It is always good to discover that there is a new book from Yrsa Sigurdardottir and it’s even better when you realise that it is the first in a new series. The Children’s House works with traumatised young people advising the police on how best to question and approach them as well as trying to heal the damage that they have suffered.
Freyja is called in to assist with a very young girl who witnessed her mother’s brutal murder and who may hold vital clues for the police. Huldar has been newly promoted and is leading the investigation into the grisly murder but he has already stirred things up with his colleagues and with his previous dealings with Freyja. She doesn’t trust the police anyway and that mistrust is well deserved with the young detective.
A complex story begins to unravel in mid-winter Reykjavik with a group of marijuana smoking students obsessed with CB radio and some bizarre coded messages coming through that appear to link in to strange notes being left by the killer. As further victims are found it becomes critical to stop this man and to protect little Margret who may be the next target when the killer realises she is still alive.
As with all Yrsa’s books The Legacy paints a fascinating picture of modern day Iceland and has a fantastic twist that I defy anyone to pick up on. I was convinced I knew who the black man was and I was completely wrong! Hopefully we’ll see more of Huldar and Freyja very soon.
Supplied by Net Galley and Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review.
UK Publication date: Mar 23 2017. 464 pages.
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I would like to thank Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an advance copy of The Legacy, the first novel in a new series to feature The Children's House, where they treat abused children.

The novel opens in 1987 with a welfare panel deciding to split up a family of 3 children and send them to different homes for adoption. It then returns to the present day and the brutal murder of Elísa, an inoffensive, well liked wife and mother. Her daughter, Margrét, was hiding under the bed when it happened so when another similar murder occurs she is immediately hidden with Freyja, one of the psychologists at The Children's House, to try and protect her. It doesn't help the investigation that the newly promoted and struggling lead detective Haldúr has history with Freyja.

The Legacy is a well plotted, tension filled novel. I had no idea where it was going and was surprised by the perpetrator and the reasoning behind it. The plotting is quite intricate and you have to concentrate to keep up at some points but it is a tour de force. The murders are brutal and while not overly graphic they are stomach churning. The effort the killer puts into avoiding capture is massive and fascinating in its detail when you don't know the identity. Margrét keeps changing her mind or re-interpreting what she sees and that adds to the mystery.

I really like that Ms Sigurdardottir does not indulge the perpetrator and give the reader insights into their psychology or thinking but chooses to make the novel a straightforward (in format terms) whodunnit. She does an excellent job and I had to give up guessing - my brain was hurting.

In terms of characterisation Margrét steals the show as the most developed, likeable and realistic, although there isn't much competition. Haldúr is fairly self obsessed about the way he treats women, badly, throughout the novel and Freyja seems as if she has had a personality bypass. They are developed enough to meet the needs of a plot driven novel so it doesn't really matter.

I enjoyed the The Legacy and have no hesitation in recommending it as a good read.

Gruesome, thrilling with loads of twists. An enjoyable read for anyone with a strong stomach for gruesome