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A review by pudseyrecommends
Snare by Lilja Sigurðardóttir
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.