Love this Icelandic author. Great atmosphere created with a teacher feeling unwelcome by locals when she moves to a remote location to tutor 2 children. Not as good as Ragnar's Hulda books, but a good read nevertheless.

Well - if you’re looking for a book to cheer you up on a winter’s evening Ragnar Jonasson’s latest offering, ‘ The Girl Who Died’, isn’t going to be the one. Like other novels from Jonasson it takes the bleak Icelandic winter as the theme for this tale of a remote tiny village whose eleven inhabitants share dark secrets into which a young teacher intrudes to find a complex web of mystery and intrigue that threatens her very sanity. In some Icelandic crime novels this grim mixture of dark secrets, long dark nights and the bleak Icelandic landscape combine with an unexpected synergy, but this novel is, perhaps a little more routine. Certainly, there’s a mystery to solve and there is also a sense of mounting peril for our central character, who is made to feel increasingly unwelcome as the tension mounts. Overall, however, for this reader the various themes fail to spark into a satisfying whole. Having said that, it was a book that was not easy to put down and was quickly read. Overall, then, it’s fair to award a four star review.

A supernatural crime thriller with an Icelandic happy ending.

Una, a schoolteacher, becomes an economic refugee from the mid eighties house-price boom in Reykjavik and escapes to a small and very remote fishing village where she will have just two pupils to teach. She does not become instantly at home there and experiences both a haunting and increasing hostility and paranoia from the flesh and blood inhabitants. Meanwhile, in a parallel plot a man begins a new career as a contract killer and a young woman is falsely arrested for his first murder. The two plotlines inexorably converge towards a conclusion that English readers might find surprising.

Despite the supernatural aspects, this is in many ways a realistic novel. For example, an ambitious young man who finds himself a bit-player in a large and powerful criminal organisation probably has two options: get out at the first opportunity and try something else, or knuckle down and build a reputation for doing the dirty work with calm efficiency. In the real world, it’s the killers who rise to the top of criminal organisations and it is only sensible to treat any criminal king-pin as if he were a ruthless killer because however skillfully he has hidden the evidence, it’s most improbable that he got where he is by non-violent means.

I have read and enjoyed all Ragnar Jonasson’s previous novels but found this one a little disappointing. The setting of a hamlet miles from anywhere with only ten inhabitants and Una, an unwelcome incomer, creates a creepy atmosphere in this Icelandic story. However, the characters all seem unbelievable in their strange behaviour towards Una and she too lacks definition so as a result the novel does not appear authentic..
The novel tries to be a mystery, thriller and ghost story and because it doesn’t know which it is the story lacks suspense and credibility. I found the ending disappointing and confusing.

I’m not sure how to describe the genre of this book. It’s a bit of a crime story, a bit of a ghost story and a bit of a mystery. Una is dissatisfied with her life and responds to an advert for a teacher in a remote community where only ten people live. She doesn’t get a warm welcome and, on top of that, her room in the attic is haunted by the ghost of a little girl. The first half of the book builds the character and atmosphere and does this very well. Then a stranger visits the village and a tragedy strikes. Una searches for the truth in face of hostility from everyone. The vey end was a little weak. I read this in one sitting and would highly recommend it. Thanks to Netgalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love the atmospheric and detailed images of the most remote and bleak parts of Iceland that Ragnar Jonasson conjures up. His latest story takes place in the tiniest village of just ten residents, far away from any other kind of civilisation. Una, a teacher from Reykjavik takes up a post as a teacher in the village. With only two pupils it holds few challenges. However, the dark winter, a creepy home and unwelcoming villagers make life very uncomfortable for her. Believing she sees and hears a ghost, she drinks too much and lets her imagination run away with her. Una then begins to delve into past lives of the locals and uncover secrets that they would rather stay buried. I can’t say I warmed to Una, she seemed rather pushy and rude. Expecting people to immediately be her friend when she is the outsider who should respect the isolated existence of the locals. I suppose there wouldn’t have been much of a story if she’d kept herself to herself but because I couldn’t relate to her, this was not my favourite book by this talented author.

An excellent book, with lots of twists and turns. I really enjoyed it, thank you for letting me read an advance copy netgalley and the publishers.

what a strange little book: part thriller part got story and not really either. I thought there were pages missing.

The description of the landscape, the hamlet is powerful and some of the reveal well handled but I remained unsatisfied.

This had such a dark eerie feeling throughout, almost sinister. I don’t know if it liked the way it made me feel! However it was a really interesting concept and so well written I was soon swept along. Really enjoyed it.

I think this was somewhere between 3 and 4 stars for me. The novel leans highly on atmospheric and the buildup in this aspect is superb. When Una leaves her job in the capital and goes off to a remote location, she has no clear idea what she is heading into. Her new job entails teaching 2 pupils, in a village where there reside only 10 people. And yet, and yet. There is something eerie about the whole place and Una is soon left thinking if she has not made a mistake by coming here. Because people seem to be strange in this isolated space and there are some secrets which are buried deep. It helps that the book is set in time when mobiles abd internet was non existent and adds to the overall feel of the book.

A dark and chilling story, engrossing too. It is set in a tiny, remote village in the frozen wastes of Iceland, and Una takes a teaching job there to escape her unsatisfactory life in Reykjavik. She only has two children to teach and there are only ten people in the village altogether. Una soon begins to think that she has made a terrible blunder in coming to Skala, , as strange and terrifying things begin to happen and she realises she is clearly unwelcome in the village. The book is well plotted and mostly well characterised and paced, but the writing felt a little clunky at times. I read until late at night to finish it though, so it won’t let you go until the very end.

Having hugely enjoyed (actually, not sure if the right word, but they were excellent) the Hidden Iceland trilogy, I’ve been looking forward to this new Ragnar Jonassan book. Expectations can be an enemy... I’m afraid I found this a much slighter work, with less depth to the characters and ultimately less to hold the interest. The setting is as well drawn as ever, but the inhabitants seemed more ‘stock’ suspicious locals than a real community. I wondered if this reflects the expectations of the central character, rather than the villagers themselves... but i fear I’m trying to read more than is there.
After a few days reflection, for me the problem lies in the central character - there’s just not enough going on with her to be of interest, and the sub plot (revealed occasionally in italics) is less central to the ongoing story than one might expect.

It’s an enjoyable enough read, but by no means essential.

Ragnar Jonasson is one of my favourite Nordic crime writers and here he has written a stand alone novel and was a little disappointed not to see his protagonist Hulda Hermannsdottir. Set in Iceland, Una decides to take a teaching job in Skalar, a very remote town in the north of the country. So remote only 10 people live there and 2 children which she will be teaching.
Una, a city girl, nothing prepared her for the cold welcome she got. Lodging in an attic, she is convinced the house is haunted as she hears singing and glimpses ghostly apparations of a little girl. Her landlady has a little girl and she tells Una it is not her. But when her landlady's daughter dies and the village people start acting oddly, her uneasiness grows. A well told story, Jonasson describes the bleak scenery so well. This kept me engrossed.

This author is on top form and goes from strength to strength with every book he has written. Set in the 1980s, it sounded like the perfect retreat to go to and get paid for it. When Una sees an advertisement for a teacher in a remote location, she jumps at the chance. Skálar is home to only ten residents, and 2 of them are the children she would be teaching. Una is to lodge with one the children’s mother, but there is something that feels very off and edgy, in the room she is given.
Una finds that the isolated town is cold in more ways than one as the welcoming Committee is rather non-existent and even the two children are alien to each other. It’s the 1980’s with the only connection to the outside world being a landline and newspapers, with her entertainment consisting of VHS tapes that she has brought with her. It was going to be a long winter than she originally thought it would be.
The descriptions of Skálar are superb, making it visual, audible and chilling in every way possible. The setting perfection to enable personal sanity to be questioned and found wanting. Was Una going mad? She had come to the Island to find peace, not the isolation that she found herself in.
The unease grows and snowballs as the book progresses, but I never saw what was coming, well only the tip of the iceberg before it went into a complete and devastating meltdown of the past and present. It is a real heart gripper. I felt spent of all my emotions. I still can’t think about this story without feeling my heart sink. A story that stands out. Brilliant.
I wish to thank Net Galley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

Una has struggled since the death of her father. She works as a supply teacher and drinks alone in the evenings. A fiend suggests she takes a job teaching in a remote village in the north of the country. The village is a tiny fishing community with a handful of inhabitants who are not welcoming to Una to say the least. Winter draws on and the constant darkness and feeling of oppression in the village increase but Una decides to stick it out as she has only two pupils and enjoys teaching them. Then at Christmas, there is a sudden death, and Una must find the truth of what is happening or she will lose her grip on reality. Gripping, unputdownable stuff.

Another great read from this writer. With a series of twists interest is sustained throughout. An enjoyable story.

Una answers an advertisement to be a teacher in an isolated village in Iceland . She rents out her home in Reykjavik and moves. There are only 2 girls to teach and it becomes obvious certain members of the village were opposed to her being employed . Una boards with the mother of one of the girls in an attic apartment and sees the ghost of a girl who died 100 years earlier . The village seems to be full of secrets that are being kept from her . Alongside this runs a story of 2 men being murdered and 3 people being convicted without any bodies being found . These 2 stories come together in an unexpected way at the end of the book . Unfortunately I was never pulled in to this story in the way I have been with previous books by this author , and although the premise of the story was good , something was lacking . Unfortunately left me feeling disappointed .

"The Girl Who Died" is a mystery... well, a ghost story. Except it's not. It's definitely a mystery. Kinda. Okay, how about "The Girl Who Died" is a creepy genre-defying book, and a mighty fine read? Because it really does avoid being pigeonholed with simplistic labels like that.

Let's get the basics out of the way. Una is a teacher in Reykjavik. She's not exactly living the life she wants, so when a chance to move to the back end of nowhere arrives she decides to do something different and move out there. And honestly, the only thing that stops it being the middle of nowhere is the fact that it's on the coast and therefore has something to vaguely define it.

Now here's a small thing, the book is set in the mid to late eighties. Why does that matter? Because it helps with the sense of isolation. Every time the world moves on certain stories become untellable. A challenge to travel around the world in eighty days in the 2020s isn't remarkable. Well, except for that fact that so far very few people have been allowed to travel further than their local supermarket I guess, but technologically speaking we all know that you could do it easily now. And in terms of isolation? Here we have a woman who relies on VHS tapes, a landline, and newspapers. Oh, how different this story would be with a smartphone.... How much weaker it would be for a start. Yes, you could easily have the "no signal" option to try and make it seem isolated, but that often feels forced and clumsy. Jónasson clearly thought this through and spotted the numerous times he wanted to have Una cut off from the world, and he took a subtle and rewarding approach to it. And that's how much of his writing works in general - subtly. It allows him to hide frustratingly clever plot points in plain view.

Anyway, Una arrives and we meet the entire village because, well, population: ten. It isn't like the book needs a companion book, or even an appendix, to help you keep track of everyone living there. Some have bigger roles than others, but they all have their place. Anyway, the whole thing becomes spooky. There are tales of a ghost, and now she has both time and wine on her hands she finds her nights disturbed. Now I'm not a big ghost story person if I'm honest, but Jónasson doesn't overdo the vibe. Still, to keep sceptics like me going, there are occasional passages of a different story. One about a murder. Which would make sense if it matched up to the ghost story, but it doesn't so I spent the vast majority of the book scratching my head about the whole thing.

And then, as the pages starting to run out, everything made sense. Yes, this is one of those books that you finish aghast at the fact that the only mystery was how you missed all those details telling you exactly what was going on all along. This is a trait of Jónasson's work that I've read before and yet still I fell for it. Why? Because that man writes like a close-up magician. You're so busy watching one hand you simply don't notice the other one holding the card you picked right in front of you. And, much like close-up magic, it's infuriatingly fun as he explains the trick to you.

And that's truly this book. Forget anything else, it's one well-rehearsed sleight of hand. Every detail has been ironed out, every possible angle has been considered. And the more you get sucked in the more enjoyable it all becomes. It's subtle, but superb.

Thank you for the opportunity to read 'The Girl Who Died'.

Having visited Iceland, I was glad to be able to read a book set in this amazing country.. The cold, bleak landscape of the coastal village echoed the bleak situation the little village found itself in. I found the characters wooden and after getting a fair way through the book, I was hoping that it wasn't going to turn out to be a ghost story. I got through to the ending but wasn't really satisfied and think the book could have been so much more.

Received from Penguin Michael Joseph and Netgalley for honest read and review.
This was a fine Scandinavian Noir book which I enjoyed right from the beginning.
Centres and main character who is a teacher and her journey to the edge of the world for a job.
Really well written and thoroughly enjoyable read,quite dark and gritty in places ,but well worth a read.