Review: THE DARKNESS, Ragnar Jonasson

• 
  This book read as an e-book on Libby from my local library
  
• The Darkness (2018)
• (The first book in the Hulda series)
• Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb  

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavik, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller from Ragnar Jónasson, one of the most exciting names in Nordic Noir.

The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed.

Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice. She knows which one: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended on the dark, cold shore of an unfamiliar country. Soon Hulda discovers that another young woman vanished at the same time, and that no one is telling her the whole story. Even her colleagues in the police seem determined to put the brakes on her investigation. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.

Hulda will find the killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger. 

My Take

Another title that I'm reading for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction Group. 

Although it is the first in the Hulda series, chronologically it is the last in her story. I recently read THE MIST and I think I have read them in the correct chronological order. I am wondering if this "out of order" feature is actually based on the discovery of the books by the English publisher.

Hulda is not ready for retirement but her boss has already discovered a younger person to replace her. Hulda has a reputation of being hard to work with, although over the years she has achieved incredible results, but she is not a team player.  

My Rating: 4.7

I've also read

• 4.4, THE MIST
• 4.5, WHITE OUT 
• 4.5, WINTERKILL 
• 4.6, THE MIST
• 4.6, RUPTURE   

Hulda Series
   1. The Darkness (2018)
   2. The Island (2019)
   3. The Mist (2020)  

Review: RUPTURE, Ragnar Jonasson

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby, provided by my local library 
  
• published in English originally 2016, in Icelandic 2012
• translated by Quentin Bates 
• The fourth book in the Dark Iceland series 

Synopsis (Fantastic Fiction)

1955.Two young couples move to the uninhabited, isolated fjord of Hedinsfjörður. Their stay ends abruptly when one of the women meets her death in mysterious circumstances. The case is never solved. Fifty years later an old photograph comes to light, and it becomes clear that the couples may not have been alone on the fjord after all…

In nearby Siglufjörður, young policeman Ari Thór tries to piece together what really happened that fateful night, in a town where no one wants to know, where secrets are a way of life. He's assisted by Ísrún, a news reporter in Reykjavik, who is investigating an increasingly chilling case of her own. Things take a sinister turn when a child goes missing in broad daylight. With a stalker on the loose, and the town of Siglufjörður in quarantine, the past might just come back to haunt them.

Haunting, frightening and complex, Rupture is a dark and atmospheric thriller from one of Iceland's foremost crime writers.

My Take

I seem to be reading books by this Icelandic author all out of order. This title I am reading for discussion with my U3A Crime Reading Group.

However, a saving grace, you do seem to be able to read them as stand-alones, and they do make compelling reads.   

This story in RUPTURE does not originally seem to involve a crime, until detective Ari Thor, time on his hands because the town is in lockdown, doing a favour for a friend, works out that there is a mystery in the old photo from 50 years before.  A great puzzle. 

My rating: 4.6 

I've also read

• 4.4, THE MIST
• 4.5, WHITE OUT 
• 4.5, WINTERKILL 
• 4.6, THE MIST 

 Dark Iceland series in English
   1. Snowblind (2015)
   2. Nightblind (2015)
   3. Blackout (2016)
   4. Rupture (2016)
   5. Whiteout (2017)
   6. Winterkill (2020) 

Hulda
   1. The Darkness (2018)
   2. The Island (2019)
   3. The Mist (2020) 

Review: THE SNACK THIEF, Andrea Camilleri

• 
   This edition read on my Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• Translated by Stephen Sartarelli 
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006NV9C4K
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Picador, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 1 October 2005
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1743291474
• Book 3 of 28 ‏ : ‎ Inspector Montalbano Mysteries 

Synopsis (AmazonAU)

The third novel in Camilleri's savagely witty and hauntingly atmospheric Sicilian mystery series featuring Inspector Montalbano.

Never has Inspector Montalbano's character - a unique blend of humor, cynicism, compassion, earthiness, and love of good food - been more compelling than in Andrea Camilleri's third Montalbano novel, The Snack Thief.

When an elderly man is stabbed to death in an elevator and a crewman on an Italian fishing trawler is machine-gunned by a Tunisian patrol boat off Sicily's coast, only Inspector Montalbano suspects a link between the two incidents. His investigation leads to the beautiful Karima, an impoverished house cleaner and sometime prostitute, whose young son steals other school children's mid-morning snacks. But Karima disappears, and the young snack thief's life - as well as Montalbano's - is endangered when the inspector exposes a viper's nest of government corruption and international intrigue.

My Take

I have only read a couple of novels by this highly rated Italian author. This one I am reading for discussion with my U3A Crime Fiction Reading Group.

Inspector Montalbano is a fascinating and vivid character, an unusual detective, a man with a rough exterior and a tender interior. The plot combines the discovery of a local murder with the death of a trawlerman off the coast of Sicily in international waters. 

The human side of Montalbano gets an outing too as he and his girl friend become involved in creating an instant family. 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

• 4.5, AUGUST HEAT - #10
• 4.2, ROUNDING THE MARK - #7

Review: CUT SHORT, Leigh Russell

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Kindle (AmazonAU)
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00796E1IA
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ No Exit Press, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 23 May 2012
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 435 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1842435830
• Book 1 of 24 ‏ : ‎ DI Geraldine Steel  

 Synopsis  (AmazonAU)

When D.I. Geraldine Steel relocates to the quiet rural town of Woolsmarsh, she expects to find her new home to be somewhere where nothing much ever happens; a place where she can battle her demons in private.

But when she finds herself pitted against a twisted killer preying on local young women she quickly discovers how wrong she is...

My Take

We know who the murderer is from about half way through this story, but we spend a lot of time learning about Geraldine Steel, as is appropriate for the beginning of a series, and also about the team she is working in.

Geraldine is a very thorough detective, willing to go over the evidence countless times. There are clues within the story about the nature of the killer, and the reason why he is attacking young women. 

A series with promise. 

My rating: 4.4

About the author

Leigh Russell has sold over a million crime fiction novels. Her Geraldine Steel titles published by No Exit Press have appeared on many bestseller lists, and reached #1 on kindle. Leigh's work has been nominated for several major awards, including the CWA New Blood Dagger and CWA Dagger in the Library, and her books have been optioned by major television production company Avalon Television. She chairs the CWA Debut Dagger Award judges and is a Consultant Royal Literary Fellow.

Leigh has also written stand alone thrillers, a dystopian novel, and a historical novel for Bloodhound Books, and the Lucy Hall international mystery series published by Thomas and Mercer.

Find out more about Leigh on her website http://www.leighrussell.co.uk where news, reviews and interviews are posted, with a schedule of Leigh's appearances. You can contact Leigh via her website, where you can subscribe to her newsletter and follow her on Twitter and FaceBook. 

Review: THE MIST, Ragnar Jonasson

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby, supplied by my local library
  
• Published: 16 February 2021
• ISBN: 9781405934886
• Pages: 352  

Synopsis (publisher)

The final nail-biting instalment in the critically acclaimed Hidden Iceland series

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 Hermannsdóttir will be haunted forever.

My Take

As you do sometimes, I was half way through this book when I realised that the story was familiar, but as I couldn't remember how it finished, I continued.

The fact that it was the third in a series meant nothing to me, and it works well as a standalone.

Two days before Christmas, in a blinding snow storm, a knock comes at the door of an isolated farm house in East Iceland. Only two people live there, but they are expecting their daughter to come for Christmas.They can't turn the stranger away and invite him to stay the night in the hope that the storm will have abated in the morning and he can be on his way.. The phone landline dies and the power goes out, and Erla, the wife, doesn't believe the tale the stranger asks them to believe. Her husband is more trusting.

And so murder is committed.

By the time the investigation begins Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir from Reyjkavik has just returned to work and she probably shouldn't have been there, but she feels it is better to be occupied, rather than be at home mourning her loss.

As Hulda unpacks what has happened at the farm house, she make connections, some of which the reader has probably suspected, but some that come as a complete surprise. 

Be sure to ask yourself the meaning of the title. 

My rating: 4.6

I have also read

• 4.4, THE MIST
• 4.5, WHITE OUT 
• 4.5, WINTERKILL 

Review: DO NOT DISTURB, Freida McFadden

• 
  This edition read as a large print book
  
• Published 2021, large print 2025, Poisoned Pen Press
• ISBN-13: 978-1-4205-2785-8
• 363 pages  

Synopsis (publisher)

Quinn Alexander has committed an unthinkable crime.

To avoid spending her life in prison, Quinn makes a run for it. She leaves behind her home, her job, and her family. She grabs her passport and heads for the northern border before the police can discover what she’s done.

But when an unexpected snowstorm forces her off the road, Quinn must take refuge at the broken-down, isolated Baxter Motel. The handsome and kindly owner, Nick Baxter, is only too happy to offer her a cheap room for the night.

Unfortunately, the Baxter Motel isn’t the quiet, safe haven it seemed to be. The motel has a dark and disturbing past. And in the dilapidated house across the way, the silhouette of Nick's ailing wife is always at the window. Always watching.

In the morning, Quinn must leave the motel. She'll pack up her belongings and get back on the road to freedom.

But first, she must survive the night.

DO NOT DISTURB is a Hitchcock-style psychological thriller that will keep you tearing through the pages until you reach the shocking conclusion!

My Take

This novel is fast paced, with deceptive characters and plot twists that activate without much warning, including an unexpected twist at the end. A quick read for most.

I know that this is an author that I will look for in the future. She already has 20 stand-alone novels and 8 others.  

This edition has a set of Reader's Group questions at the end to consider. 

My rating: 4.5

I've also read

4.5, THE TENANT   

Review: LAST ONE OUT, Jane Harper

• 
   Read as an e-book on my Kindle (Amazon_au) 
  
• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0FDQ5LNDS
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Macmillan Australia, Publication date ‏ : ‎ 14 October 2025
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 372 pages
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1761774676

Synopsis (Amazon_au)  

He had been here, that was clear from the marks in the dust. And he had been alone.

In a dying town, Ro Crowley waits for her son on the evening of his 21st birthday.

But Sam never comes home. His footprints in the dust of three abandoned houses offer the only clue to his final movements. One set in. One set out.

Five long years later, Ro returns to Carralon Ridge for the annual memorial of Sam's disappearance. The skeletal community is now an echo of itself, having fractured under the pressure of the coal mine operating on its outskirts.

But Ro still wants answers. Only a few people remain. If the truth is to be found in that town, does it lie among them? 

My Take

A very different story from an accomplished author. A slower read than previous novels but the puzzles are there to be solved. The description of the dying town is well done.

Sam Crowley disappeared on his 21st birthday in the dying rural town of Carralon Ridge, with no clues about what happened to him. His disappearance closely followed an unexpected suicide but were the two connected?

The resolution is a surprise. 

My rating: 4.8 

I've also read

• 4.7, THE DRY- Falk #1
  
• 5.0, FORCE OF NATURE- Falk #2
  
• 5.0, THE LOST MAN 
• 4.8, THE SURVIVORS
• 4.8, EXILES- Falk #3 
• 5.0, THE LOST MAN
• 5.0, THE DRY