Happy Publication Day! The Island by #author Ragnar Jónasson #Review #TheIsland #NetGalley

Review on Alternative-Read.com

The Island by Ragnar Jónasson (Author), Victoria Cribb (Translator)
The Island
After reading the previous Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir story (The Darkness) of which I really enjoyed, I was pleased to be offered this book to review by Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) via NetGalley. Here’s my review:
In The Island Ragnar brings back CID member Hulda of the Reykjavik police with another case to solve. One surrounding four young adults who have decided to take a weekend away in a remote and deserted part of of Elliðaey island off the Icelandic coast. Strange because they’d not seen each other for ten years,  and even stranger still, one is married with kids and it’s odd that she’d just go on a mini-break with old school friends she’d not seen for years when they hadn’t really kept in contact all that time.  Stranger still, once they meet up again, there’s a fatal accident and when they wake up one morning a girl’s missing. She’s only gone and fallen off a cliff and killed herself.
Or was she pushed? *Strokes chin in a very Sherlock way*
adventure mountain nature people
Photo by Snapwire on Pexels.com
What is the connection between these four people? And why did they decide to meet up after ten years? I don’t know about you, but I was dying to find out! Okay, maybe not dying, I don’t want the author to put me in one of his stories only to kill me off – but I was keen!
My thoughts? Ragnar has written an intriguing and clever plot where two stories (past and present) fold into one. Running along beside Hulda’s crime solving antics, there’s a chance to discover more about her private life, her dark past, and her wish to find her own father of whom she’s never known.
I thoroughly enjoyed solving this crime with Hulda. I found the bittersweet ending (of which more than one character received) was brilliantly crafted. How an author writes a book with so much detail, I’ll never know but Jónasson is very good at it!
Nordic fiction can be as bleak as the setting, but that’s the beauty of these unforgiving scenes! I love how the isolated island, along with the terrain and the weather, helps to weave suspense and atmosphere into the story, just as much as the characters involved.  What an entertaining, and cleverly crafted Nordic Noir!  Looking forward to reading The Mist the third of Jónasson’s Hidden Iceland series. It can’t come fast enough!

About the book | Alternative-Read.com

 

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THE EXPLOSIVE NEW NOVEL FROM THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR – IF YOU LIKED AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, THE ABC MURDERS, AND NORDIC NOIR, YOU’LL LOVE THIS . . .

‘Dark, chilling and utterly gripping, The Island is Nordic noir at its best, and is destined to become a classic of the genre. I couldn’t put it down’ Shari Lapena, bestselling author of The Couple Next Door
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Four friends visit the island.

But only three return . . .

Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is sent to the isolated island of Elliðaey to investigate and soon finds haunting similarities with a previous case – a young woman found murdered ten years ago in the equally desolate Westfjords.

Is there a patient killer stalking these barren outposts?

As Hulda navigates a sinister game constructed of smoke and mirrors she is convinced that no one is telling the truth, including those closest to her.

But who will crack first? And what secrets is the island hiding?

Haunting, suspenseful and as chilling as an Icelandic winter, The Island follows one woman’s journey to find the truth hidden in the darkest shadows, and shine a light on her own dark past.
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‘His best book yet, an unflinching thriller that braids past and present, good and evil, love and loss. I can’t wait for Hulda Hermannsdóttir’s next case’ AJ Finn, bestselling author of The Woman in the Window

‘[Hulda Hermannsdottir is] an excellent addition to the growing band of top-class women detectives’ The Times

‘Prepare to be swept away to the beautiful yet unforgiving island of Elliðaey in Jónasson’s latest Icelandic noir. Atmospheric and creepy, Jónasson successfully keeps you guessing till the bittersweet end’ Heat

‘We heart the melancholy Hulda’ Sunday Times Crime Club

Praise for Ragnar Jonasson:
‘The ending really took my breath away and that’s hard for writers to do to me these days . . . I should have seen it coming’ Ian Rankin

‘One of the greatest tragic heroines of contemporary detective fiction’ Sunday Times

‘Magnificently dark and twisted’ C. J. Tudor, bestselling author of The Chalk Man

‘Ragnar Jónasson writes with a chilling, poetic beauty – a must-read addition to the growing canon of Iceland Noir’ Peter James, bestselling author of Love You Dead

‘A distinctive blend of Nordic noir and golden age detective fiction . . . atmospheric and evocative prose’ Guardian

‘Jonasson’s books have breathed new life into Nordic noir . . . all the skilful plotting of an old-fashioned whodunit although it feels bitingly contemporary in setting and tone’ Sunday Express

Buy Now! | Alternative-Read.com

Order now at Amazon USA!This is an Amazon Associate link, where I will get a small (tiny) contribution if you make a purchase through the UK site.


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Author: Sassy Brit, Author Assistant

Founder and Owner of Alternative-Read.com author personal and virtual assistant. Editor and reviewer for #altread since 2005.

2 thoughts on “Happy Publication Day! The Island by #author Ragnar Jónasson #Review #TheIsland #NetGalley

  1. I’ve not tried this author yet. The story sounds intriguing and I always like it when the setting and weather play a key part in the plot.

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