Reviews with content warning for Murder - Snowblind

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Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson

13 reviews

ghilimei's review against another edition

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adventurous dark informative mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.25

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pensandpeaches's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Gosh. I'm not even sure where to begin with this book... first off, I really wanted to love this book, because it was billed as an Icelandic noir take on Agatha Christie... an homage to "And Then There Were None".

What I loved...
- parts of the book were really beautifully descriptive... though it's a sad moment, the description of the body was very vividly written
- the setting of Iceland, while not unique to an Icelandic author of course, is fresh and enchanting to those of us who very far away from it's snowy vistas

What frustrated me...
- the pacing was all over... it went really, really slow for the first half or so of the book, then it jumped forward and went really fast, and suddenly chapters were maybe 2-3 pages long
- the writing that was so beautiful and colorful in some parts, was purposefuly obfuscating in others... all of a sudden entire conversations are being had, but you're not getting to find out what's being said, it's all very "ah yes, I thought as much" and you're left going... "thought WHAT!?"
- the wrapup had the exact same pacing issue... without giving spoilers there's a major interplay between a few of the characters that's rather abruptly dealt with in the last 2 pages of the book

In general, I liked this, but I'm not thinking I'll probably read it again.

**Also, on a language note, there was very nearly no language, and then all of a sudden a character has this "mask off" moment, and starts flinging around f-bombs and insulting people willy-nilly... it was incredibly jarring, and a little bizarre, but perhaps that was the intent.

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awebofstories's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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mtnest's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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mademoisellemonalisa's review

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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fireflai's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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alba_marie's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No

3.0

Knife sharp, clipped and dark – exactly what you'd expect from a Nordic noir type story. Maybe the problem was that I wasn't in the mood for such as story? Or that I was listening to an audiobook full of names and locations I couldn't get straight because I don't know much about Scandinavia? I don't know. But whatever it was, I struggled to engage with this book at all.

I couldn't keep the characters straight, and for the most part, I didn't care about most of them. To me, Ari Thor was selfish, short-thinking, impulsive and quite frankly a frustrating person. His girlfriend has communication problems – ffs say what you mean! – and most of the characters felt a bit flat and boring.

Ari Thor takes a new job up north, in a tiny fishing town that gets snowed in and covered in perpetual darkness all winter. It sounds like a miserable place. And then a series of murders and accidents happen, and it is confirmed to be a miserable place. Ari Thor is a new police officer and wants to prove himself. So he moves up north without consulting his girlfriend, and decides to spend two years there. Shortly after, he starts up a friendship that leads to more with his music teacher. Which just makes you respect him so much, right.

A local elderly writer takes a fatal fall down the stairs at the drama club just before opening night. Later, a half clothed woman is found bleeding out in the snow. Chapters with Ari Thor are interspersed with a woman held at knifepoint by a masked man who has broken into her house demanding cash and jewels. How are these connected? Are the they connected? Random? Murder or accidents?

Anyway, I wanted to read something seasonally appropriate – Snowblind popped up in my library's winter list. As a translated work, it helps me achieve some of my book goals this year as well. But would I recommend it? Eh, not really. Not even all that keen to keep going with the series tbh.

Also the end was unsatisfying.

Spoiler

Turns out the woman threatened and killed at knifepoint actually died years ago. Killed by one of the other guys in Siglufjörður today. The bad guy gets away. He doesn't get the insurance money, but also doesn't get caught. Ari Thor cheated on his girlfriend, whom he thought indifferent. His girlfriend seemed indifferent but was actually in love with him and too tragic to say so. She was hoping a grand gesture of moving north would do it, but Ari Thor's already decided to end the relationship. The book ends there, which sucks. And the writer, turns out he's a plagiarist, and the son of the guy he plagiarised gets in trouble for his manslaughter. That's crap!

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