I've not read any Icelandic noir before so I was very intrigued - and hopeful - when I started <i>The Darkness</i>. Unfortunately, for me, the book just didn't really get off the ground - the pace was slow, there wasn't much atmosphere and a lot of the characters felt like caricatures and stereotypes.

While I appreciated the author building Hulda's character through flashbacks to her past and childhood, it felt like there were too many backstories flitting in and out of the narrative and it drastically slowed down any sense of urgency to the book.

As for how the book ended - I skipped over the final chapter because I honestly couldn't bear it. Sorry! I know there's a sequel (which is a huge spoiler for the ending, by the way) but I don't think I'll be picking it up.

At the age of sixty-four, Detective inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir of the Reykjavik Police is about to take on her last case before she retires. A young woman, an asylum seeker from Russia, found murdered on the seaweed rocks of the Vatnsleysustrand in Iceland. When Hulda starts to ask questions, it isn't long before she realises that no one can be trusted, and that no one is telling the whole truth.

By the end of this book I felt I had been and seen the Islandic landscape. I do prefer a book that has a bit more twists and grit to it though. The ending I did not see coming and I was surprised to find I was finished the book. I did enjoy this story

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Well ... This book has taken me a bit by surprise to be fair. I wasn't expecting that ending, that's for sure. With all of the hallmark elements which typify Ragnar Jonasson's writing, the brilliant use of setting, the quiet development of plot through pace, and characters that you can't help but be engaged by, the Hidden Iceland series looks set to be another corker. So sald I already have book two on preorder (not out until next year but I will be patient).

While Ari Thor was a man very much at the start of his career with the police when we first met him in Snow Blind, Hulda Hermannsdóttir is very (very) much at the end of hers. Set for retirement by year end, she finds her time with the Police brought to a very abrupt close when her boss tells her that her replacement is due to start and she is surplus to requirements. Upon her insistence he offers her the chance to review a cold case of her choosing, little expecting she will actually do it. Hulda takes him at his word, choosing a case which has played on her conscience for over a year, one which a colleague and former rival failed to resolve to her satisfaction.

Now I don't want to go into plot much more than that as the blurb tells you all you need to know. But hopefully you can tell from this that Hulda is not a woman who is looking forward to retirement. On her own since her husband died, she has little other than work to occupy her mind. There is a suggestion of a potential love interest, an avenue which she hasn't properly explored but really the woman lives for her work. I really grew to like Hulda and could understand her frustration at being forced into retiring but also her reluctance to let the case go, no matter how much trouble it brought her, and boy does it ever. She is tenacious if a little distracted, but her gradual acceptance of her lot does lead her to make rash decisions, ones she may come to regret.

Ragnar Jonasson has a real knack for creating believable and loveable (and detestable) characters, and for hiding the guilty party in plain sight, something he does to perfection once again in this book. He makes the people live and breathe, captures their fears, preoccupations and in some cases perhaps neuroses brilliantly and enables the reader to feel a part of the action. And by action, as is typical of the writing style, it is not fast paced, high stakes, car chase kind of action and yet, through the simplicity of the style, the complexity of the case and the creation of tension which slowly builds throughout, he will still have you on the edged of your seat by the end, scarcely able to believe what you are reading. Loved it,

For me perhaps the greatest character of all, aside from Hulda who I loved and can't wait to hear more from ... the most important protagonist in this story, is Iceland, The way in which the author paints the landscape, using the weather, visual and audio clues in which to create both atmosphere and perhaps even a little suspense, is superb. The simple choices he makes on where to set the key scenes of the book really make the story come alive. also the choice of narrative style, the fragments of story told from the perspective of unidentified young women, add a layer of mystery to the book as you try to figure who they are and how they fit into the tale. All of it, including the main body of the book which follows Hulda's investigation, makes for a brilliant and engaging read which had me hooked from the first page to the very last.

Do I really have to wait a year for the next book? Seriously - that is just plain cruel. So if you are a fan of the Dark Iceland series, or even if you just want to read a brilliant book, with an intriguing mystery at its heart where setting is as important as plotlines, then pick up The Darkness. For an introduction to the wonderful work of Ragnar Jonasson, I have to say it'd be a pretty bloody good place to start.

“A young woman is found dead on a remote Icelandic beach.
She came looking for safety, but instead she found a watery grave.
A hasty police investigation determines her death as suicide . . .
When Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik police is forced into early retirement, she is told she can investigate one last cold case of her choice - and she knows which one.
What she discovers is far darker than suicide . . . And no one is telling Hulda the whole story.”

This is a really good story and I really felt sorry for Hulda when she was told she had a few days left at work, rather than the rest of the year as she’d thought.
Hulda invests her time looking into a cold case but meets barriers wherever she turns until she is given some information from the hostel where Elena stayed.
Things start to move quickly but soon she is in serious trouble with her boss for speaking to a key player in another investigation.
Hulda is told to finish everything and leave but she has a few hours left of her day so carries on her investigation, with shocking results.
This is a really good book and I’d like to thank Penguin and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

’m a huge fan of Ragnar Jonasson; have been ever since I was lucky enough to read the first in his Detective Ari Thor series.

So it was with a real sense of glee that I discovered that the first book in his new series – Dark Iceland – features a female detective on the brink of retirement. I just love it when an author invests in an older female protagonist and with D.I. Hulda Hermannsdóttir, Jonasson has got it just right.

Hulda is a diligent and more than competent detective but she is also an older woman who has not thrived in a male dominated environment where she has never been ‘one of the boys’ and though things are changing for women in the Reykjavik police force, those changes have come too late for Hulda, who has been repeatedly passed over for promotion in favour of less able male detectives.

She is pondering life after the police force when she finds out that even the choice of when to retire is to be taken out of her hands and her retirement date is brought forward without any reference to what she wants.

So she puts her foot down and says that she will go, but wants some time to transition, despite the fact that her current caseload has already been re-allocated. So with a bit of arm twisting, she gets her boss to agree a stay of execution and the chance to work on the cold case of her choice.

One such case has been in her mind for a while. A young female asylum seeker from Russia was found dead on the seaweed covered rocks in Vatnsleysuströnd; the death ruled a suicide. That decision never sat easily with Hulda and she resolves to get to the bottom of the case in the short time she has left.

It is not long before Hulda discovers that suicide does not make any sense as her victim had been granted asylum and she knew it. Hulda knows that this was a murder and when she finds that Elena was not the only young woman to go missing from the hostel the asylum seekers were staying in, she sets out to get to the truth.

The Darkness is told in three strands; the murder investigation, a mother’s story of the hardships of raising an illegitimate child and a young woman’s disastrous journey into the Iceland’s isolated and snow covered terrain. These strands are deftly woven together by Jonasson and give an added dimension to the central investigation.

I love that Hulda means hidden woman, and that sense of impending surprise about her is maintained throughout the book, even until it’s astonishing and dark ending.

While there is a real sense of darkness to all the themes in this book, what I missed was the same depth of description of Iceland and the very real sense of beauty entwined with a taste of the claustrophobia and oppression of the geography of Iceland that you get from his other books. It is this sense of place that feels just a wee bit less tangible to me and I would have liked more of that darkness to permeate the book.

"...the visions of the past haunting her, the fear of the future looming over her."

I really wanted to like The Darkness, I've never read any Ragnar Jónasson before but have heard good things about the Dark Iceland series. So, when this popped up on NetGalley, part of the new Hidden Iceland series, I thought I'd give it a go.

Don't get me wrong, The Darkness is very atmospheric, very dark, but I didn't feel engaged. The investigation felt dragged out and there were no particular high points, not that I need a shock a minute, but one or two little ones would have helped. The shocks that were there I guessed.

It also didn't feel particularly realistic, while the setting is very real and gritty, the actual case seemed a bit unbelievable, with leads conjured out of no where and perfectly timed revelations.

I did like the premise of the investigator Hulda, it was interesting to get the perspective of a female officer nearing retirement. She did have depth to her but sometimes Jónasson's writing was a little too obvious, a lot of telling, not showing. I also found a few elements of her character unrealistic. And occasionally, she was just too whiny and depressing.

I felt as I was reading, that there seemed to be a past that I was missing, especially in the relationships between Hulda and her colleagues. And actually, I've only just realised that The Darkness is part of a trilogy which is being published backwards. This revelation has made the book make a bit more sense to me, but I still wasn't enthralled by it.

I'd still like to try the Dark Iceland series as I've heard they are quite different to this one.

My Rating: 3 Stars

I received a copy of The Darkness, via Netgalley, in return for an honest review. My thanks to the author and publisher.

Gripping. I read this over an afternoon in one sitting. The writing grabs you from the first page and pullls you along. Set in Iceland, a place I’ve yet to visit, you feel like you are there, feeling the cold, smelling the sea, appreciating the bleak beauty. The main plot concentrates on Hulda’s last case before being unceremoniously put out to pasture by being forced into early retirement. The book moves between this, Hulda’s early childhood and what happened to the victim. I never for a moment guessed who the perpetrator was, nor the brilliant ending.
Looking forward to reading the rest of the series of which this is the first
#TheDarkness#NetGalley

Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir is very close to retirement and she is not sure if this idea makes her feel good. When she is called to the office of her immediate superior Magnus because "We need to have a little chat about your situation" she is not sure what to expect. It seems her noble boss is eager for her to leave so that her replacement "a real high achiever" can take over her job and a deadline is set for two weeks. In fact the arrogant Magnus is eager for her to depart immediately but .."On full pay, of course" Refusing to be intimidated and not wishing to retire early she eagerly grasps at a throwaway comment made by Magnus..."But you, well, you could always look into a cold case, I suppose. Anything that takes your fancy. How does that grab you?."....The pompous Magnus will live to regret his decision and as Hulda revisits again the unsolved case of refugee Elena "She had come to a foreign country in search of refuge and only found a watery grave. And nobody cared."....she will unravel a murder that was never properly managed, and in the process question the original investigation.

The primary officer in the case Alexander did not suspect murder and closed his findings on a suicide verdict. But DI Hulda questions why a young refugee would take her own life when she had just discovered that very morning her asylum application had been approved. Clearly something had been missed. Magnus had hoped that this old case had been put to rest and he is most unhappy that Hulda is "making waves" and causing problems when she should be retired. We learn of Hulda's traumatic childhood, the tragic events surrounding her daughter Dimma, and the truth concerning her much loved husband, Jon, who died suddenly from heart failure some years ago. Against all this trauma and the approach of a lonely retirement looming ever closer "Retirement was something Hulda had never mentally prepared for.".....she meet Petur a retired doctor and the hope for future friendship, even love, now seems a possibility. Very soon DI Hulda puts herself in mortal danger as the net on the murderer closes and the events that unfold will stay in the memory of the Icelandic police force for many years to come.

This was an astounding tale beautifully told and has made me appreciate the great contribution that nordic crime has made over the last few years. Ragnar Jonasson is a very proficient story teller making a simple tale sparkle against the cold Icelandic landscape..."full of hidden volcanic craters and clouds of steam, scarred by the violent forces at work beneath the earth's crust here where Iceland straddled the divide between two continental plates".... I so hoped that Hulda could now find the contentment she so deserved especially as Petur held forth the hand of warmth and friendship. The conclusion of this story was totally unexpected yet brilliantly executed, to reveal more would spoil the enjoyment that awaits you dear reader of my review! Many thanks to the publisher penguin and netgalley for a gratis copy in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written. A fantastic piece of storytelling brilliantly told and highly highly recommended.

This book really does take you on a journey alongside ageing detective Hulda. The book opens with Hulda being told that she is going to be pensioned off soon, bargaining with her boss she persuades him to let her take on one more case. His only offer is to let her choose a cold case figuring that there is little harm she can cause there. The case she chooses concerns the death of a Russian girl, Elena, who had apparently committed suicide though Hulda feels there is more to this than meets the eye given her antipathy towards the investigating officer known for his lax approach. Her investigation ruffle feathers and she finds herself acting on information received and confronting someone, unbeknownst to her she has blown an investigation that has been ongoing for months. This leads to her retirement being brought forward giving her only 24 hours to solve it. Interspersed through the story are narratives for a mother and her daughter and another for a man and a woman who go off exploring the countryside, all these stories come together to reveal more about the detective and the crime she is solving. Will all be solved or will other things get in the way?

Hulda is an extremely likeable detective but as you read on there is so much more to discover about this 'old bag' from the CID who drives a bright green Skoda. Hulda is a complex character who has worked hard but is she all she seems?

Another great feature of this book is the Icelandic landscape, its presence throughout the narrative adds to the feeling whether it be the dark, brooding mountains or the midnight sun.

This book has twists and turns aplenty and the fast paced narrative keeps you reading on.

#TheDarkness #NetGalley

Loved this book, had not read anything by this author before, but will make sure that I read all his books. The lead detective was an unusual and interesting woman, and the storyline was compelling. Excellent characterisation all the way through.

This is not the usual predictable police procedural that I expected when I started reading. Being of retirement age myself, I really identified with Hulga's dilemma when faced with the premature end of her career. The underlying tragedies that gradually come to light are quite heartbreaking, and the ending took me completely by surprise. I look forward to further books in this series.

This is an intriguing, well-crafted novel which I hugely enjoyed. I have to admit I haven't read any other novels by Ragnar Jónasson despite hearing so many great things, so I jumped at the chance to review the first book in a new series, as then it doesn't matter if I haven't read others. And I'm so glad to say that The Darkness is was a solid, really enjoyable read!

Firstly, this series (Hidden Iceland #1) looks set to be pretty unique as it's actually the end of a series; subsequent novels will apparently cover previous cases (something I actually didn't realise until I finished this book!). I really like the idea of this, and also Hulda as a character - she's pretty abrupt and may to some seem unlikable, but I did warm to her as the novel went on - you see as you continue reading that she has had a lot to deal with over her lifetime. Plus, the police haven't exactly been great to her - she's being forced into an early retirement because they seem to want to create a younger workforce! I really liked that the main character is someone older as this makes a change from many other books.

The plot isn't overly complex but enjoyable to read, and though there are quite a few people involved in the case it wasn't too confusing. I found the writing really easy to read and raced through this (at under 300 pages it's not too long, either). It's not too gorey but has the right level of darkness and eeriness, making you imagine you're there with Hulda in the Icelandic landscape.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Darkness and it's definitely made want to read both more of this series and other novels by Ragnar Jónasson too!

In the land of Ice and Fire we learn that typically there are two murders a year, unless of course you choose to dig a bit deeper! Aging DI Hulda Hermannsdόttir given a choice between early retirement and investigating a cold case chooses the latter. Hulda (who really should have chosen the former) starts digging and quickly her suspicions are piqued over the supposed suicide of an asylum seeker.
Ragnar Jόnasson in his novel The Darkness shows the Icelandic Police to be inept, lazy and disrespectful. Hulda, seemingly the best of the bunch, investigates in an alcoholic fug and with her wits duly dulled, becomes mortally vulnerable.
An interesting anti-hero novel that doesn’t do the police any favours.

Hurrah - how refreshing to read a novel and be totally surprised by the ending. I have not read any of Ragnar Jónasson's previous novels and this was a pleasant surprise. The plot moved along at a good pace and I couldn't stop reading. In fact I read it in a 2 sittings.
I have never been to Iceland so I cannot comment on how accurate his descriptions of the landscapes and daily life in Iceland are but it worked for me.

This was definitely a slow build story. I liked the fact that there were aspects of the story told from the viewpoint of others, interspersed throughout the book, which all added to the conclusion. I thought the conclusion itself was well-written and a fittingly dark one. I didn't, however, feel that I got to know much about the real Hulda - her character was very wishy-washy and I couldn't work out how she managed to get to Det Inspector rank as her investigative methods were hit-and-miss, at best. I found her passivity in most of the book quite challenging to read and I wanted her to stand up for herself a bit more. Overall, the excellent conclusion didn't quite make up for the rest.

Thanks to Netgalley and publishers, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph, for the opportunity to review an ARC.

Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is about to retire a bit sooner than expected or even wanted she is being firmly shown the door by her boss, her current cases have been reassigned, in the time she has left she can investigate any cold case she wants. He’s just placating her but there’s this one case….

It’s the Russian woman, Hulda never thought her colleague did a particularly good job – he rarely does – and no one else seemed to care but Hulda, she does, and she wants to get to the truth.

Hulda is a good detective but last night in what now seems to be her final interview of a suspect in a hit and run case she made a decision…

Hulda starts to investigate the cold case and we begin to learn about her. Her life as a police officer, a wife and mother. We hear her loneliness, her anger, her guilt and maybe a glimmer of hope so that retirement won’t be what she fears. Hulda is a terrific character and you want her to succeed but she does have a dark side to her.

We are in a rainy late spring in Iceland. It is over twelve months since the Russian woman’s body was found. Hulda discovers there is another missing woman. Hulda is persistent and thorough but time is not on her side. Then comes a blow which could scupper her investigation but a possible small breakthrough keeps her going.

This is a well written book, nothing less than one might expect from Ragnar Jónasson, the first of the series, oozing with that unique landscape, that particular way of life that comes from such a landscape. Jónasson builds up the story culminating in a tense and quite shocking end.

If you like Nordic Noir you’ll love this one and everyone else should just try it anyway.

With thanks to Michael Joseph Publisher via NetGalley for this eARC in return for an honest opinion.

Rating: 4*

Nice easy read. I loved the ending. The story of a female detective being forced to retire taking a look at one last case out of stubbornness. A nice change from the usual detective/police procedurals.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this publication in return for a honest and impartial review.
Set In Iceland this book focus around an investigation by the main character a female Police Detective a matter of weeks away from retirement who is placed on re-investigating a "cold case". involving a Russian asylum seeker.
I found the characters to be very believable, the story very well written and a few twists along the way.
All told a very enjoyable debut from this author and I look forward to future publications in this series of books.

I liked the sound of this book. I hadn't read anything by Ragnar Jónsson before.

It was good to have an older protagonist. Hulda Hermannsdottir is a police detective approaching her 65th birthday but not quite ready to retire. (I hoped she would be someone I could connect with -. I'm in my 60s although I took early retirement willingly). She's shocked when her boss calls her in and tells her she will be retiring early and that they have already decided on her younger replacement. Her boss has already allocated her cases to other members of the team and suggests she might want to leave immediately but Hulda wants to stay a couple of weeks until her replacement starts. Her boss agrees she can look into a cold case. This would appear to be the start of one of Hulda's worst weeks ever.

She starts to look for new evidence in the death of a young female asylum seeker from Russia. Hulda soon comes to the conclusion that her colleague had not investigated the case as thoroughly as he could have and starts asking questions and looking for new evidence.

Hulda is a bit of loner. She isn't particularly popular with her colleagues and doesn't really mix with them. I suppose I was just a bit disappointed that like many other fictional police detectives she has a back story and quite a few 'issues'. I had hoped she would be a bit different.

As I read on I realised the story is rather bleak. I think there are three stories going on – one in the present and two in the past. The title is very apt: it is a dark and chilling tale. At times however I felt there was something missing. I think the language was a bit stilted in some parts and just didn't quite flow naturally but perhaps something was lost in translation.

The ending was quite shocking and not really what I expected!

Although there were bits I quite liked, overall I was just a little bit disappointed. I've not been put off entirely; I would certainly consider reading something else by the same author.

This is Scand-Noir set in Iceland featuring widow and Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir of the Reykajavik Police, 64 years old and approaching retirement with nothing in her life but her job. Her boss, Magnus, is insensitive when he informs her they have someone already lined up for her post, and she can retire at once. Feeling unappreciated and unwanted, Hulda insists on staying, and is told she can work a cold case for two weeks. A shell shocked Hulda knows which case she wants, a Russian asylum seeker, Elena, was found dead at a cove just over a year ago. An incompetent colleague, Alexander, barely investigated, ruling Elena's death a suicide. Hulda considers getting closer to Petar, a retired doctor, to ease her loneliness, she literally has no-one, not even a friend. She loved her husband, Jon, but knows she does not have it in her to love anyone else as she loved him. Jonasson gives us a multi-layered story of darkness everywhere, in the geography and financial crash of Iceland, the glimpse of her childhood and the future that Hulda faces, and the case of Elena and what turns out to be the disappearance of another Russian woman, Katja.

The story takes Hulda, a woman who has been overlooked and experienced difficulty working with and gelling with her police colleagues, and gives us her introspective view of her life and the world. She is hugely claustrophobic, affected by dark enclosed spaces after her grandmother used to lock her up as a child. The only bright spot is that she begins to finds some comfort in her developing relationship with Petar and the promise that it holds. However, the case is a difficult and complex, and Hulda inadvertantly wrecks an covert police operation involving a people and sex trafficker which brings the wrath of Magnus on her head. This is compounded by Hulda's actions with a hit and run driver who targets a paedophile. Hulda's life begins to spiral out of control when a confident and skilled murderer awakens and begins to feel that Hulda is getting too close to the truth.

Jonasson writes a crime story with strong psychological elements and twists. He gives us several threads, the Elena investigation, a mother experiencing severe obstacles in bringing up an illegitimate child after a one night stand with an American, and a woman who feels pushed into going out with a man on an dangerous outdoor adventure in the barren and dangerous Icelandic landscape, feeling completely out of her comfort zone. There are instances where the reader is made to feel that Hulda is an unreliable narrator, and we learn that her marriage is not what we are led to believe, holding its own darkness. All in all, this is a great and entertaining read, it was not what I expected it to be and the ending comes out of the blue. A dark tale for those who enjoy reading Scandinavian Crime. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.