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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed this book, but the pacing is a bit off for a thriller and the author keeps all the good romance bits off screen (whhhhhhhhhyyyyyyy)
I selected this as my pick for the "Nordic noir" prompt in the 2018 PopSugar Ultimate Reading Challenge. I had a copy sitting in one of my TBR bookshelves thanks to the fact that my Mom had shared her FirstReads win with me, so this was a perfect opportunity to read it. This is the first in a series set in Iceland featuring rookie policeman Ari Thór Arason. Siglufjördur, the quiet fishing village in northern Iceland that serves as the setting for the story, is shaken to its core when a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed, elderly writer falls to his death in a local theater. This is not the quiet, sleepy village that Ari Thór was expecting after deciding to move north from Reykjavik. The brutal weather is a character unto itself and brings an extra layer of suspense to the story that leaves the reader chilled to the bone.
This Icelandic mystery is not as dark as other Nordic noir offerings, as the violence happens off-screen, but it features a somewhat brooding, imperfect policeman with a messy personal life that seems to be one of the hallmarks of that genre. It also include many elements of a traditional mystery that will be familiar to fans who might not have ventured out beyond the English countryside before -- a remote village, countless suspects, an outsider investigator, and a mystery from the past that has bearing on the present. Even more importantly, it plays fair with the reader. If you're looking for a non-England setting for a traditional mystery but aren't ready for a darker Scandinavian offering, this would be an excellent introduction to the genre. I look forward to reading more in this series and am grateful to have discovered it thanks to my Mom's FirstReads win!
This Icelandic mystery is not as dark as other Nordic noir offerings, as the violence happens off-screen, but it features a somewhat brooding, imperfect policeman with a messy personal life that seems to be one of the hallmarks of that genre. It also include many elements of a traditional mystery that will be familiar to fans who might not have ventured out beyond the English countryside before -- a remote village, countless suspects, an outsider investigator, and a mystery from the past that has bearing on the present. Even more importantly, it plays fair with the reader. If you're looking for a non-England setting for a traditional mystery but aren't ready for a darker Scandinavian offering, this would be an excellent introduction to the genre. I look forward to reading more in this series and am grateful to have discovered it thanks to my Mom's FirstReads win!
At first I struggled with this book as it spent a good amount of time setting up the many characters in the town, describing the town, etc. I reminded myself this is a series and their needs to be a rich cast of townsfolk to work with to make this series tick. Thankfully I was right and the author delivered well on the plot. The red herrings were excellent and the twist not easy to guess.
Hmmm. Echt niet mijn type boek. Matig spannend. Veel clichés. Oninteressante personages. Slecht verhaal als je het mij vraagt.
Nou is dit niet mijn normale genre, dus ik heb weinig vergelijking. Maar het kon mij niet echt boeien. Het enige pluspunt is dat het makkelijk wegleest.
Nou is dit niet mijn normale genre, dus ik heb weinig vergelijking. Maar het kon mij niet echt boeien. Het enige pluspunt is dat het makkelijk wegleest.
I enjoyed this, but I had the feeling that it could be better with just a few tweaks? I'm not sure if this was due to losses in translation, but this comes so close to being a cozy mystery in the in-the-isolated -community sense, in which the suspect pool is limited to the small population, and we learn about everyone's yearnings and secrets while the environment itself seems to reflect the mood. But it doesn't quite get there.
2.5. I had issues with the main character... Accepting a job in an isolated village without talking it over with your girlfriend and then being surprised that she's distance? Go figure.
Very slow, couldn’t get into it, conversations between characters didn’t read well
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Very slow and low key boring as fuck at first but after the first 100 pages it did a good job at keeping my attention and being entertaining
Also liked how all the characters had something that made them unlikeable
All in all, underrated as fuck 👍🏼
Also liked how all the characters had something that made them unlikeable
All in all, underrated as fuck 👍🏼
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated