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A review by themysterymaven
The Day is Dark by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
3.0
Iceland forever remains one of the most breathtaking places I’ve ever visited, and so I was excited to find this thriller by an Icelandic author! It felt like a nice homage to my many memories there. Now, the setting of the book actually takes place in Greenland, but the harsh, wintry landscape provided a neat backdrop against which to set a mystery.
A small team of scientists and other professionals must solve a series of strange disappearances at a drilling site, where the remains of skeletal bones and a disturbing video recording provide cryptic clues to what befell the small camp. The native Greenlanders speak of a dark curse and history that leaves those who enter into a forbidden area marked by certain death, blood that flows from the faces of the damned.
There’s quite a number of puzzles to solve here, and I liked how the author mixed practical and surreal possibilities together, leaving you to wonder if the villain at work is corporeal…or something supernatural. At times, the translation of the story could feel a little jolted and unnatural, but it was overall pretty smooth reading. If you’re a fan of Arctic thrillers like Girl in Ice or The Thing, you may equally enjoy this book!
A small team of scientists and other professionals must solve a series of strange disappearances at a drilling site, where the remains of skeletal bones and a disturbing video recording provide cryptic clues to what befell the small camp. The native Greenlanders speak of a dark curse and history that leaves those who enter into a forbidden area marked by certain death, blood that flows from the faces of the damned.
There’s quite a number of puzzles to solve here, and I liked how the author mixed practical and surreal possibilities together, leaving you to wonder if the villain at work is corporeal…or something supernatural. At times, the translation of the story could feel a little jolted and unnatural, but it was overall pretty smooth reading. If you’re a fan of Arctic thrillers like Girl in Ice or The Thing, you may equally enjoy this book!