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itsallaboutthebooksuk 's review for:

Snare by Lilja Sigurðardóttir
4.0

Set in Rekyjavík, Sonja finds herself in a desperate situation after her divorce from Adam. Losing custody of her son Tómas, Sonja is desperate to get herself back on her feet and get Tómas back for good but the more she tries the deeper she finds herself trapped in the dark depths of drug smuggling and danger.
Sonja really has quite a complicated life. She’s smuggling drugs into the country but it’s not through choice and I really couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. Tómas, her son means the world to her and she will do anything to get him back and make a better life for the pair of them. Sonja is also in a relationship with Agla, a high level bank executive who is under prosecution after the Icelandic financial crash and she also has connections with Sonja’s ex Adam. If all that isn’t enough to complicate things for Sonja throw in Bragi, a customs officer. Close to retirement, Bragi sets his sights on Sonja. He’s convinced she’s up to no good and makes a point of focussing a lot of attention on Sonja as she leaves and re-enters the country.
Snare really is quite a tense read, it’s fast-paced and had me totally hooked from page one. The airport scenes were especially tense, I could feel Sonja’s fear as if it were my own and I found myself holding my breath, waiting in fear until Sonja was safe. It’s filled with some excellent characters too, some likeable and some quite terrifying.
Snare is a story you can’t help ending up totally absorbed in. It’s almost like I was caught in a snare, I just couldn’t put it down. I will admit the ending had me quite frustrated because it left me wanting more but I’ve read somewhere that this is the first in a series so I’m now a happy bunny and very excited to be hopefully reading more soon.
Quentin Bates really has done a fantastic job of translating Snare, at no point did it feel like I was reading a translation at all.
So I think it is safe to say that yes, I will be recommending Snare. It’s unique, chilling, tense and full of suspense. A real page turner.