Normally I wouldn't jump in with book 5 of a series, however, it seems the case with translated crime novels that they begin partway through a series. Anyways, The Doll got off to a good start - I mean, who isn't creeped out by dolls at the best of times! Creepy and horrific until it wasn't. Disparate plots brought together throughout the book meant the ending worked, however, it just wasn't the novel I was expecting. Read this if you're a fan of European/Scandinavian/Icelandic crime thrillers.

This is quite a complex book, with lots of little stories that all get wrapped up neatly at the end. So it needs quite a bit of focus. At times I did find my mind wandering into a different direction and had to pull myself back in.

I have read a number of other books by this author and have loved them, but at times I struggled a little with this one, although I’m not sure why, as usual the writing is good. I enjoy the Icelandic books, there’s something about them that draws you in.

This is a stand alone novel, so it doesn’t matter if you haven’t read any of the previous books by this author. As you begin to read this it starts with several investigations with no obvious connection except they are being looked at by the same police force.

Rosa and her recently widowed mother go on a fishing trip with a friend, when they pull the net in they bring in a doll with one eye, balding, covered in sea weed, slime and barnacles. Rosa insists on taking it home and her mum agrees, but when the mum tries to clean it that evening she is interrupted but by what? Or who?

Rosa fails to convince the police that her mum was murdered.

A few years prior to this two British back packers disappeared, police using underwater sea cameras find human leg bones near where Rosa found the doll.

A teenager in the care system accuses a foster career of inappropriate behaviour and Rosa is his witness, but she goes missing.

Drug smuggling and dealing problems cause violence.

Gradually each plot reveals the links of each case as they are intertwined. This is cleverly plotted and tied together leaving no loose ends. There are some characters from four of the previous novels but as this is a stand-alone that doesn’t get in the way of enjoying this story.

I enjoyed how each part came together something I hadn’t expected to happen.

I would like to thank #netgalley and # Hodder&stoughton for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair unbiased review.

It was meant to be a quiet family fishing trip, a chance for mother and daughter to talk. But it changes the course of their lives forever. They catch nothing except a broken doll that gets tangled in the net. After years in the ocean, the doll a terrifying sight and the mother's first instinct is to throw it back, but she relents when her daughter pleads to keep it. This simple act of kindness proves fatal. That evening, the mother posts a picture of the doll on social media. By the morning, she is dead and the doll has disappeared.

The book has so many parts and smaller stories, that I couldn't believe it's possible to put them together... yet Yrsa, who is a master of plotting, did it! It was incredible. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

A cleverly written tale carefully unravelling how several simultaneous crimes and allegations all come together. As the common factors are unveiled, the reader also gets drawn in to trying to decipher the bigger picture. Played against the backdrop of the personal lives of the investigative team, this is a book to be enjoyed on many levels.

In many tales, the eponymous doll would clearly be malevolent and probably animated by a psychotic individual or possessed by a demon (Poe, King, Barker, etc). This tale is not of that kind. If you are looking for such a story you will not find it here.
Scandi Noir includes a subgenre of stories set in Iceland and distinguished, perhaps, by the more claustrophobic atmosphere engendered by the smallness of the island and its communities. One of the most proficient and prolific writers in this subgenre is undoubtedly Yrsa Sigurdardottir. This is her latest, a standalone, police procedural, murder mystery. Several investigations are introduced in the opening chapters apparently with no connection except that they are being investigated by the local police force. It slowly becomes clear that the doll is the connecting feature, although it is not obviously so until the investigations are well entrained. Police and the Children’s Care Service, mainly Huldar and Freya who have featured in four previous novels, are both involved in the investigations.
As to what these investigations are, a brief summary follows:
Rósa and her recently widowed mother are on a fishing trip with a friend when the net brings up a balding, one-eyed baby doll covered in sea weed and slime and barnacles. At Rosa’s insistence they take it home and that evening her mother is trying to clean it when she is interrupted – by whom and with what consequence we must wait to discover. Rósa fails to convince the police that she was murdered; Some years before this, two British backpackers disappeared, although this does not become clear until much later; Police using an undersea camera system find some human leg bones in the same area as Rósa found the doll; A young teenager in the care system has accused a foster carer of inappropriate behaviour and he has Rósa as a witness – but she has gone missing; Drug smuggling and dealing problems breed violence.
The plot reveals the links by degrees and all are eventually resolved, though the final resolution stretches coincidence and the exposition isn’t as tight as Poirot or Marple would have made it.
The translation into colloquial English is well executed and there are no stumbling points. Interestingly, it does, nevertheless, have a feel of the Icelandic idiom.
I would like to thank NetGalley, the publishers and the author for providing me with a draft proof copy for the purpose of this review.

I was really looking forward to reading this book and after the first few pages I was hooked! I couldn't wait to read more but it just didn't hold my attention as well as I'd hoped it would. I enjoyed reading it but I was disappointed that I wasn't as hooked as I was at the start. As it got near the closing of the book, I did find it captivating again and was hooked. It had a good storyline, just didn't hold my attention as much as if hoped.

A very good read overall but overly long, very complicated and lots of unfamiliar names that interrupted the flow. I appreciate that there is not much you can do about the names but maybe give us clues as to how they should be pronounced? I also felt I was missing a bit of the story because this is the first book by this author that I have read.
I would be interested to read other books

Overly long and the complexity is exacerbated by Icelandic names (hard to pronounce and remember). Despite these comments, I continue to enjoy this author's work. Iceland is brought firmly back to my memory by the descriptions of weather and landscapes. A beautiful island with a low crime rate, it is hard to imagine its drug and criminal underclass. Yet without doubt, they are there.

Yrsa Sigurdardorttir is one of my all-time favorite authors and her work introduced me to a whole new landscape, that of Iceland's, as well as compelled me to search and learn more about the country's history and cultural heritage. I sincerely hope that someday I will be able to write an elegy for the living queen of Icelandic crime fiction who broadened my horizons enough to consider Icelandic literature and culture as one of my most prominent influences. Her sublime skills as a writer include the creation of gripping plotlines that balance masterfully between crime and horror fiction, the brilliant characterization that shined both in the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series and the "Chlidren's House" saga, and the impeccable descriptions of the harsh, unwelcoming Icelandic wilderness that both attracts and terrifies the reader. Nevertheless, her best work, until today, was the standalone novel, I Remember You, a heart-pounding ghost story told by different perspectives which has been adapted into a motion picture, directed by Óskar Þór Axelsson and starring Johannes Haukur Johannesson as Freyr, a psychiatrist who tragically lost his son and is drawn to an investigation into an apparent suicide when an elderly woman is found hanged in a church. Both the novel and the film have been well-received by the readership and the audiences respectively, thus Yrsa became one of the most prominent representatives of contemporary Icelandic crime fiction and it should be mentioned that she began her writing career as a children's fiction author nearly 25 years ago.

Even though I have to admit that I liked the Thora series more, the "Children's House" installments proved that Yrsa is a versatile author who can write fully fleshed police procedurals, weaving multiple plot strands and linking them together as the story unravels. I think that the first volume, The Legacy, was closer to the author's previous work in the genre as it conveyed this unique feeling of creepiness that made her novels irresistible and impossible to put down. The following three novels in the series, The Reckoning, The Absolution, and Gallows Rock lacked the horror-like element and their style is reminiscent of the classic Nordic police procedural especially in terms of the main storyline and the adopted narrative tropes. In The Doll, Yrsa delivers a novel that blends smoothly crime, police procedural, and horror aspects, an achievement that is bound to satisfy all of her loyal fans around the world. The plot is intriguing and complex while the multiple perspective narrative adds to a quicker tempo that increases the suspense as the reader turns the pages and the story reaches its climax. The first two chapters are captivating and eerie, first introducing us to one of the book's main characters, a disheveled, repulsive doll that is found in the seabed and perhaps possesses demonic powers. At least that's what is suggested in the opening pages and the reader should be prepared to consider the possibility. Besides, it's one of Sigurdardorttir's trademarks to hint at supernatural phenomena which are either confirmed or denied in the final explanation.

The story begins five years earlier with Disa who goes on a fishing trip along with her daughter, Rosa, and a colleague from work, Frikki. That's where they make the gruesome discovery of the doll. Rosa decides to take it with her, even though Disa seems to be more than reluctant to allow the doll access to her own house. The next day, Disa is found dead by her daughter in the bathroom, apparently a victim of a freak accident. Nevertheless, Rosa is not satisfied with that explanation and she seems to be hell-bent on blaming the doll for her mother's tragic fate. As she is struggling to survive inside the foster system, Rosa will be labeled as mentally ill mainly due to her insistence to consider her mother's death a murder. Unfortunately, this is not the only tragedy in the family as Rosa's father had also been killed in an accident many years earlier. Consequently, Rosa develops an obsession that demands justice for her parents' demise and she won't rest until she learns the whole truth against all odds. Her personal inquiries will become a matter of great importance for the police investigation of another murder.

Huldar and Freya are working on separate investigations, but their courses will once again collide when they have to cooperate in an investigation revolving around the possible abuse of a child by one of his guardians. Huldar has his hands full as, at the same time, he is working on a grim case of the possible murder of two unknown victims whose bodies are found in the sea. As both the investigations move forward Rosa's name will crop up and she will become a person of great interest, able to shed light on more than one case. The bodies continue to pile up and soon a vagrant drug addict turns up dead, murdered in the container where he lived. Huldar learns from an eyewitness that Rosa had been seen in the container talking to the dead man along with a friend. The latter is Tristan, the young man who is supposed to be the victim in the abuse case which Hulda and Freya are jointly working on. A frantic search for Rosa's whereabouts will be initiated as her testimony is considered to be of primary importance for the police.

All the above sub-plots will be gradually connected as the story runs its course and in the end, the reader gets a gratifying finale. As I was reading, I was wondering how all those plot threads can be linked together, but I was given the best answer in the final part of the novel. Huldar and Freya share a strained, tense relationship as they were romantically involved in the past and there is a peculiar chemistry between them. Their interactions are often humorous and the reader gets a glimpse into their inner thought processes that lead to their overall behavior. They are not "damned" protagonists in the sense that they have no destructive vices dictating their actions, even though the cases that they have to deal with often cause upsetting emotions that result in a sense of distress. Especially Freya, who is more sensitive than Huldar, is a young woman who likes helping children in need and her work in the Children's House is the most important thing to her. She also has a family to care for as she tends her brother's daughter who is not the easiest kid to deal with. Huldar, on the other hand, is single and as he grows up he realizes that his job is causing him much more stress than he can deal with so he struggles to adopt a balanced lifestyle.

The protagonists in the "Children's House" series are perfectly relatable and the reader quickly identifies with them. Even though it would be of help to be familiar with the previous installments in order to be able to better grasp some of the links between the main characters, The Doll can definitely be read as a standalone and it is the crown jewel of the saga. In my opinion, it is one of Yrsa's best novels to date and it will appeal to all the Nordic crime fiction aficionados. I am not aware of the author's plans for the future of this series, but I think that it would be great if we had a final story featuring Huldar and Freya. I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a free ARC of this title.

A solid crime story that kept me engaged throughout with its twists and turns; easy to read, yet a satisfyingly interesting story with a good twist or two. This is a much better book than some of the reviewers on NetGalley are suggesting. Readers looking for an all-action police thriller will be disappointed, but perhaps people seeking that kind of novel should have been put off choosing The Doll by the description?

The "Children's House" series with the main characters of Freyja and Huldar always have a few unexpected twists and The Doll is no exception. The hints of the supernatural are not overdone and provide an interesting side theme in a crime novel. As ever, Sigurdardottir's plotting and reveals are crisp and clear; there's no confusion over what's happening even though the story becomes quite complex as the book progresses.

I liked how she took time to develop the characters of the suspects, witnesses and victims. The ordinary and everyday references made for more believable characters. Some readers might suggest that it's slow going, but I prefer getting to know Yrsa's "people" rather than a headlong rush to the "whodunnit" moment. And, after all, wouldn't you expect murder investigation in Iceland to be somewhat less frantic than - say, for example - New York?

Yes, there are one or two niggles, hence the 4* rating. Maybe the "nit" affair is a bit lengthy, but my primary grouse is some awkward turns of phrase, especially in dialogue. I think this might be due to the translation to English. I don't read Icelandic, so can't really comment with any accuracy, but perhaps someone out there can shed more light?

‘The Doll’ is only the second book I’ve read by Ysra Sigurdardottir but as it’s my first book in the Freyja & Huldar series I’ve missed the previous four books, however, I don’t think it mattered too much as you soon get a feel for the main characters relationship.
There are a lot of characters involved in this complex multi plotted mystery which at times became confusing especially with the many familiar names! Also, for me, there was a lot of unnecessary ‘padding’ which slowed the pace of the story, for instance, there was a whole page dedicated to an irrelevant ‘nit’ incident which was then referred to another four times much further along in the book, I was beginning to think it was related to the mystery! Lol.
Although, there were a lot of threads that had to be concluded and they were by the police, it was the clever last chapter that revealed all the truth.
Not the best thriller I’ve ever read but I’d happily read another book by Ysra.
Big thanks to Ysra Sigurdardottir, Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the eARC which I chose to read in return for my honest review.

Another excellent book in this series. The characters are really engaging and the plot is so twisted and surprising. I found it a really fast read which kept my attention throughout. With multiple crimes and incidents that have the detectives floundering for answers, the cleverly constructed plot keeps you guessing right up until the end.

A good story but quite long winded to get to the finale. IF you can stick with it then the story is worth while.

Didn’t finish The Doll, I found it extremely slow moving when all I wanted was action! Too many characters quickly got of fusing...yeah this one is a huge no from me.

Found this one a bit slow. I'm afraid it was a DNF.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I did not finish this book as I really struggled to get on board with the writing style. I felt like we were introduced to so many characters at the begining but none of them were fleshed out characters they were just names and stories. I didn't connect with them and I'm a very character driven reader. I felt the writing style could have been better also, I felt like it was very convenient writing in the sense that when the author wanted us to know certain information instead of building it into the world or relaying it in an interesting way they just had the characters have a conversation about this subject when if we are to believe they are experts in their fields then they would already know this so it was strictly for our benefit. I just find I do not get on well with the info dump writing. I have just discovered though that this is the fifth part in a series so perhaps that's why I didn't get on with it as I should already know the characters by now. Overall a really cool concept and a great cover but it just wasn't up my street.

I’m not sure who writes the description for a book, but ‘Taut, terrifying and impossible to put down’ this definitely was not. I would describe it as ‘too many’. Too many different stories, too many jumps from one to the other, too many areas of confusion, too many characters that weren’t in the slightest bit interesting, too many pages where we learned nothing, too many times where I thought ‘what the heck is this about?’. For me, there was nothing remotely exciting about this book … and I certainly didn’t find it impossible to put down.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I did not really know what to expect from this book, but what I got was totally not it. Yara Siguardardottir is a queen at taking random plots and rolling them in together, in ways you truly don't see coming. I loved it. It drew in me from the start, and held me until it finally finished. A real page turner. A recommendation to anyone who likes a thriller.

Well this is not a common thing for me. I have so far in 2021 read 34 books and this is one of two I haven't been able to finish.

The story is about mysterious murders that take place over a large time frame, all seemingly linked to the finding of a "Doll" that is evil.

I found there to be so much going on in this book. So many characters and plots and twists and turns that I got to 60% complete and found myself skipping pages. Im so confused I have just lost interest which is a real shame, as it is very unlike me to have this happen.

It may be suitable for some people but i just couldnt get into it.

It’s been a while since I’ve read any Scandi Noir-style books (I know that technically Iceland isn't in Scandinavia but there are a lot of similarities) and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. And I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed books by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. She has a wonderful way of crafting a story that is just that little bit different from your average police procedural.

The Doll is no exception. The opening is slightly spooky, with the dredging up of a doll from the sea bed and the death of the woman who found it before moving between a number of cases, all of which slowly come together in a way that makes perfect sense – even though you kind of know they shouldn’t.

The fact that they do work well together is down to the skill of Sigurdardottir and you have to marvel at that. I was pretty impressed too by the fact that, for quite a long book, there wasn’t any ‘saggy’ bits, the parts that drag and make you wonder if you should give up.

I never wanted to do that. What I wanted was to stay up late and keep reading. I thought the plot was great (though hard to write about without spoilers), and the characters interesting – the type you want to know more about. For me, this was a real page turner. The type of book I will be thinking about for a while – and will definitely be recommending to others.