Today is my stop at the blog tour for The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson. I am so incredibly surprised by this story. What a book indeed!
Synopsis:
A young woman is found dead on a remote Icelandic beach.
She came looking for safety, but instead she found a watery grave.
A hasty police investigation determines her death as suicide . . .
When Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik police is forced into early retirement, she is told she can investigate one last cold case of her choice – and she knows which one.
What she discovers is far darker than suicide . . . And no one is telling Hulda the whole story.
When her own colleagues try to put the brakes on her investigation, Hulda has just days to discover the truth. A truth she will risk her own life to find.
My review: 4.5/ 5 utterly gripping stars!
Wow, wow! I wasn’t expecting this at all. I started this book at 3pm and finished it at 10pm in one sitting. I rarely do that anymore as I do like to take my time with each book and try to savour the story telling as much as I can. But this one, I seriously could not put it down at all. I cancelled my dinner appointment as I needed to know what happened next. I felt like I couldn’t turn the page fast enough but at the same time I was scared to find out what happens next! If you think this is just a crime fiction or thriller, then think again! It is so much more.
This book tells a story about Hulda who is a police detective and has served her entire adult life in police force. She is 64 years old and is about to get on to her retirement. Just before she leaves her career behind, she gets to investigate one more unresolved death from one year ago. The more she delves into this, the more loopholes she discovers. Can she solve this? How’s this going to end? What happens to Hulda? That’s the question that will haunt you to the very end.
I was utterly surprised by the turn of events. I did not expect that at all. The entire book and story spans only 3 days. What’s most brilliant about this book is the author’s ability to tell Hulda’s life story in these three short days. We also get to know who she really is this time. The writing of the book is perfection, intertwining past and present events. But what’s the past about? I cannot tell you. You have to read it, so you can experience the surprise like I did!
This book has taken me as a complete surprise but what an amazing surprise it was. It is so atmospheric, I can feel the cold of Iceland. I can see the remoteness of the mountains and streets. I can even feel the chills in the corridor and the quietness in the wild. Hulda is one of the most complex characters I have met in fiction. Like I said before, this is not just a crime fiction or thriller, it feels so much more. At times I feel so sorry for Hulda for everything that she has been through, at times I feel so frustrated with her at why she can’t just give up and leave the case? At times I feel such intense anger with this world that I wonder where is justice? This book makes me feel so many other emotions that are very rare to experience in a crime fiction or novel. Really well done to the author.
I am deeply unsettled by this book and am utterly saddened by it! It’s quite a journey but it’s a journey that I am unlikely to forget for a very long time. I highly recommend this to everyone who loves crime fiction / thriller or just anyone who loves a great book! To be honest, I don’t think I will recover from that ending any time soon!
Thank you so much for Michael Joseph (an imprint of Penguin Random House) and Laura Nicol for sending me this advance copy of the book and including me in this amazing blog tour! I truly enjoyed this book so very much.
The Darkness is now out and you can purchase it here.
Make sure you also check out other posts in this blog tour!
Sissi Reads 