A review by scknitter
The Reckoning by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

5.0

The Reckoning is crime fiction at its darkest. The story opens with the rape and murder of an 8yo girl and it doesn’t lighten up until justice or revenge, as the case may be, is finally meted out. A time capsule unburied after 10 years reveals the disturbed threats of a then 12 year old boy. About the same time the body of an unknown man with both hands sawed off is discovered. Detective Huldar, who has been demoted because of behavior during his last grisly murder case is not given the murder case but rather the investigation into the note found in the time capsule. He immediately involves child psychologist Freyja hoping for insights into the mind of a 12 year old and hope of patching up their relationship. The Icelandic setting, corruption in the justice system, and the flawed main characters all work together to make a mesmerizing police procedural with a double whammy of an ending.