The second book in a trilogy which seems to be going backwards. This book covers a case for the heroine of the first book set 10 years before that book. You find out a lot more about the character and some of the events mentioned in the first book. The murder case involves a death on an isolated island with only three suspects, related to a death 10 years in the past that affected them all. Inspector Hulda suspects that she’s not being told everything and digs deeper into the case. This was an enjoyable, relatively short read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the book.

My Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of this book in return for an honest review. I requested this title based on the description and a belief that nobody goes to the trouble of translating Scandi crime novels unless they are of a certain standard. It turns out that this is the middle book of a trilogy featuring Icelandic Detective Hula Hermannsdottir, but this is fine as a stand-alone novel. Hula is not just a female detective but unusually approaching fifty, and still ambitious. Not unusually she has had a very troubled past.

The story starts in 1988, then back to 1987, then on ten years to 1997. These assorted strands to the story seem unrelated, but experience tells you they will all come together eventually. The main part of the novel is about three friends, now in their late twenties, but who had been very close as teenagers, coming together to spend a weekend on a deserted island to remember their friend who was murdered ten years previously. We are three-quarters of the way into the book before we are told the dead girl’s name, Katla. Previously she is just referred to as “the girl”. It seems to add to the mystery. This is a fairly simple tale but set against a beautiful Icelandic background. I think that I might have given this book the extra star if the plot had been just a bit more complex. Never the less, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Set in Iceland , an apparent accident on a remote island leads to a murder investigation . The only people on the island are 4 friends meeting up after 10 years . This however links to a murder 10 years earlier of the sister of one of them at a remote summer house , owned by the family . The father was charged with this murder but committed suicide whilst being held in prison . Was he guilty as presumed or had he been set up by the officer in charge of the investigation ? Leading to family breakdowns and haunting memories of the friends involved .This is all answered by the end of the book .

After reading the first book in the series, The Darkness which I thoroughly enjoyed, I could not wait to delve into this one. I love the main character Hilda and all her flaws.Four young adults go away for a weekend and only three return. What has this event got to do with a cold case ???
I am a big fan of Nordic Crime Noir and this book certainly ticks all the boxes. It is a bit of a slow burner but please stick with it as you will not be disappointed. Atmospheric, beautifully written and the descriptions of the landscape are breathtaking. This is very clever story telling, the way the the two plots gradually meld together. I did guess who the perpetrator was just before the big reveal and in no way did it spoil my reading pleasure. Infact it was a bonus as I usually get it wrong. This is turning into a very exciting and addictive series. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Penguin U K and Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the advanced copy in return for giving an honest review.

Within minutes I was swept up into the atmospheric world of Iceland. I read the book in less than a day as I was desperate to know what the outcome would be. This is the second book in the series but it can be read as a standalone as the series starts at the end and works back! This sounds odd but it gives more depth to the story as you know what happens in Hulda's life further down the line and how she became the person she is. I highly recommend it and hope that there will be lots more to come. A TV series would be brilliant!

The impressive, distinctive topography of Iceland is interrupted by a cruel shadow that follows all casualties of murder. From police authorities, suspects, loved ones, and victims, a brooding tension trails all those affected for entirely different reasons.

This is a quiet, moody feast that I devoured at every opportunity. It scrutinises an old case and a new case, with police inspectors driven by their own personal motives. The narrative is VERY easy to settle into, and each time I dipped into the text I found myself instantly lost among its pages.

Contemporary crime told with a classic grace.

(P.S. This is book two in the series and although I’ve not read book one I didn’t find this hindered my reading enjoyment in any way.)

The Island is the second book in the Hidden Iceland series by Ragnar Jonasson and it is a well written and superbly translated book that keeps you hooked and entertained throughout.

It is more of a traditional or old fashioned murder mystery in style but that only adds to the enjoyment.

This is fast becoming one of my "look forward to" series and is highly recommended

I couldn’t get on at all with The Island. It sounded intriguing and I like the idea of a mystery set in “Hidden Iceland” but I found it very hard going indeed.

The story is OK, but I found it swamped by plodding descriptions and rather unconvincing characterisation. Hulda is a potentially interesting protagonist, but beset by cliché and overdone Personal Issues. My main problem, though, is the writing, which I found turgid, ridiculously padded with unnecessary detail and plagued by insultingly unnecessary explanation the whole time. The tone is set by a tediously and unnecessarily over-described little incident as a prelude which just felt...well, amateurish to me. Or take this little exchange, early on:
“ ‘I don’t believe in...” He didn’t finish.
‘That’s because you don’t know the whole story, Benni,’ she said softly, her tone hinting at something chilling left unsaid.
‘The whole story?’ he repeated helplessly. “
Every time someone speaks we have to be told more; really good dialogue speaks for itself without incessant explanation. The internal monologues didn’t convince me at all…

Enough. I didn’t like it. I’m sorry to be critical, but The Island didn’t engage or convince me at all and I can’t recommend it.

(My thanks to Penguin Books for an ARC via NetGalley.)

he Island is the second in the Hidden Iceland series of books by Icelandic writer Ragnar Jónasson and continues the story of Hulda Hermannsdóttir, a detective in Reykjavik. I first met her in The Darkness, the first of the trilogy but the final part of Hulda’s tale, because this series of books is being published in reverse order. The Island is the meat in the sandwich if you will, presenting to us a Hulda who is fighting against sexism in the Icelandic police, dealing with the loss of her mother, husband and daughter and is becoming something of a workaholic. When she investigates a death on a small, remote island she uncovers long held secrets which are closer to home than she thinks.

I really enjoyed The Darkness and thought that Hulda was a great character so I was keen to be reunited with her in The Island. This book is set a decade or so before The Darkness and, knowing what comes next made reading The Island a little bittersweet and added both depth and power to the book.

In The Island, the death which Hulda is investigating involves a group of four school friends who have reunited to spend the weekend catching up and reminiscing. When one of them is found dead it is apparent that something has gone horribly wrong but was it foul play and what link does it have to a death that took place a decade before?

Ragnar Jónasson excels at writing locked room mysteries. I believe that he used to translate Agatha Christie books into Icelandic and it shows in his intricate plotting and clever narrative devices. Swinging between the death ten years previously and the present day we are taken along on a multi-layered plot which examines loyalty, friendship and corruption. It is great stuff, there are enough hints and red-herrings to keep you guessing and the twists are ‘of course!’ moments which are refreshing.

Whilst the main plot of the deaths and investigation is intriguing and entertaining, for me, the star of the show is Hulda. I particularly enjoyed her battle to be seen as a detective first and a woman second. Working twice as hard as anybody else and better at her job she is overlooked for a smooth talking man who knows how to walk the walk. The frustration and injustice is clear. Aside from this we have the developments in her personal story and I found some of this heartbreaking to read but it also made me understand her more.

I can’t wait to read the final part of the trilogy and to see further into Hulda’s past. It is such a clever and inventive narrative device which could be showy but is handled with such skill that Hulda becomes somebody you really care about and want the best for. A special mention must go to translator Victoria Cribb who evokes the language and landscape so beautifully.

Dark, moody and atmospheric, this one kept me guessing right to the end.
The plot was brilliantly twisty and well thought out, with red herrings scattered throughout. I would never have guessed the ending, although I thought I had more than once.
The descriptive writing style had me hooked from the beginning, the desolate and unforgiving landscapes adding to the drama of the plot and making it feel just that little bit darker.
The characters were well drawn and believable, with realistic interaction between them and enough backstory to make them come to life.
I really enjoyed this book and will be looking out for more from the author. Great read.

Jönasson hooks the reader from the outset with the hint of something untoward. Then, on edge, the reader assumes a supposedly romantic weekend away is not going to end well for the young couple - and is not disappointed. From the beginning we are led to believe the perpetrator must be the man arrested at the time but Jönasson gradually sows the seeds of doubt and worry as, if the wrong person was imprisoned, then who did do it? The finger of guilt points at first one person and then another including, at one stage the guilty one, but the reader is made to guess the truth until the end of the book.
We are taken to the Island with the first murder and then later revisit it as the original group of friends become embroiled in the mystery. Naturally the plot thickens with a second, at first seemingly unconnected, murder and we share the exasperations of the female detective assigned to this case.
Apart from the initial hint of weirdness that the prologue contributed its relevance niggles from time to time as it seems to be forgotten but its role becomes evident later and contributes significantly to the strength of the mystery.
The plot could be quite predictable but Jönasson successfully uses the characters to make this more intriguing, resulting in a compelling detective mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Books for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Wow really loved this one. Read in a day(which is unheard for this snail pace reader) it’s atmospheric, very well written, well structured, easy to keep track of all the characters and most importantly of all, a hell of a lot of fun to read.

Our main character is Detective Hulda. The story is told in the narratives present day(the 90s) and a decade earlier, jumping back and forth between the two as she investigates the rather seemingly mundane accidental death of one of a group of four friends on a weekend away on an island off the coast of where this story is set - Iceland.
Of course not all is as it seems and and as Hulda investigates more she realizes that the group may be connected to the murde of a girl 10 years previous and that maybe she is not looking at an accidental death but another murder, a murder with its embers born 10 years earlier.

I absolutely loved this one. The second in a trilogy that runs backwards, I haven’t read the first one that I think is set 10 years later but intend to get my hands on it somehow. I literally couldn’t put this book down. Loved the setting, loved the descriptive writing and the story and characters as a whole. I went in totally blind and felt the read was all the better for it. I read this in no time, one day, which is unheard of for me. I was totally engrossed in it.

As easy a five star review as they come. I really want to read the first in the series now straight away and look forward to the final in the series due next year. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley, Penguin and Ragnar Jónasson for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read The Darkness and absolutely loved it, I adored it’s main character,
Hulda Hermannsdóttir and as soon as I had finished it I immediately picked up this book. Read this series in order to benefit from the chance to get to know a great female lead character and also for the unusual timeline.

Hulda is called into assist and investigate a death, she draws on her experience and uses her instincts to realise that something is not right.

I will say right from the off that this book didn’t grab me in the same way the first one did, instead this book gradually drew me in. This author excels at atmospheric, eerie landscapes that provides a cold and stark backdrop to a plot that intrigues. The investigation is twisted and led me to think it could be anyone of the other characters that were guilty.

So from a slower start, this book also had a different feel that I can’t really put my finger on. It was one that gradually drew me into the plot, I learnt more about Hulda and got a little more insight into her character. I really enjoy the writing style of this author, he has the ability to create wonderful imagery with his words. The character of Hulda is wonderful in so many ways.

This is a series I would recommend reading in order, but I think it would work well as a stand-alone. This is a book that readers of Noir Fiction, Crime, Mystery and Suspense novels would really enjoy. It gets a definitely recommended from me.

I think this was my first Ragnar Jonasson book and I really enjoyed reading it. I loved the writing style as well as the characters. I read this book as a standalone and did not really feel as if I missed anything regarding the main character.
I loved the setting of the book as well as the descriptions given. I would love to have a did in the 'hot tub' it sounds idyllic.
I would recommend this author in the future.

If you are a fan of Nordic noir, then look no further. A past crime re-emerging in connection with a new death gives this book echoes of a camilla lackberg’s novel but with a more eery scenery and claustrophobic ambience. The depth of the characters grips you straight away and you cannot help but wonder what will happen to Hulda in the next instalment. A series to definitely follow closely!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book. This book has a great storyline to it. I couldn’t put it down once I opened it. The characters worked well.

I am so sorry but I could not get into this book. Nothing to do with the author but I really struggled to read it

Four friends visit an island and during their time there, one of them ends up dead. Was it an accident or was it murder?

The remaining three friends hold the answer, not only to this present day tragedy but also the full story of a previous death 10 years earlier of another of their group.

Set in Iceland, the story does well to maintain suspense and disguise the final reveal of both the intertwining stories. Even when I thought I had unravelled the mystery, something else came along to challenge my assumptions.

It is book 2 of a series but I have not read book 1 so can confirm that it works very well as a standalone story.

An enjoyable read that I would recommend,

Really enjoyed this story, zipped through it quickly as I was hooked. Loved getting to know the characters involved and didn’t guess the guilty party until very near the reveal. Now want to know more about the main police woman and both her backstory and her future now so will look at what other books the author has done or has planned. I like stories which move along quickly so this one definitely suited me.

I found it a little odd reading this after reading the first in the series as the story goes backwards in time. It was a good read but the story was told from many characters view points which was hard to keep track of.