Internationally well-known Nordic crime writer Ragnar Jonasson’s latest noir thriller - Death at the Sanatorium has all the hallmarks of a master storyteller. Helgi is a criminologist recently returned to Iceland after studying in England. Still a student as he has yet to finish his dissertation about the unsolved murders that had taken place at Akureyri Sanatorium decades ago.

The Akureyri Sanatorium. was a hospital dedicated to treating tuberculosis. Though shut since Iceland beat TB, a wing was kept open to conduct research. There were six employees namely two doctors, two nurses, a research assistant and a caretaker. The Sanatorium however felt eerie as if haunted by ghosts of the past. In 1983, Yrsa, one of the nurses is found brutally murdered. The case was never solved. Helgi is intrigued and decides to use it for his dissertation.

The thriller opens in Jonasson’s signature style setting the reader up for a thrilling read. The very ordinary opening is laden with expectation. Right from the get-go this promised to be a thrilling read and I was not disappointed. Told in third person POV the novel moves seamlessly between different time levels. Helgi is the main protagonist. The setting is well chosen, realistic, supporting the dark tale. the characters are well thought out, interesting and diverse.

I couldn’t call the plot fast. However, it is a typical Jonasson thriller that holds you in its grip till the end. The pace is his. He builds it and draws the scenes drawing the reader in. I could not tur the pages of my Kindle quick enough. His restrained writing in itself makes ones heart beat quicker. I learnt a considerable amount about Iceland. I loved the way he had seamlessly built it into the narrative making it an enjoyable experience. As always when reading one of his thrillers I’m intrigued enough to want to visit. There's no doubt that the Icelandic scenery only adds to the novel’s eeriness.

Helgi happens to be a fan of the golden age mysteries. Being a fan of them myself it was nostalgic reading about them. In fact, Jonasson’s writing style has the stamp of those geniuses. Life is complicated and Jonasson weaves it into his tale with sensitivity and understanding. I was impressed by Helgi’s persona, an interesting blend of sensitivity, perceptiveness, and something else I could not put my finger on. Is this the Nordic enigma?

The novel comes with bonuses such as Helgi’s reading list. Guess one will have to read the novel to discover it. There's a big hint in this review. Lol.

True Helgi solves the crime, yet it is a cryptic ending. One can’t help but feel a promise of more to come. There’s certainly plenty of room left for the beginnings of a series by the Icelandic virtuoso of noir thrillers.

I’ve enjoyed Ragnar’s writing ever since his Ari Thor Dark Iceland series and I loved his trilogy featuring a woman detective on the verge of retiring, Hulda Hermannsdottir, so it was good to see Hulda make an appearance in this book.

Death at The Sanatorium has a dual timeline story arc. In 1983 Tinna, a nurse at a former TB sanatorium which is now a general hospital ward, finds Yrsa, an older hospital nurse, lying dead with a part of her body mutilated. Detective Hulda Hermannsdottir and her boss, Sverrir, are sent to investigate Yrsa’s death. There are several suspects but no obvious motive. The detectives question the Clinic’s Director, two junior nurses, a young doctor, and the caretaker, Broddi. Broddi is arrested mostly because of Tinna’s deliberate pointing to him for reasons of her own, but is then released.

When, just a few days after the murder, the Clinical Director is also found dead as a result of falling from a balcony, Sverrir, rules his death as suicide and the Police assumption is that the physician killed himself as an act of remorse for his killing of Yrsa. Despite Hulda’s misgivings, Sverrir closes the case and marks it as a murder/suicide.

In 2012 almost 30 years later, Helgi Reykdal, a graduate in criminology from an English university, has returned to Iceland. Helgi is a strange character. At 30 years old or thereabouts, he still hasn’t got enough gumption to make up his mind about what he wants to do. He dreams of travelling and of going back to England to work. But he’s in a relationship, a divisive and unhealthy relationship with his girlfriend who is very clear about what she wants him to do.

There’s a job in Reykjavik CID with his name on it if he will only accept it. Magnus, the officer in charge was impressed with Helgi when he interned with the CID last year and has offered him a fast- track position.

While Helgi swithers about what to do, he works on his dissertation on the two deaths in the Sanatorium. His aim is to study the methodology of the case and to get direct recollections from those who were at or connected to the investigation or the Sanatorium itself at that time. It’s not a huge cast of characters and feels like a tight subject for a dissertation. There aren’t too many to interview; Tinna along with her colleague nurse Elísabet, Dr. Thorri Thorsteinsson, and Broddi the caretaker. Together with research into the Sanatorium’s archives, he should have what he needs to finish his dissertation.

Helgi is a lover of crime fiction, especially classic crime from Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie to Ellery Queen and he has a treasured collection of such books which comfort him in difficult times. They also serve as the basis for his understanding of how to go about questioning those involved for his dissertation.

Despite Helgi’s best endeavours, it doesn’t turn out to be as simple as that. Neither Tinna nor Sverrir will talk to him. It’s left to the others to share their own versions of what happened and their theories about the case. There seems to be a general concern that Helgi is planning to re-open the case and have it put under review – a possibility that does not recede when Helgi formally takes up his job with CID.

The investigations take a turn when there is another murder and so Helgi is now leading a murder inquiry. Ragnar Jónasson’s plotting and especially his dropping of clues is beautifully laid down. He does a fabulous job of leading the reader down the wrong path in search of a red herring or three. But the answers are there, if you choose to look for them, albeit shrouded until the author is ready for the whole picture to be unveiled.

Verdict : There’s suspense, mystery and murder in this homage to classical crime stories, ab;y translated by Victoria Cribbm with clever sleight of hand manoeuvring, but nothing quite prepared me for the remarkable ending. Applause for that in particular. Highly readable, very entertaining and a great all round read.

Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jónasson is my first ever translated Icelandic read. As you may have guessed from the title, it’s crime fiction – the genre Ragnar Jónasson is known for.

Sanatoriums do make for great crime fiction / murder mystery settings due to their general air of death and abandonment - they are the perfect isolated, creepy setting.

In Death at the Sanatorium, we have a cast of characters and timelines, but the two main ones are Helgi (set in 2012), a man doing a crime PHD but having a crisis when it comes to his life and career. In an unhappy marriage, he feels he is being pulled into a job in Iceland he doesn’t want (although it’s pretty good one to be fair).

Then in 1983, we have Tinna. A nurse at the sanatorium who actually discovers the death of the title, that of her colleague, Yrsa. She was obviously murdered but the case was never solved, so for his PHD, Helgi is looking into what happened. He discovers one or two things that the police at the time overlooked and the case goes from being cold to very hot indeed…

I really enjoyed all the references to the golden age of crime fiction. Helgi’s father owned a bookshop and passed many books (and a love of reading) onto him. Helgi mentions how reading classic crime fiction has a soothing, calming effect on him and I can totally relate to that. Agatha Christie is definitely one of my go-to comfort read authors.

What distracted me slightly when reading Death at the Sanatorium was that the cadence and rhythm of the read felt a little off. That could be due to the fact it’s translated, or just my personal preference when reading!

Otherwise, I enjoyed the zipping pace and tight story. We were left on a bit of a cliffhanger so can only assume another book following the adventures of Helgi is coming…

I feel I must end this review by sharing my favourite Icelandic reading fact. Jolabokaflod is an amazing tradition where every Christmas Eve, people in Iceland gift each other books so they can spend the day/evening reading together. Love this!

Helgi is an expert procrastinator (I can get on board with that). He’s meant to be writing his dissertation and accepting a job with the police to appease his highly strung girlfriend. His dissertation research he can do, but the writing and job acceptance are not as appealing. But as he gets deeper into his research, events in the present take over and his hand is forced.

I don’t want to dwell too much on what happens in the book to avoid any spoilers. But this is a complex murder mystery that had me trying to guess who and why, which I’ll ad I would never have got! I liked the way Jónasson switched time lines and perspectives to tell the story. It added to the intrigue. I tried to play detective alongside Helgi but I’m not the best so just went along for the ride and what may seem (at first) like a sedate ride definitely had a lot of bumps and turns as I went along (aka not so sedate!!)

It had the feel of a classic whodunnit, nodding to the greats of the golden age of crime fiction through Helgi’s reading material. Being my first experience of Jónasson’s writing, I thoroughly enjoyed Death At The Sanatorium. But oh my that ending, that just left me stunned, I reread it twice just to make sure I’d read it right 😧😧😧

With thanks to the author, publishers XXX, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

While writing a dissertation about a 30-year old unsolved murder case, a criminology student discovers unknown facts about the case that draw him in to conduct his own investigation into the crime.

I found this to be another enjoyable mystery from this author, having read a couple of his earlier works too. The multi-timeline approach to telling the story worked well, and I enjoyed the creepy atmosphere he was able to create as the plot unfolded.

What begins as a student dissertation becomes a cold case investigation with unexpected consequences. It's a twisty decade-crossing mystery, in a true golden age style, that will keep you guessing all the way through.

Told in multiple timelines from multiple points of view, I thought this one might be difficult to follow but in fact it was the opposite. The way in which the story was set out made it easy to differentiate between the then and now and there was no confusion between timelines. As you approach the end of the book you realise how all the different threads are relevant to the story; the clues are there if you are looking for them.

Helgi is fan of classic, golden age crime fiction and several titles are mentioned, some of them being stand outs in the genre. I thought the titles might be clues for the solution to this mystery and I sent myself down a crime fiction rabbit hole, which led me in the totally wrong direction in working out ‘whodunnit’.

The denouement took me by surprise, which I liked. I would have liked to find out more about some of the characters, in particular Hulda. I felt there were hints that there was much more to her story that we were being told. The ‘cliffhanger’ ending is suggestive that there is more to come and I do hope there is as I am eager to know what happens next!

This is a good solid old fashioned mystery. Helgi's love for traditional whodunnits sets the tone for this mystery. All the clues are there and the ending is satisfying as it was solvable - though lots of red herrings distracted me and I didn't manage to solve it. It is a light almost cosy crime, however there is a second much darker story line which gives this book a modern edge. It is a good translation of a well told mystery that jumps around in time without confusing the reader.

Death at the Sanatorium is a classic murder mystery set over multiple timelines. Six employees remain at the hospital to conduct research despite the wards closing decades ago. When one of them is found brutally murdered and only 5 suspects left the case is never really solved and remains open for 3 decades, until Helgi try's to lay the ghosts of the hospital's past to rest . . . I really do enjoy Ragnar Jónasson’s books and Death At the Sanatorium is no exception

The atmospheric ethos makes this an immersive investigation into an unsolved murder case at a remote Sanatorium. Its tragic history and the echoes of past suffering make the building a character in the story. Vibrant sensory imagery lets the reader visualise the setting and feel the tension as the characters relive the crimes. The cold case is the focus of Helgi, a young criminologist's dissertation. The suspense building increases the intensity as an objective exploration of a historic crime disturbs the sanatorium's dark past with devastating results. I like the atmosphere created, the intense suspense, and the distinct voice that defines the story.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher.

Would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this compelling book

Though I struggle with the foreign names I can’t begin to tell you how much this authors style of writing grabs me and pulls me right into the storyline and this book had it all

Mystery murder and a cold case… though the attitudes of the men annoy me but that was a sign of the times back then I was still hooked right to the end and I cait wait to read the next book by this author

was looking forward to this one. I’ve not read much of Ragnar Jónasson’s work, and he’s often been touted as an author that should suit my tastes. He is “One of the finest crime writers in the world today” according to the Daily Fail Mail and I’ve seen plenty of comparisons to Christie.

I suppose the Christie comparison here would be to Five Little Pigs, as there are, according to the blurb, just five suspects (which isn’t exactly true but never mind) and it’s about a cold case. But that’s not a fair comparison to either author.

What Jónasson is doing here is telling a tale more about Helgi and his investigation rather than setting a mystery for the reader to solve. To guess, maybe, but this isn’t a clued mystery and doesn’t try to be.

The time jumps (from 1983 to 2012 and back again) are well done and adds to the tale, and the translation is good, giving a sense of another culture while still being completely accessible and understandable. The characters are well drawn and I was gripped all the way through to see what he was going to pull out of the hat.

I suppose there are two stories here, Helgi’s personal life and the murders, and I found the resolution to both a little flat. The first takes a while to reveal the core idea which I think most readers will guess, and the second… well, the solution is just a bit too ordinary for me, and relies on information that the reader gets very late.

All in all, it’s a very good read and definitely worth your time, but if you go in expecting a brain-twisting clue-fest, you might well be disappointed.

I'm not really sure what I thought of this. I read it on holiday and it was an easy and quick read, but I think I wanted more from it. I didn't really warm to any of the characters and it wasn't quite what I expected.

Another Ragnar Jonasson book and another joy to read. This author conveys atmosphere so that you can feel the chill coming from the pages. The multi-timelines may confuse some but I enjoy this aspect, finding that it adds a layer of storytelling that keeps the intrigue going. A wonderful tale, well told. Bring on the next novel from this inventive author.

Ragnar Jónasson certainly knows how to write Nordic Noir. With a creepy atmosphere from the word go, this book is mainly set around two timelines; 1983 when the first murder was committed and 2012 being the present day with Helgi working on the cold case for his dissertation. There are also chapters set in 1950 which add to the intrigue. Helgi is fascinated by the Golden Age of Detective Fiction and that certainty comes across in the telling of this story. It was interesting to find Hulda incorporated within the book and before her retirement. It was slow paced in places and a bit repetitive in others but overall a good whodunnit read. The ending was very abrupt but I’m hoping it means this will be the start of a new series featuring Helgi. Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for letting me read and review this book.

I found this quite confusing novel with multi time lines and side issues that really slowed it down. I also struggled to connect to the characters and felt there was something missing making them feel very one dimensional I'm not sure if this was down to the book being translated and perhaps things didn't come across quite as intended. The pacing of the story did not help to hold my interest and found it repetitive in parts. The ending itself wasn't very satisfactory either but did seem to suggest another book. Not a favourite for me. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is a really good read. It is a multi-layered story that builds up over three narratives and timelines until its conclusion. I also enjoyed the side story as we get small glimpses of Helgi’s personal life. This is good scandi noir with its dark, unemotional story.

This is a multi-layered multi-timeline book that follows the case of the death of a nurse at a TB sanatorium back in the 80s. It is being investigated in the present day by Helgi Reykdal, who is using the case for his criminology dissertation prior to joining the Reykjavik Police. The case was closed when one of the doctors killed himself and the police at that time believed it was done through guilt.
But his investigation starts to open up old wounds when he begins to interview the original suspects, witnesses, and investigators...
This book drew me in from the off. It is akin to the golden age detective fiction, of which the main character is himself an aficionado, and when you couple it with the rather claustrophobic setting, it really does mark the framework for a cracking read.
It's a little convoluted and interconnected so you do have to have your wits about you from the get-go. But if you hunker down and concentrate, you'll be just fine.
One of the things that I did find distracting was Helgi's relationship with Bergthora, I though that it added little to his character development, and I wasn't too enamoured with how it ended up... I guess we are setting up to a sequel... But, I'll leave you to make your own mind up on that.
All in all, an interesting case, spanning the decades, and I am interested in what happens next for Helgi. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Death at The Sanatorium Ragnar Jonasson

5 stars

Another atmospheric story

I have read three of this author's previous books and enjoyed them all. Obviously the original book is written in Icelandic but the translator always does a brilliant job.

Helgi Reykdal is writing his dissertation prior to taking u a job with the local police force and has chosen to focus on two murders at a sanatorium that occurred in 1983. These crimes have never been satisfactorily solved although the caretaker, Broddi, although never charged was always believed to be the murderer.

As Helgi investigates the characters involved, Tinna the nurse at the sanatorium back in 1983, who discovered both the bodies, is murdered. She has been with her husband, Sverrir, the policeman who investigated the murders for 40 years and it seems that someone does not want any further investigation into the original murders.

The book jumps between the description of the events that happened at the sanatorium and how Helgi is trying to discover the truth many years later. Running alongside the story is the deterioration of Helgi and his partner Bergthora's relationship, I enjoyed the combining of the past and the present in this book.

I always find the author's description of the atmosphere in the books fascinating and he conveys the forbidding sanatorium to perfection as well as creating a brilliant plot.

As we finally discover the truth about what really happened there is an ending that I just did not expect at all and which hopefully means there will be another book soon. I will definitely want to read it!

Karen Deborah
Netgalley

So immensely readable and atmospheric I don’t even know where to begin. Nordic Noir always holds such a soft spot for me, the mood you get whilst reading this genre is unmatched by any, and the perfect book to read as we slowly edge out of summer into the darker days of autumn, and one I am very much welcoming,
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Told in 3 timelines this engaging read has you gripped in its slowly emerging storyline leaving you with a shocking end that just hits your square in the face
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Thank you so much to the publisher and netgalley for the ARC!