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A review by booksbybindu
Night Shadows by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir
5.0
‘Night Shadows’ is the third in the Forbidden Iceland series and is the best of the bunch so far. It was a slow burn of a story, as we got to know the various characters but wow towards the end I was getting ready to hurl my book away in anger! The tension was immense, my heart is still racing now. It was a tightly plotted story with hidden clues and prompts and lots of twists and turns. I had forgotten one of them entirely until the end! As I said this is the third book in the series after ‘A Creak on the Stairs’ and ‘Girls Who Lie’ but you can read this as a standalone very easily. I would advise reading the series though as all the books are brilliant and Eva is emerging as one of the best new writers coming out of Iceland.
Arkanes is rocked by a fire and when a body is discovered and it is deemed the fire was caused by arson, the police need to find out if Marino was alive before the fire was lit. Detective Elma and her partner Saevar investigate and they soon realise that this case is not going to be easy to solve. Before Marino died he was looking at how to hide a body on the internet but the police only have his body and no missing persons…
‘Night Shadow’ was an engrossing story and manages to maintain a reader's attention with its short chapters and beautiful writing. Eva managed to capture the allure of Iceland through its poetic language and credit is due to a brilliant translation by Victoria Cribb. I loved the characterisation of the main players in this case from the interactions and dynamics between the group of young people who have been friends since high school to the portrayal of a damaged marriage. All felt very realistic and as their stories began to emerge you become aware of how complex they were as social units. Everyone of them had different strands to them and when they all began to merge and intertwine it soon becomes clear what is happening…or is it?!
Now I'm going to sit here patiently and wait for book four to be published!
Arkanes is rocked by a fire and when a body is discovered and it is deemed the fire was caused by arson, the police need to find out if Marino was alive before the fire was lit. Detective Elma and her partner Saevar investigate and they soon realise that this case is not going to be easy to solve. Before Marino died he was looking at how to hide a body on the internet but the police only have his body and no missing persons…
‘Night Shadow’ was an engrossing story and manages to maintain a reader's attention with its short chapters and beautiful writing. Eva managed to capture the allure of Iceland through its poetic language and credit is due to a brilliant translation by Victoria Cribb. I loved the characterisation of the main players in this case from the interactions and dynamics between the group of young people who have been friends since high school to the portrayal of a damaged marriage. All felt very realistic and as their stories began to emerge you become aware of how complex they were as social units. Everyone of them had different strands to them and when they all began to merge and intertwine it soon becomes clear what is happening…or is it?!
Now I'm going to sit here patiently and wait for book four to be published!