The Island by Ragnar Jónasson

The Island: A Thriller by Ragnar Jónasson,  translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb --- 336 pages, including a map.

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. 

The Darkness by Ragnar Jonasson

The Darkness: A Thriller by Ragnar Jónasson; translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb --- 310 pages

A gripping new thriller by the author of the celebrated "Dark Iceland" series. This is the first volume in a new trilogy called "Hidden Iceland," and Jónasson is upping the ante by choosing to write the  three volumes in reverse chronological order.

The body of a young woman, a Russian asylum-seeker, is discovered by hikers washed up in an isolated little cove, halfway between Reykjavik and Keflavik.  After a cursory investigation by the Reykjavik police, the death is declared a suicide, and the case closed.

Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police has just learned that she is being forced into early retirement at 64, to make room for a new hire, a much younger and less experienced man. Hulda is furious; she has been dreading compulsory retirement at age sixty-five, and now she is being forced out a year sooner. But before she leaves she bargains with her boss for two more weeks to clear her desk and a chance to solve a one last cold case of her choosing. Hulda knows which case: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended in the icy waters. Soon Hulda discovers that another Russian emigre vanished at about the same time, and that no one seems concerned or even interested. Even the other detectives in her division seem more determined to discourage and obstruct her efforts to reopen the investigation. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.

It's rare to find a woman in her sixties featured as the protagonist in a suspense thriller. Perhaps Jónasson  is being influenced by his background as the person who translated a number of Agatha Christie's classic mysteries into Icelandic. But his Hulda is not an Icelandic Miss Marple. Readers will find themselves rooting for Hulda as she battles the latent hostility and dismissive attitudes she has had to overcome as a woman in a male-dominated field. 

As in Jónasson's other books, the Icelandic landscape is an ever present "character" lurking throughout The Darkness. Readers will experience both Iceland's compelling beauty and its unforgiving nature.

In the "Nordic Noir" tradition, the plotting is precise, winding tighter and tighter as the suspense rachets up to a bleakly ironic conclusion. Only when looking backward can the reader see the tragic inevitability of a web so expertly woven to deceive. 

Click HERE to read an interview with the author from the Reykjavik Grapevine.

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 the Washington (DC) Times.