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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
This is a town where nobody locks their doors. “There’s no point, nothing ever happens around here.” Until the time when two dead bodies are found and there’s more to do than hand out traffic tickets.
In the middle of a dark snowy winter, to the eyes of a newcomer a tiny town in the far north of already tiny Iceland, right below the Arctic Circle, surrounded by mountains and the sea and connected to the rest of the world only by a mountain tunnel in winter, a place where everyone knows everyone but some secrets still manage to stay buried may seem a bit claustrophobic and intimidating and oppressive.
In the middle of the last recession, a new grad Ari Thór Arason is lucky to get a job as a policeman in Siglufjördur, a former herring town of a thousand or so people in the far north of Iceland — even if it means leaving a life and a girlfriend behind in Reykjavik and adjusting to a life as a newcomer in a tight-knit community. All while he’s struggling with adjusting to relative isolation (especially if the road out of it is cut off by a snowfall), dark snowy winter and loneliness. A couple of dead bodies within the first few weeks in his straight-out-of training job do not help the stress levels as he’s just starting to learn his job.
Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson has the tone and feel of a classic murder mystery — and apparently the author translated quite a few of Agatha Christie’s works into Icelandic, so he must have been inspired by one of the greats in the genre. But he avoids an issue that Miss Christie ran into, as he explains in his afterword — unlike her Poirot, his protagonist Ari Thór is a very young man, still green behind the ears (if you excuse this sophomoric pun) and still has much to learn. He’s unsure, he makes mistakes, and that makes him actually interesting. He’s not armed with a dark and gritty past that gave him experience and resilience — the crutch of many writers making their protagonist a grizzled and dark hero — instead, we see the events that will eventually shape him into what we hope will be a competent detective.
This story moves along at a measured and unhurried pace. There are no thrills or adrenaline, just slow investigation and piecing things together in the classic police procedural way. Everything unfolds slowly and deliberately. It focuses on the atmosphere with the mountains oppressively looming over the tiny town, isolating it from the rest of the world, giving it strange beauty that borders on menacing. (Speaking if it, I wonder what the actual residents of Siglufjördur think of the way their town is shown here). It makes me want to visit this place — but in the middle of summer, please.
3.5 stars easily rounding up to 4.
I definitely plan to read more in this series — and I just found out that the US publisher for reasons baffling to everyone published this series out of order, taking book 5 and releasing it as book 2, skipping the developments of books 2-4. Huh? Why this happened must be the real mystery of this series.
“It was still snowing. This peaceful little town was being compressed by the snow, no longer a familiar winter embrace but a threat like never before. The white was no longer pure, but tinged bloodred. One thing was certain. Tonight people would lock their doors.”
In the middle of a dark snowy winter, to the eyes of a newcomer a tiny town in the far north of already tiny Iceland, right below the Arctic Circle, surrounded by mountains and the sea and connected to the rest of the world only by a mountain tunnel in winter, a place where everyone knows everyone but some secrets still manage to stay buried may seem a bit claustrophobic and intimidating and oppressive.
In the middle of the last recession, a new grad Ari Thór Arason is lucky to get a job as a policeman in Siglufjördur, a former herring town of a thousand or so people in the far north of Iceland — even if it means leaving a life and a girlfriend behind in Reykjavik and adjusting to a life as a newcomer in a tight-knit community. All while he’s struggling with adjusting to relative isolation (especially if the road out of it is cut off by a snowfall), dark snowy winter and loneliness. A couple of dead bodies within the first few weeks in his straight-out-of training job do not help the stress levels as he’s just starting to learn his job.
“Was there any hope of getting to the bottom of this case in a place where everyone knew everyone else so intimately? Old schoolchums, former workmates, friends and relatives; everyone seemed bound together with innumerable links.”
Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson has the tone and feel of a classic murder mystery — and apparently the author translated quite a few of Agatha Christie’s works into Icelandic, so he must have been inspired by one of the greats in the genre. But he avoids an issue that Miss Christie ran into, as he explains in his afterword — unlike her Poirot, his protagonist Ari Thór is a very young man, still green behind the ears (if you excuse this sophomoric pun) and still has much to learn. He’s unsure, he makes mistakes, and that makes him actually interesting. He’s not armed with a dark and gritty past that gave him experience and resilience — the crutch of many writers making their protagonist a grizzled and dark hero — instead, we see the events that will eventually shape him into what we hope will be a competent detective.
This story moves along at a measured and unhurried pace. There are no thrills or adrenaline, just slow investigation and piecing things together in the classic police procedural way. Everything unfolds slowly and deliberately. It focuses on the atmosphere with the mountains oppressively looming over the tiny town, isolating it from the rest of the world, giving it strange beauty that borders on menacing. (Speaking if it, I wonder what the actual residents of Siglufjördur think of the way their town is shown here). It makes me want to visit this place — but in the middle of summer, please.
“The smile and walk of a man, thought Tómas, who knew that he had escaped justice; because he’d done it before.”
3.5 stars easily rounding up to 4.
I definitely plan to read more in this series — and I just found out that the US publisher for reasons baffling to everyone published this series out of order, taking book 5 and releasing it as book 2, skipping the developments of books 2-4. Huh? Why this happened must be the real mystery of this series.
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse
mysterious
medium-paced
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:
Yes
Not a fan of the ending of this book - left things up in the air. I realise it's the first book in a series, so.... Aside from this, I very much liked the setting - dark and gloomy. The author did a great job with plot twists. I did find the different points of view choppy, but Jonasson pulled the threads together very well. I'd certainly read more by this author.
3.5 - This book was a little ackward at times and difficult for me to connect with, but I think that could be the result of the translation. I would still read the others in the series. The book's cover says it's a thriller, but I found it to be more of a lightweight crime story.
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ah now Snowblind was one of those I books that I kept seeing around but never bought until recently and well the way this book started out was pretty good and since the chapter where short and sweet I read Snowblind in no time at all, and for once there's a crime book set in Iceland which was a nice change for once and I am keen to see more books with Ari Thór Arason because Snowblind went by a little too fast and I'm not sure how it'll take for the rest of the books to be translated (but am willing to wait) and yeah Snowblind was an impulse buy for me, and considering that the last few books I've read recently sucked it was nice to read one that didn't but I will be looking into buying more Ragnar Jónasson books.
A summery for Snowblind:
Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. 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 the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life. An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose.
A summery for Snowblind:
Siglufjörður: an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors – accessible only via a small mountain tunnel. Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik – with a past that he’s unable to leave behind. 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 the local theatre, Ari is dragged straight into the heart of a community where he can trust no one, and secrets and lies are a way of life. An avalanche and unremitting snowstorms close the mountain pass, and the 24-hour darkness threatens to push Ari over the edge, as curtains begin to twitch, and his investigation becomes increasingly complex, chilling and personal. Past plays tag with the present and the claustrophobic tension mounts, while Ari is thrust ever deeper into his own darkness – blinded by snow, and with a killer on the loose.
I'll just say that the climax of this book ends with a strongly worded formal complaint. That happens off-page. So.