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A review by markhoh
Girls Who Lie by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir
4.0
Always on the lookout for new voices in Nordic Noir, I devoured the atmospheric first novel, The Creak on the Stairs by Icelandic author, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir. Girls who lie is the second instalment in the Forbidden Iceland series, featuring Chief investigating officer Elma, set in the West Iceland town of Akranes. As I’ve said before, any book that begins with a map and a list of foreign names and words with the correct pronunciation gets me slightly hooked and Ægisdóttir generously supplies both.
Girls who lie is written in two time lines with alternating chapters devoted to the development of two parallel and intersecting stories. I found myself making a number of assumptions about both stories as the book unfolded, both of which were shattered and left me a little jaw dropped at one point as the pieces of the puzzle started to come together and led to a satisfying conclusion that was neither predictable nor unexpected.
We were introduced to Chief investigating officer Elma in the first book in the series and I think I wrote that she was a welcome new addition to the collection of damaged and dark Noir detectives. Ægisdóttir reveals a little more about Elma in this book including the reasons contributing to the sadness that underpins her departure from Reykjavík and return to her childhood home of Akranes. There are a couple of seemingly predictable and cliche elements in the development of her character, including the chemistry that appears inevitable between her and fellow investigator Sævar. There are definitely echoes of fellow Icelandic Noir author, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s Huldar and Freya Children’s House series as far as that element goes.
Overall this was a satisfying read and Ægisdóttir definitely sits on my ‘to continue to read’ shelf. I found the translation a little linear and stilted for my liking and would have liked a little more atmosphere and mood to infiltrate the pages to envelop me in the Icelandic landscape that I love so much. 4 star read.
Girls who lie is written in two time lines with alternating chapters devoted to the development of two parallel and intersecting stories. I found myself making a number of assumptions about both stories as the book unfolded, both of which were shattered and left me a little jaw dropped at one point as the pieces of the puzzle started to come together and led to a satisfying conclusion that was neither predictable nor unexpected.
We were introduced to Chief investigating officer Elma in the first book in the series and I think I wrote that she was a welcome new addition to the collection of damaged and dark Noir detectives. Ægisdóttir reveals a little more about Elma in this book including the reasons contributing to the sadness that underpins her departure from Reykjavík and return to her childhood home of Akranes. There are a couple of seemingly predictable and cliche elements in the development of her character, including the chemistry that appears inevitable between her and fellow investigator Sævar. There are definitely echoes of fellow Icelandic Noir author, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir’s Huldar and Freya Children’s House series as far as that element goes.
Overall this was a satisfying read and Ægisdóttir definitely sits on my ‘to continue to read’ shelf. I found the translation a little linear and stilted for my liking and would have liked a little more atmosphere and mood to infiltrate the pages to envelop me in the Icelandic landscape that I love so much. 4 star read.