Found this to be a haunting tale with different twists keeping you hooked until the final chapter. Definitely recommended.

Beautiful descriptions of stunning Icelandic scenery amid atmospheric desolation create a vivid picture of this remote land. A place where crime is rare, a girl has been murdered and a story of long held secrets begins to emerge. As different stories are revealed and further tragedies occur it is obvious that all is not as it seems. A well worked story with a slow build that made me question whether the Island in the title was in fact Iceland itself. However, the book was wrapped up nicely with various twists but left enough unanswered questions to ensure I will want to read the final part of this trilogy. I had not read the first in this series but it did not detract from my enjoyment of the book.

Police thriller which failed to keep my attention. Very descriptive. Surprising twist.Not sure why the detectives search for her father was included,no relevance.

From the first page, this story draws you in. A young girl is left with a babysitter in a small town near Reykjavik while her parents enjoy an evening out. When they come home, their daughter is strangely unsettled, complaining that there were 'two of' her babysitter. What does she mean? Is the babysitter psychotic?

Then the scene changes. A girl steals the key to her father's summer hut in the Icelandic fjords for a weekend of romance with her new boyfriend. He finds her horribly murdered. We know he didn't do it but why do the police frame her father? An intriguing start.

Three interlocking narratives run through the story: the girl's murder in 1987 and its aftermath, four friends going to a remote island ten years later in memory of their murdered friend and Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir's back story. Their link is that one of the four friends dies on the island in 1997 under suspicious circumstances.

One of the memorable things about this book is the stunning setting. Anyone who's been to Iceland will recognise the sweeping vistas with a mountain backdrop that deceive you as to how far you've walked.

Once you get to grips with the three threads to the story and fix each of the four friends in your mind, the story rolls along well, picking up pace halfway through. The suspense ratchets up once Hulda starts interviewing the four friends and realises that a senior police officer has a dark secret.

An enjoyable whodunit with a satisfying resolution, but a bit slow to link up the three interlocking stories.

Having enjoyed the first book in this series I was hoping this book would be as good. Well it was! Although it can be read as a stand-alone it is better to read the first book ‘the darkness’ first as that deals with Hulda’s back story so this book then makes more sense. It’s an interesting concept though with the trilogy being in reverse. I thought it had a more predictable ending as supposed to the first book in the trilogy but it was still a great book. I look forward to the last instalment. Just hope it’s not too long in coming!!

This series has an interesting format in that it’s written in reverse order. Book #1 (The Darkness) gave us Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir at the end of her career with the Reykjavík police. In this outing we go back a bit to 1997 as she investigates a suspicious death on the island of Elliðaey.

Ten years ago, Dagur’s family was ripped apart when his sister was murdered in a rural cabin. (Thanks to a brief prologue we know what happened…sort of.) They used to hang with Benni, Alexandra & Klara, 3 other school mates who have since become estranged. So when Benni gets in touch it’s a bit of a surprise. He want to get the gang together & spend the weekend on an island to honour the anniversary of the death. Hmmm….remote island, just the four of them, no way to leave. Sure, sounds good.

It’s not long before Reykjavík police get a call. Seems a young woman has fallen to her death on Elliðaey. Hulda has been going through a tough spell & jumps at the chance to leave the city behind. Her subsequent interviews with the remaining friends only lead to more questions & the sneaking suspicion she’s not getting the whole story from any of them.

This is not a flashy fast paced thriller. It’s a quiet, reflective mystery that is almost more about the characters than the crimes. Not to say there aren’t any twists in the plot because there are. Secrets from the past & present are revealed. But it’s the background & relationships of these people that form the bulk of the story & help us understand how they ended up where they are.

At the centre of it all is Hulda. Her mother recently died & the death of the young woman has reminded her of the loss of her own daughter 10 years ago. She’s never known who her father was other than he was an American GI stationed in Reykjavík during the war. One side story deals with her search for him & I really enjoyed this part. You desperately want her to find some happiness in her small, colourless life.

I love it when a book opens with a creepy prologue. It’s always tucked in the back of my mind as I read, keeping an eye out for how/who it’s related to in the story. Here we get 2 that occur in the late 1980’s & you’ll have to pay attention as there are shifting time lines. Because of the pace & content, this one didn’t grab me as much as The Darkness. But I do enjoy spending time with Hulda. Books that feature a mature female detective are rare. Her life experience & dedication give her a different take on events & enable her to think outside the box (unlike Lýdur, her lazy pompous boss).

This hushed, atmospheric read perfectly mirrors the Icelandic landscape & serves as a reminder that wherever you go, your past travels with you.

Ragnar Jónasson takes us back to Iceland for another beautifully haunting story. This is the second book in a trilogy of Hulda Hermannsdóttir stories, although both books work well on their own.

Hulda is a very subtle character in many regards, and that allows the rest of the story to come to the fore. Every so often we dip into her complex backstory, which is building up around her nicely, but mainly we explore the characters involved in the mystery she's investigating.

What's the case? It's almost a little Sherlockian. Four friends go to a remote and inaccessible island, so when one of them dies there are a lot of questions and a wall of silence amongst the old friends.

Yet there's more to it all than a simple whodunnit. Hulda has far more to investigate. There's always more. Slowly, Jónasson guides the various threads along. Revealing more, both questions and answers. This is the joy of these books - it's a slow-paced gentleness like a cosy mystery, mixed with the darkness of a gripping Scandinoir. A combination that really shouldn't work, but somehow becomes greater than the sum of those parts, Iceland itself proves a simple match for such a story - vast spaces of rolling serenity interspersed with harsh and brutal features that just become breathtaking when combined.

The first book was great, and, with this second book, it's become a must-read trilogy. The only part of this book I disliked was the note sharing the expected publication date for the third book - it's so far away!

I hadn't realised until I finished this book and read some reviews that it is the second in a "backwards trilogy" This does explain some of my questions as to why the traumas in Hulda's life were almost glossed over, and I'm looking forward to the next instalment now.
I enjoyed the book as a well told, but fairly ordinary crime novel, with the stand out character for me being the Icelandic landscape.





thank you to netgalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for an advance copy of this book.

Although I really enjoyed this storyline, I also had a few problems with it. It took me a while to get into this one because the names and places are all Icelandic, so I kept having to skim read them. This really put me off, however I did eventually see past that. It was a little bit predictable, but some parts were still surprising. And although I liked all of the characters, I would like to know more about them and their lives. I found the storyline really interesting, and some parts did really surprise me. However, nothing completely shocked me. I’m glad that this book is part of a series because I would like to read more about Hulda and I’d like to know what happens next. This is my first time reading anything from this author, and I definitely enjoyed it!

When a woman is found dead on a getaway with her friends, it sparks an investigation which delves deep into the past – what secrets are her friends hiding?

I love the idea of a trilogy being released backwards, it’s a really refreshing convention. Unfortunately, I think I have ruined this for myself by reading the second one first! It’s perfectly fine to do that though, the story itself is a standalone police procedural story. You perhaps have more of an insight or would get more out of it if you knew the fate of some of the characters I guess but I didn’t really feel like I was missing anything major from not having read the first one. I did however, feel that the story was a little bland in places – despite the truly great setting of Iceland. It’s a fairly bog standard ‘whodunnit’ murder mystery.

The book does play around with the idea of time a lot, you are introduced to the main characters and then the narrative shifts to 10 years later which felt a little jarring. It did mean you got all the exposition you needed for the murder without the need for flash-backs interrupting the flow though. I liked how sinister everything felt particularly the first quarter of the book where the chapters almost felt they were edging towards the horror genre in places. I liked the main character of DI Hulda and found her personal development and storyline to be interesting.

Overall I like the idea of a trilogy told in reverse but found this instalment a little bland for me. I would probably give it three and a half stars, rounded up to four. Thank you to Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Island is the 7th Ragnar Jonasson book i've now devoured, and i found it just as enjoyable as the previous 6.;

The second book in this 'Hidden Iceland' series, the author has taken the unusual but somewhat brilliant step of releasing the trilogy in reverse. The first book, 'The Darkness' is set at the end of the protagonists life. Book 2 sees us travel back in time 20 years.

As ive come to expect from the author, what follows is a short, gripping and thrilling page turner. There are no wasted pages or words. Everything propels the story on wards towards its conclusion. Unlike The Darkness, which knocked me for 6 with its shocking ending, i found this outcome slightly more predictable. If anything it almost fell a bit flat. However the quality of the book was so high, i dont find myself disappointed in the ending, merely satisfied that iw as rounded up so smartly.

Book 3 will definitely be one of my most anticipated books of 2020.

Gripping story with characters that I found to be believable. This book kept my interest from the first few pages and although I was happy to put it down I also wanted to finish it and find out the truth. I will not say any more about the plot or ending, that would not be kind! It would make a very beautiful film/series and I would watch it even though I now know who did it!

Thanks to NetGalley and The Publisher for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Island was a quick and easy read. Not a complex thriller but enough suspense for me to want to stick with it. For me the why's were more interesting that the who's.The pacing was a bit off for me. It seemed to leap from one scene to the next and I felt that there were large gaps in the narration. However, the eerily Icelandic backdrop was described so vividly that it makes me want to visit.

I would read more of this authors to see how the main character Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir develops.

‘The Island’ is an Icelandic mystery novel, the middle book in the ‘Hidden Iceland’ trilogy. I’ve not read the first book, but this one made sense regardless.
It starts well, with a genuinely creepy prologue and then an enjoyably mysterious murder. The chronology is interesting as well. The prologue takes place after the murder and the action then skips forward 10 years. The main story examines a group of friends, with connections to the murder victim, who are meeting for a reunion in the countryside.
Whilst the Icelandic setting gives the book a pleasantly different feel, it’s not enough to really lift it above the crowd. The descriptions of the remote, deserted landscape are rich and give it some atmosphere but often feel like window dressing. I never got a great sense of place from it, there’s little description of Icelandic culture, just lots of fjords and hot springs.
Unfortunately, the plot is pretty standard fare too and the characters aren’t massively engaging. There is an elongated subplot about detective Hulda Hermannsdottir’s search for the truth about her absent father, but I struggled to work up much enthusiasm for it. The same was true of Hulda’s rivalry with another member of the local police force. It may be that if I’d read the first book in the series I’d have had more emotional engagement with Hulda, but I suspect not. Unfortunately there just didn’t seem to be much of interest going on with her.
Sadly, the central mystery suffers from exactly the problem. I really didn’t care about it, and got the impression that Hulda didn’t either. She seemed to solve the case through unfocussed plodding and blind chance rather than any determination or insight on her part.
That’s not to say that the book isn’t readable, it’s an enjoyable enough piece of crime fiction even if the prose is a bit stilted (which may be the fault of the translator rather than the author). The locations are nice enough and I didn’t guess the ending. If that sounds like I'm damning it with faint praise that's because I probably am. It's fine, but no more than that.

3.5⭐️ rounded up to 4

Hidden Island Series Book 2

Ellioaey is an isolated island of the coast of Iceland. It has a beautiful unforgiving terrain and it's an easy place to vanish. This is the second book in the Hidden Iceland Trilogy series.

This book is set before ten years before the first instalment. DI Hulda is fast approaching fifty. She has lost her husband, daughter and her mother. Hulda is on the isolated island of Ellioaey to investigate the unexplained death of a young woman. She was one of four friends who had visited the island. There are similarities to this case to another cas that happened ten years ago. This trilogy is written in reverse order. It's well written and thought out. I would have liked to have read the first book in this trilogy, but it can be read as a standalone.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin Uk - Michael Joseph and the author Ragnar Jonasson for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Love Hulda the stoic detective and the frosty, nordic surroundings. Really downplays the good detective stuff in this book which I really like and mixes it up with personal stuff which we are drip-fed. Can't wait to read the next book as we found out Hulda's fate in the previous book so are effectively reading backwards.

This is the second book in Jonasson’s Hidden Iceland series, set 10 years before the first book. Like the first book, this Scandi Noir is a slow burner. This time, two mysterious murders, 10 years apart, involve the same group of friends. Hulda gets called in to work on the new case, and, as in the first book, she faces sexist and patronising fellow detectives at the police department. Again, she perseveres, and solves two cases with her unfettered dedication to her job. I liked the unwavering commitment Hulda shows to her job and to finding out the truth about two cases while constantly met with arrogant and unfair behaviour by others on the police force. While other members of the police force have been with the force for less time or have solved fewer cases, they rise through the ranks and get paid enough to afford holiday houses. Hulda, on the other hand, gets overlooked for major promotions and raises.
Jonasson again proves to be a master of describing Iceland’s beautiful and atmospheric landscape. Reading about the lovely island of Ellidaey, which is inhabited by sheep and puffins, had me desperate to book a holiday. I also enjoyed finding out more about Hulda’s family life. The first book of the series revealed the tragic details of Hulda’s upbringing, her daughter’s fate and her husband’s problems. Now, after her mother’s death, Hulda decides to look for her father, an American soldier who had been briefly stationed in Iceland. Again, she is met with disappointment.
I can’t wait to read the last instalment of the Hidden Iceland series, out next year (2020), to see Hulda solve more cases and find out more about her difficult personal life.

This is the second in the Hidden Iceland series by Ragnar Jonasson. Like the first it has the likeable detective Hulda who we learn so much more about in this novel. If there were a criticism of this book then it would have to be the pacing, it begins well and then muddles along until kicking in again around the 60% mark. That said I liked the book and am certainly looking forward to the promised third volume. The novel is reminiscent of the classic locked room mystery, but in this case a remote island, and the shared history of the 4 people who set out to the island makes for interesting reading. When only 3 return and foul play is suspected Hulda sets out to unpick the intricacies of that history where everyone seems to have something to hide. The reader is drawn into this and the tension is felt as we spin closer to the truth only for it to feint and a new theory emerge in your mind.
The writing is well crafted and the translation by Victoria Cribb is superb, having read books where the translation is clunky this is a welcome change, so congratulations to the editing team.

I would not hesitate to recommend this book to readers, it can be read as a standalone but why not read The Darkness which is book one too!

#TheIsland #NetGalley

This is the second title I’ve read by the author. The plot is very involving and the description of Iceland draws you quickly into the immersive nature of the story. I’d definitely read another book by this author and highly recommended to readers of mystery stories.

A well-crafted thriller which kept me hooked throughout. A shared history comes back to haunt four friends, Dagur, Klara, Benni and Alexander, who meet up on the anniversary of Dagur’s sister’s murder, ten years previously. Dagur’s father had been convicted of his daughter’s murder and he committed suicide whilst awaiting sentencing. The four friends travel to a remote island to spend the weekend together: only three will return.

When one of the four friends is found dead Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is sent to the island to investigate the circumstances. She becomes convinced that there are facts that are not being shared with her. There is an intricate plot set against the bleak Icelandic landscape. The novel is well paced and the story is pretty dark and twisted. It is a compelling, well written, read. The character of Hulda, in particular, is really interesting and it is through her that we see most of the story develop.

This book is the second instalment in the Hidden Iceland series that is told in reverse order. The events in The Island take place ten years before the first book in the series, The Darkness, which I haven’t read yet. I don’t think that reading them out of order is an issue, given this story precedes that in The Darkness.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from NetGalley and publisher in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.