Book 2 in the Hidden Iceland trilogy featuring Reykjavik Homicide Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir.
In the fall of 1987 two young students, Katla and Benedikt, take off for a romantic weekend at a summer chalet near Heydalur in the remote Westfjords Peninsula of northwest Iceland. But the consummation of their love ends in tragedy when Katla is murdered and her father Veturlidi is arrested for the crime. Katla's death sets into motion a cascade of events that destroy her family and closest friends.
Ten years later Benedikt cajols those friends --- Alexandra, Klara and Katla's brother Dagur --- to get together for a reunion at an old hunting lodge on Elliðaey, an uninhabited island off the coast of Iceland southeast of Reykjavik, a place accessible only by boat, with only radio contact to the outside world. They are supposed to be reconnecting and remembering their friend. But one of them won't be connecting with anyone ever again. For Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik Police, this case could be the break she needs to get her career back on track before it's too late. But to do that she's going to have to dig into the darkness of the past, a darkness that comes uncomfortably close to home for her.
In this trilogy featuring DI Hulda Hermannsdóttir (Book 1 is The Darkness), Jónasson has chosen to tell Hulda's story backwards. In the first book, Hulda is facing mandatory retirement and the end of the only thing she has left to live for, her work as a detective. In the second book, we see Hulda at the midpoint in her career, stymied and held back by the misogamy of the time, but still looking for the respect she craves. The final book will show Hulda at the beginning of her career, and the mistakes that would set in motion her struggles.
Jónasson is a brilliant writer of Nordic Noir, combining the bleak atmospherics of the far northern hemisphere, unsettling characters and intricate plots reminiscent of Agatha Christie, and language constructed with the implacable precision of a dry stone hut.
Click HERE to read the * review from Publishers Weekly.
Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.
Click HERE to read the review from Criminal Element.com.
Click HERE to read the review from the Crime by the Book Blog.
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