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A review by kazza27
The Mist by Ragnar Jónasson
5.0
One of the genre’s I have discovered and loved since book blogging is translated fiction and particularly crime. I love the darkness of Icelandic noir and the bleakness of the snow and isolated living.
This is a Christmas book with a difference, tense and stark. I could not stop reading although at times it is so creepy.
It’s Christmas Eve and in Iceland they celebrate on Christmas Eve, they exchange gifts of books and chocolate. Erla lives with her husband Einar in a remote farmhouse her life is not what she imagined it is tough, bleak and hard. Their daughter Anna lives on an adjoining farm and that is all there is for miles. So when a man turns up at their door in a storm and Leo says he is lost and separated from his friends. This does not ring quite true for Erla, Einar however, thinks they should welcome the stranger in his hour of need.
What happens next literally had me gripped. The tension this author portrays through his writing is incredible. I was there in that dark house with Erla and Einar and I wanted to get out !
The other side of the story is from the perspective of Hulda, a police detective who has suffered a devastating tragedy in her own life. She is called to the farmhouse to a horrific scene.
The feeling of isolation and loneliness in this book is unsettling and it really made me anxious and I was transported to this baron landscape.
‘In an effort to distract herself she turned her attention to the surrounding countryside. The snow had stopped and the setting, now she could see it, had a desolate sort of beauty under its light covering of white. The contrast between this pure untouched landscape and the sordid scenes inside could not have been greater’ .
Dark, brutal and compelling I loved this book. It is so clever and the pace is relentless and I can’t remember a time when a book totally immersed me in the atmosphere and story. Exceptional ! this trilogy is going to make a fantastic tv series.
5 Stars *****
This is a Christmas book with a difference, tense and stark. I could not stop reading although at times it is so creepy.
It’s Christmas Eve and in Iceland they celebrate on Christmas Eve, they exchange gifts of books and chocolate. Erla lives with her husband Einar in a remote farmhouse her life is not what she imagined it is tough, bleak and hard. Their daughter Anna lives on an adjoining farm and that is all there is for miles. So when a man turns up at their door in a storm and Leo says he is lost and separated from his friends. This does not ring quite true for Erla, Einar however, thinks they should welcome the stranger in his hour of need.
What happens next literally had me gripped. The tension this author portrays through his writing is incredible. I was there in that dark house with Erla and Einar and I wanted to get out !
The other side of the story is from the perspective of Hulda, a police detective who has suffered a devastating tragedy in her own life. She is called to the farmhouse to a horrific scene.
The feeling of isolation and loneliness in this book is unsettling and it really made me anxious and I was transported to this baron landscape.
‘In an effort to distract herself she turned her attention to the surrounding countryside. The snow had stopped and the setting, now she could see it, had a desolate sort of beauty under its light covering of white. The contrast between this pure untouched landscape and the sordid scenes inside could not have been greater’ .
Dark, brutal and compelling I loved this book. It is so clever and the pace is relentless and I can’t remember a time when a book totally immersed me in the atmosphere and story. Exceptional ! this trilogy is going to make a fantastic tv series.
5 Stars *****