1987. An isolated farm house in the east of Iceland.
The snowstorm should have shut everybody out. But it didn't.
The couple should never have let him in. But they did.
An unexpected guest, a liar, a killer. Not all will survive the night. And Detective Hulda will be haunted forever . . .
Christmas 1987. An isolated farm in the east of Iceland receives the visit of an unexpected guest during a terrible snowstorm. A liar, a killer, but... who’s who?
If I had to describe this book with just one word it would be “claustrophobic”. The cold, the darkness, the snow, the isolation and the author’s haunting prose all contribute to create a suffocating environment where the tension kept building at the same time my anxiety did.
“The Mist”, third installment in the Hidden Iceland Series, is more of a quiet mystery, so don’t come into it expecting a fast paced thriller. It is more about the characters than the crime itself.
I think it’s so original that the whole series is written in reverse order. The fact that we already know what happened in Hulda’s personal life made reading about it even more heartbreaking. After following her story through the three volumes, I find her a strong and relatable woman, and think it was painful to see how this investigation hit so close to home when her pain was still so raw. I think it was clever to connect her personal tragedy with the police investigation.
The atmosphere created draws you into the story from the beginning and doesn’t let go till the very last sentence, bringing the Icelandic landscape to life so vividly you can picture yourself in the farm, waiting for the storm to pass.
I didn’t know know about the icelandic tradition of giving books as Christmas presents, and then spending Christmas Eve reading into the night so, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna end this review here to go and check flights to move over there right now!
Thanks to Penguin UK Michael Joseph and Sriya Varadharajan for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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This sounds like a page turner! I would love to have that tradition, how awesome is that! Great review!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim! If you like nordic noir you should try this author. That tradition should be exported everywhere! LOL
DeleteTerrific review! Nice to have that “blog tour” list!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jayme!
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