There is an unusual chronology in that the story begins in 1988, then switches back to 1987 and forward to 1997. The relevance of the opening chapter only becomes apparent at the end.
In both 1987 and 1997, we have a suspicious death on an island. Strangely enough it transpires both victims were close friends.
The detective Hulda is also unusual, being a capable, ambitious middle age lady, whose career has been hindered by sexism in the police force, and who has lost her family tragically in an unfortunate sequence of events. Given that the deaths occur on remote islands with a very small group of suspects, we have a typical locked room type of scenario. Despite this, I did not guess the guilty party correctly for either murder, so for me it was an effective murder mystery scenario.
This book is part of the Hidden Iceland trilogy featuring the same police detective. It is easy to read, but quite dark and morose at times, which is typical of the genre.
I am grateful to NetGalley, the publishers and author for a free advance copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I was invited to review this book by the publisher given my previous interest in their Scandi noir titles (namely the excellent 5* read - The Chestnut Man).

Ragnar is an author I have been interested in for some time however this is actually the first book I've read of his...it won't be my last.

This is the 2nd in the 'hidden Iceland' series, I haven't read the first and managed fine however I would advise you to read its predecessor if possible just for some background to the main character Hulda. We start with a couple, Katla and Benedikt, who are having some alone time at a secluded summer house. This leads to Katla's death for which an arrest is swiftly made.

We are fast forwarded 10 years when Benedikt gets together a group of friends to return to the island and summer house when another mysterious death occurs. It looks to be the result of a drunken fall but Hulda is investigating and piecing it together realises a murder has taken place and that one of the group of friends had to be the culprit.

It was a genuine fast pace aided by some short and snappy chapters. The beginning of the story leading up to Katla's death in particular was very tense, I knew something was going to happen but just not sure what or when; suffice to say though I started this book late at night and my pounding heart made me put it down!!

A brilliant story that all links in together nicely at the end with an incredible Nordic backdrop. I definitely want to read the predecessor to this book and indeed the next one!

My many thanks to Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) via NetGalley for providing me with this advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed reading this book. A new author for me. I liked the background of tne police charcters,not too much detail but enough, I will read this author again

It’s 1988, many years before the events recounted in the first of the Hidden Iceland trilogy, The Darkness. A pair of teenagers have headed out to a remote summer house for a weekend of passion – but things don’t go quite the way they’d planned. Next thing, the girl’s father has been arrested and charged with the murder of his daughter.

We fast forward another ten years, and Hulda Hermannsdottir is in America, trying to track down her father. Her mother never told her who he was, but he was stationed in a US base in Iceland and she has a first name.
Meanwhile, back in Iceland, the friends of the girl who’d died ten years earlier have gathered together to celebrate her – this time on a remote island. Again, things don’t quite go as planned.

It’s into this mess that Hulda returns from America, looking to work out whether a new death was an accident or murder. And how are two events related?

It’s not uncommon in crime novel series for the individual titles to be relatively standalone for new readers, but in this case, I’d strongly recommend going back to The Darkness and reading these titles in order.

We know from the earlier book that Hulda is someone who’s a bit of a loner, and feels as though her career is stagnating. Once more, it feels as though there’s been sloppy detective work - Jónasson does not portray the Icelandic police service in glowing light in these books. And as ever, there are lots of hidden things below the surface, brooding away.

What’s absolutely certain is that the story is another real page-turner, and the remote settings provide a distinct flavour.

My only frustration is that we’ll need to wait until 2020 to learn the conclusion to this series!

A very enjoyable Scandi-noir book. Set in Iceland over two time periods the landscape is a superb backdrop to this story. Its bleakness permeates every page.

In the 1980s a young girl is murdered on a desolate island. A perpetrator is soon found and charged and it looks like that's it. But ten years later another girl is found dead and it appears there is a link between them. The detective investigating the second case, Hulda, is a women with a desperately sad past. Alone in the world she has none of the annoying quirkiness that so many fictional detectives have, just a sense of being alone and with nothing to live for save her work. I found her to be a very believable and sympathetic character and a nice foil to the younger, more ambitious detective, Lyngor.

This is the second in the series. I'll be looking out for the first and can't wait to read more of this excellent series. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC.

A gripping and intense read. I was very excited to start this one since the blurb had fascinated me.

It was an easy book to read, the characters were interesting and I wanted to know more about them, the more the story went on.
I would recommend this book to my friends!

"The Island" falls into a category of books loosely referred to as Scandinavian noir. Set in Iceland the volcanic landscape and frozen polar conditions adds an eerie silent and unpredictable element to the events as they unfold...."What the scenery lacked in drama it made up for in its all encompassing tranquility, its sense of space and emptiness. The only accents of colour in the treeless landscape were provided by patches of bilberry and crowberry plants and the calm blue waters of the fjord below....."

Some 10 years ago a young girl was murdered in Ellidaey, a small island located south of Iceland. A culprit is identified, apprehended and the case is seemingly closed. Moving forward to the present and four young friends are holidaying on the same desolate location. Before the vacation concludes one of the four lies dead at the bottom of a steep cliff and murder is suspected. Is there a connection between the two brutal acts? Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is assigned the case. Hindered by the interference of a previous superior Lydur and struggling with her own personal tragedies she must use all her skills to navigate both the past and the present incidents in an attempt to identify the killer/s The character of Hulda Hermannsdóttir is a tough and resilient antihero. Living alone in this isolated barren part of the world she demands the structure and discipline that comes with her job as a police inspector. She presents a picture of a loner, there to be pitied by a sympathetic reader and for the most part this is successful

Underneath the main crime investigation a secondary mystery unfolds. Hulda is trying to trace the whereabouts of her real father. She knows he was an American GI and on impulse travels to the US only to be faced with disappointment. Ragnar Jonasson uses this opportunity to tease the reader and in the closing pages an unexpected detail is revealed adding a delightful ending that is sure to be explored in future books. The stark and bare landscape is used to great affect by the author to add tension and unpredictability to his writing. Hulda Hermannsdóttir is a sad highly intelligent police officer performing her daily workload to the best of her undoubted ability. I felt however that the story itself was somewhat unoriginal (four friends camping, one is killed, who is the murderer amongst them) yet having said that The Island was a fine example of Scandi noir. Many thanks to the good people at netgalley for a gratis copy of The Island in exchange for an honest review and that is what I have written.

The island is the second instalment in the Hidden Iceland series. Detective Inspector Hulda is investigating a double homicide and is determined to uncover the truth and expose a few secrets along the way. I love the character of Hulda and we find out a great deal about her personal life and her daily struggles. This story is full of twists and turns. A great story x

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this brilliant book

hulda is an aging detective in Reykjavik, and life has not treated her very well... she has got to where she is fighting every step of the way, against prejudice about being a woman...and in wanting a career, she has found that certain men overshadow her career though she is a better detective than they are...

she takes a phone call about a dead body so deciding to investigate herself she sets off for the place....it looks like an accident until the post mortem and thats where it takes off...

you start to fall in love with hulda as she investigates and along the way you get to hear about her past history and also the descriptive way of the author you also fall in love with reykjavik and all the lovely places that is described in the book...though i cant say or spell any of the place names, but dont let that put you off this brilliantly written book

ragnar jonasson is fast becoming one of my favourite authors...and i cant wait for the next one in this series or any book by this author

The Island is the second installment in the Hidden Iceland series, the first being "The Darkness". If you have read The Darkness then you will be familiar with Hulda's story (no spoilers!). The Island is set some 20 years earlier when Hulda is 50 years old and working as a police officer. In 1987 a young girl, Katla is found dead at her family's summer house, her father is accused of her murder and subsequently arrested for it. He proclaims his innocence throughout. Fast forward to 1997 and four friends, one of whom is Katla's younger brother, decide to take a weekend trip to a remote island, only accessible by boat, to have a reunion of sorts for the 10th anniversary of Katla's death. Only three of the four return. It is up to Hulda to investigate whether the death was an accident or murder.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having read The Darkness and connecting with Hulda, I was delighted to revisit her life and get to know her further. I really liked Hulda as a character. She is full of depth, brave and courageous not just in her personal life, but also in her working life as a woman working in a "man's world" as it were, she is unyielding, resourceful and ultimately at the end of the book, hopeful. She is not without her own idiosyncrasies though. I was rooting for her all the way through the book in her dealings with the conceited Lydur, in trying to find her father and ultimately I found myself wishing for something lovely to happen in her life.

I can't wait for the next installment in the series.

What a haunting book this is. Bathed in atmospheric descriptions of the landscapes, the island and the sea, this story takes one out of the comfort zone.
Hulda, feeling overlooked in her position with the Police force, sets out to solve a strange murder. A group of youngsters gather on the island, one does not return, horribly murdered. The twists of the story reveal themselves in the questioning of the other young people, all with something to hide, apparently.
Sometimes I found it hard to keep up with the jump from one happening to the next, but became very involved in the story.
A very tightly written book. I enjoyed reading it. Thanks to Michael joseph and NetGalley for a review copy.

Prepare to be chilled - not just by the backcloth of a wild, cold Iceland, but by Jonasson's icily sharp pen. He weaves a transfixing tale; prepare now - but don't miss a journey to The Island.

4 friends have a 10 year reunion on the Island the anniversary of their friends death. It’s time the secrets of that time came to light. 1 friend will not return the reunion and DI Hulda Hermannsdottir is on the case. Hulda’s boss was in charge of the original murder but it’s not easy to see the truth of these murders. The Icelandic landscape contributes to the setting of these murders and you can well feel the chilling loneliness where they breathed their last. There are many twists with this story and they will keep you involved to the end.
I was given an ARC by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This is another outing for Hulda Hermannsdottir in the Hidden Iceland series. Unusual as she died at the end of the first novel, but this book takes us back to an earlier stage in her career and the death of two girls, best friends, who die 10 years apart. Hulda is brought to investigate the death of the second girl, which initially appears to be an accident, and the links between the two deaths become apparent.

It is a quick read and the plot works well. I would have given it 3.5 stars simply because I found it very bleak. Hulda is lonely, passed over at work and preoccupied with the loss of her own husband and daughter. Ordinarily there are lighter elements in detective novels which can alleviate the unpleasantness of the murder - not here. It is unremittingly dark.

This is a good police procedural, investigating two murders, ten years apart. There is a strong sense of place: the brooding Icelandic setting is perfect. I felt empathetic towards Hulda, our middle aged, overlooked lead detective, with the inevitable sad home life. I am eagerly awaiting the next instalment of Hulda's detective work.

My thanks to NetGalley and publisher Penquin UK - Michael Joseph for the ARC.
This is the second book of a planned trilogy, the first one The Darkness I haven't read - but intend now to do so. "The Island" is just SO good.
Set in Iceland and written between two timelines 10 years apart. Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottr presently is approaching her 50th birthday and retains a bitterness that over the past 10 years she has had to continually prove herself within a man's world, being passed over on promotion she knew she deserved, and now has her younger and less-experienced rival Lydur as her boss. Lydur had cemented his position 10 years before following a murder investigation into a young woman's death at an isolated summer house in the Westfjords.
Hulda is called to the remote island of Ellioaey - only accessible by boat, where 4 life-long friends were using the only house on the island for a weekend break. Only now there was just 3 of them, as Klara had apparently fallen to her death from a dangerous cliff. Or did she?
Slowly, but surely, Hulda's investigations lead her to Lydur's murder case of 10 years earlier. How could these two cases be connected? Like peeling back the layers of an onion she is determined to find out.
This mystery is brilliantly constructed and so well-written. Whilst gradually unfolding the investigation, the narrative also builds us a picture of Hulda's past, and present, almost tragic, personal situation. I really felt sorry for her but you can sense the determination she puts into her work..
The scenic descriptions underline not only the beauty of the landscapes as the backdrop to the investigations but also the bleakness and the isolation underpinning them - Nordic Noir at its best.
A roller-coaster of thoughts as I tried to work out 'whodunit' but failed miserably - the final twist!
I also liked the Epilogue which tied up any lingering questions - and even that threw up more twists.
Absolutely loved this book.

An excellent whodunnit. I love Hulda - a unique character who we got to know in The Darkness. This is book 2 in the trilogy which goes back in time. This time Hulda takes us in two stories from current to 10 years ago. Set in two remote Icelandic locations you can feel the isolation and the atmospheric weather and skies around. Several suspects in this gripping mystery. I can't wait for Book 3 to discover Hilda as a younger, happier lady.

As soon as I saw this book I just knew I had to read it as I am an avid fan of Scandi/ Icelandic crime so I then did something I never do and plunged headlong into book two without reading the book one of the series. and although this can be read as a standalone its was a shame to miss the the first in the series. So because I just loved this book and it is everything you would want in a thriller it’s dark, atmospheric and the settings are to die for plus the writing is just superb and I will go back and read book one while I am impatiently waiting for book three!! The book is written in a backwards timeline and this may seem strange but no it’s works fantastically well and in fact enhances the book all the more. The mystery part is gripping, DI Hulda will I’m sure become a firm favourite of mine, the backstory is really cleverly done and there is one hell of a lot going on but it’s done so damn well you just can’t put the book down.
So a beautifully and uniquely constructed book this is a joy of a read and that I would highly recommend and I thank Ragnar Jónasson for a wonderful read.
My thanks also to NetGalley and Michael Joseph- Penguin UK for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Intriguing middle volume in this going backwards trilogy. As I already know the main characters fate this tale of two murders set ten years apart is an interesting study of strange friends having a reunion and the following investigation into the death of one of them. Our heroine is relentless in her search for the truth but I can't help but wish the tales had been told in chronological order! Still I'll look forward to the final/first episode in what is a starkly good series.

Another tight mystery from Jonasson's assured hands, the strands of which wind gradually tighter to another mesmerising climax. Hulda is a marvellous literary creation, and one that carries a unique poignancy. Another comfortable winner.