Reviews

I pre-ordered this book as I had read the first one The Darkness in this series. This of the three is my favourite. Cold, chilling, tense, a sense of bleakness made me read this in two sittings. The story of Hulda’s life as she tries to solve crimes make this for me a great read. She is dealing with tragedy and still is determined to find out where a missing young girl has gone.
The atmosphere of Iceland in the winter, at a desolate farm in the middle of nowhere freaked me out on a number of occasions. I kind of got an idea of where the storyline was going but I was not disappointed by this and read on to find out what really happened.
5 stars for this read. You cannot go wrong with Ragnar Jonasson. Well worth the pre-order.

dehndog's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

beverly_h's review against another edition

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4.0

I really enjoyed this tale of Icelandic noir. I loved reading about the Icelandic countryside in the midst of the blizzard, the only visibility being 'white walls' of snow all around.
The ending of this book was unexpected for me - but not so much so as the subplot. The tragedy that befalls the book's main character throughout is borne of an unspeakable evil. True to form, that evil is never 'spoken' or explicitly referenced in the book, making me question if it is - in fact - referring to the evil that it seems to be. Yet the connotations to it are peppered throughout the story (mainly at the start and end), rendering the inferences somewhat inevitable. (I would appreciate anyone else's two cents on what you understand to be the reason behind said tragedy....if you want to comment on my review and/or direct message me.)
In all, a very enjoyable read with a realistic outcome while still maintaining unexpected and welcome twists throughout. I loved the setting of the story. Though I found the characters to be a little dull, the fast pacing made up for them - no sooner had I started the novel, than I was fully immersed and drawn in. This is an unusual yet delicious rarity for me, as I find many books to have slower starts and to only quicken in pace at page 100 or so!
As for the evil that is spoken about above, I found it quite jarring that this atrocity was broached in a more modern crime thriller. That is probably just my own prejudice/sheltered bias coming out, and I commend the author for his use of it - in my opinion, it was a courageous move.

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