A review by readbooks10
Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson

4.0

This is the first book in a mystery series set in Iceland. When Ari Thor is offered his first police officer job in a remote area of the country, he takes it without much deliberation - he doesn't even tell his girlfriend in Reykjavik before accepting. After arriving in the far north town of Siglufjordur, he's told that nothing ever happens there and people don't need to lock their doors, but Ari Thor soon learns that everyone in the small community knows each other's business. Ari Thor struggles to adapt to the remote landscape, the constant snow, the mountains that make him feel claustrophobic and loneliness of being separated from his girlfriend. Then a mysterious death occurs of a member of the town's dramatic club while staging a production later followed by another death. Ari Thor becomes absorbed in the cases, partly to take his mind off the weather, and eventually solves the mysteries. The book is written from multiple points of view and the reader learns a little bit about various characters, most of whom have experienced some type of loss. This well-written mystery builds slowly with the characteristic dark yet subtle style of many Nordic/Scandinavian crime novels.