evangeline_miller 's review for:

Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson

3.0

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I wanted to like this more than I did because I was in the mood for something with major winter vibes, but I was left feeling pretty disappointed. Intellectually, I should’ve liked this more. There are a lot of great individual elements that I usually dig, like an isolated-town setting and a rookie/outcast detective who is somehow underestimated by those around them. While it’s clear that Ari Thór Arason has commitment issues (he takes the police job impulsively when his girlfriend has just recently moved in with him and he never finished his religious studies), I mostly felt indifferent and detached from his relationship struggles and investigation. There were also some weird tonal issues, as if Jónasson couldn’t decide between a cozy Agatha Christie murder mystery, full of a large cast of quirky suspects, or a darker police procedural. But all in all, I’d like to continue to book 2 because there is a lot left unresolved in the end. 

“The red stain was like a scream in the silence.”