug-running aside from a couple flashbacks, and we don't see what exactly pushed Agla to commit her crimes. I'm hoping for more details in future books. I liked the other relationships in the book as well: Sonja and her son, Bragi and his wife.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Suzannah Hampton, and really really loved it. I think this is my first book narrated by her, and she just has one of those voices that's really lovely and easy to listen to. I can't judge how well she did with the Icelandic names and pronunciations, but it seemed well done to me. I kinda wanted a male narrator for the Bragi and Tomas chapters, but it was still really well done. I feel like I had some more nitpicks about the book itself, but I can't remember them now. This was pretty good! I don't have a lot of winners with thrillers so I'll take it, and look forward to continuing the series some time.
Content warnings:
Spoiler
violence, sexual assault, severe injury, mauling, descriptions of drug use and addiction, alcoholismpudseyrecommends's review against another edition
4.0
Snare is the first in a Noir trilogy by newest Nordic sensation, Lilja Sigurdardottir and I hear it is being made into major film by Hollywood. Sigurdardottir writes the story in fast-paced chapters, with complex characters and even more complex relationships, a very intricate plot and fantastic imagery. I was hooked straight away and couldn’t put it down.
Set in a Reykjavik covered in the dust of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption, Snare is told from the perspective of young mother Sonia Gunnarsdottir. Sonia is divorcing Adam, who caught her in bed with a woman. That woman being Agla, her husband’s former banking colleague.
As the divorce ensues, Sonia is struggling to provide for herself and keep custody of her son, Tómas. Sonia embarks on a relationship with Agla, a woman very much in the closet and that is a messy thing. Agla is full of shame, and fear and guilt about being a lesbian. To add to it all, Alga, once a high-level bank executive, is currently being prosecuted in the aftermath of the Icelandic finical crash.
With her back firmly against the wall, Sonia has no option but to become a mule – the ‘snare’ orchestrated by her own lawyer Thorgeir, or so she thinks. As she desperately looks for a way out, she devises increasingly complex ruses to escape detection by customs official Bragi, a pivotal character, who has its own parallel storyline.
Bragi is a dedicated customs officer whose life centres around his job and his ailing wife, Valdis, a sufferer of dementia, currently in a care home.
The volcanic ashes almost serve as a metaphor for Sonia's life, she has to clean it all up... but it is a very messy business and it wont go away that easily.
Snare is a great Nordic noir novel that deserves all the hype it is getting, chaotic and compelling. I loved it.
Set in a Reykjavik covered in the dust of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption, Snare is told from the perspective of young mother Sonia Gunnarsdottir. Sonia is divorcing Adam, who caught her in bed with a woman. That woman being Agla, her husband’s former banking colleague.
As the divorce ensues, Sonia is struggling to provide for herself and keep custody of her son, Tómas. Sonia embarks on a relationship with Agla, a woman very much in the closet and that is a messy thing. Agla is full of shame, and fear and guilt about being a lesbian. To add to it all, Alga, once a high-level bank executive, is currently being prosecuted in the aftermath of the Icelandic finical crash.
With her back firmly against the wall, Sonia has no option but to become a mule – the ‘snare’ orchestrated by her own lawyer Thorgeir, or so she thinks. As she desperately looks for a way out, she devises increasingly complex ruses to escape detection by customs official Bragi, a pivotal character, who has its own parallel storyline.
Bragi is a dedicated customs officer whose life centres around his job and his ailing wife, Valdis, a sufferer of dementia, currently in a care home.
The volcanic ashes almost serve as a metaphor for Sonia's life, she has to clean it all up... but it is a very messy business and it wont go away that easily.
Snare is a great Nordic noir novel that deserves all the hype it is getting, chaotic and compelling. I loved it.
sunshine_mel's review
3.0
Fairly disappointed by the ending, and not particularly gripped throughout (although some scenes were interesting). Won’t read the series.
3genres's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
For a thriller-type book it was pretty good. (I tend to find those shallow.) There wasn't really character development because it was short in both in length and time frame. I got a good feel for the frustration of each of the main characters, whose situations were different but similar. There are two more books in the trilogy and I'm fine with stopping where I am now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Dementia
ashley_kelmore's review against another edition
4.0
Best for:
Those who enjoy crime novels of the Icelandic variety. Those who appreciate when the main character is both a) not a man and b) not straight.
In a nutshell:
Sonja is divorced and lost custody of her son. To get by, she smuggles cocaine. (That’s right, the cocaine smuggling came after losing her son.) She has a relationship with Agla, who is being pursued for her role in the Iceland financial collapse. Sonja wants out, and she wants to regain custody of her son.
Worth quoting:
“It was as if the apartments that were empty for too long acquired a deep sadness.”
Why I chose it:
I wanted some fiction, this was the start of a trilogy, and the author was listed in an article that included Ragnar Jonasson, who wrote the Dark Iceland series I enjoyed.
Review:
I new from the second chapter that I was definitely into this book, because chapter two was from a different character’s perspective. While the book doesn’t skip about in time, it does skip from character to character, which I love. I like seeing many of the pieces, though not all of them. It makes any eventual twists less shocking and more ‘oh yeah, that makes sense.’
The chapters in this book are short - some only three or four paragraphs - and the book reads quickly. The characters are at times a bit flat, but it’s a series so I’m hoping for a bit more in books two and three. I appreciate that the main love interest for Sonja is a woman, and that the woman she is interested in struggles with having feelings for another woman.
As for the crime aspect - it’s not so much a mystery (which is what I was initially hoping for) as a thriller. Unlike the Dark Iceland series, we’re no wondering who the murderer is. Instead, we’re with the criminal — Sonja — wondering how she ‘s going to get out of the mess she’s in. It also means people with different perspectives might find themselves rooting for different characters. Do you hope Sonja gets away with it, because you can see she’s a good parent for her child, and she just wants to get out of the whole system? Do you hope that the customs agent stops her because who knows who is getting rich off the drugs she is bringing in? Are you just generally annoyed that drugs are illegal, creating this weird smuggling system?
I read this book in 24 hours, starting it before bed on a weekend and finishing it after work the next day. I already have the second book and will be starting it after work today.
Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it (I don’t tend to re-read fiction)
Those who enjoy crime novels of the Icelandic variety. Those who appreciate when the main character is both a) not a man and b) not straight.
In a nutshell:
Sonja is divorced and lost custody of her son. To get by, she smuggles cocaine. (That’s right, the cocaine smuggling came after losing her son.) She has a relationship with Agla, who is being pursued for her role in the Iceland financial collapse. Sonja wants out, and she wants to regain custody of her son.
Worth quoting:
“It was as if the apartments that were empty for too long acquired a deep sadness.”
Why I chose it:
I wanted some fiction, this was the start of a trilogy, and the author was listed in an article that included Ragnar Jonasson, who wrote the Dark Iceland series I enjoyed.
Review:
I new from the second chapter that I was definitely into this book, because chapter two was from a different character’s perspective. While the book doesn’t skip about in time, it does skip from character to character, which I love. I like seeing many of the pieces, though not all of them. It makes any eventual twists less shocking and more ‘oh yeah, that makes sense.’
The chapters in this book are short - some only three or four paragraphs - and the book reads quickly. The characters are at times a bit flat, but it’s a series so I’m hoping for a bit more in books two and three. I appreciate that the main love interest for Sonja is a woman, and that the woman she is interested in struggles with having feelings for another woman.
As for the crime aspect - it’s not so much a mystery (which is what I was initially hoping for) as a thriller. Unlike the Dark Iceland series, we’re no wondering who the murderer is. Instead, we’re with the criminal — Sonja — wondering how she ‘s going to get out of the mess she’s in. It also means people with different perspectives might find themselves rooting for different characters. Do you hope Sonja gets away with it, because you can see she’s a good parent for her child, and she just wants to get out of the whole system? Do you hope that the customs agent stops her because who knows who is getting rich off the drugs she is bringing in? Are you just generally annoyed that drugs are illegal, creating this weird smuggling system?
I read this book in 24 hours, starting it before bed on a weekend and finishing it after work the next day. I already have the second book and will be starting it after work today.
Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it (I don’t tend to re-read fiction)
raven88's review against another edition
3.0
Snare proved a curious mix for me, as my overriding feeling that this was almost two books running parallel to each other, with a gripping story of drug running, running alongside a slower Borgen-esque feeling of financial impropriety, and double dealing. I’ll be honest, and say that I didn’t take to the latter thread as much as the former, finding it a little turgid against the relative excitement of the drug smuggling narrative, and although I was slightly questioning of the veracity of single parent Sonja’s involvement in drug running, this was certainly the more compelling of the two storylines, and led to some real heart in the mouth moments. I also enjoyed playing witness to the touchingly sentimental ‘other’ life of customs officer Bragi, whose game of cat and mouse with Sonja was another enjoyable strand of the book. However, the emotional handwringing of Sonja’s romantic involvement with Agla, the bank executive under investigation, became increasingly tiresome, but cleverly the seemingly anodyne ending of the book must signpost further developments for the second part of the trilogy. A little unsure, but curious, and intrigued to see how the story progresses in the next instalment.