Una needs a change and she sees the chance to get out of her apartment in Reykjavik by taking a teaching job all the way on the other side of Iceland in the tiny fishing village of Skalar. But not only is Skalar isolated and remote, it is a village of only ten people! Almost immediately the terrible weather, unwelcoming villagers, nightmares, and ghost stories make Una supremely regretful about her decision to start her life over in Skalar.

The fact that Una was hired to teach only two pupils does nothing to allay her fears or concerns. Nothing seems to quite make sense in this place, and it seems that no one really ever wants to answers Una’s questions about this odd village, either. The reader acutely feels Una’s loneliness and isolation as we see her spend more and more time alone in her living quarters. When tragedy strikes the village just before Christmas, long held secrets threaten to be exposed and the once secretive villagers close ranks even more. Una’s suspicions, however, will not allow her to just let things go and, even if she has to do it all alone, she wants to uncover the truth about what no one is telling her.

Jónasson conveys both the icy setting and the equally frigid attitudes in Skalar masterfully, creating a fascinating page-turner that readers will be unable to put down. Countless times while reading I thought about how in that situation I was just leave the village, but I was definitely not going to leave Una there, and so I devoured this book very quickly.

Highly recommended for fans of Jónasson’s previous books, but also for anyone looking for their next spooky-vibe thriller or suspense novel with a bit of a supernatural element. The Girl Who Died should also be a great choice for readers looking for a story with a structure reminiscent of an old-school classic mystery.

The Girl Who Died is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.

Will you be picking up The Girl Who Died? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the World

Una wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at the four walls of her shabby apartment. Celebrating Christmas and ringing in 1986 in the remote fishing hamlet of Skálar seems like a small price to pay for a chance to earn some teaching credentials and get her life back on track.

But Skálar isn’t just one of Iceland’s most isolated villages, it is home to less than a dozen people. Una’s only students are two girls aged seven and nine. Teaching them only occupies so many hours in a day and the few adults she interacts with are civil but distant. She only seems to connect with Thór, a man she shares an attraction with but who is determined to keep her at arm’s length.

As darkness descends throughout the bleak winter, Una finds herself more often than not in her rented attic space – the site of a local legendary haunting – drinking her loneliness away. She is plagued by nightmares of a little girl in a white dress singing a lullaby. And when a sudden tragedy echoes an event long buried in Skálar’s past, the villagers become even more guarded, leaving a suspicious Una seeking to uncover a shocking truth that’s been kept secret for generations.

The post Review: The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jónasson appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

That is exactly what I am feeling right now.

Ragnar Jónasson is a true master of suspense, there is just simply no other word to describe him. Every single page winds you up a little until you finally realise your entire body has tensed up in anticipation of the next page!

Jónasson weaves together a multi-layered story at the perfect pace. He constantly leaves you wanting more, and then he gives it to you. From the first page to the last, he has structured the story with such a delicate balance that it keeps the reader constantly engaged.

Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir has just returned to work in February after a recent family tragedy, which we know occurred around Christmastime. Her first case upon her return is an investigation for from Reykjavik in the isolated eastern portion of the Iceland. Bodies have been found there, and due to the remote nature of the farm, local police believe they may have been there since Christmas. The structure of the story now allows Jónasson to give the reader details about what is currently happening, but also what happened around Christmas, both at the farm and in Detective Hulda’s life.

Hulda sets out to solve the case, though she knows in her heart she probably came back to work too soon. She finds her personal life reflected in this case and she is forced to re-live some of the tragedy she has already had to face once.

While technically third in a series (along with The Darkness and The Island), this absolutely works as a stand-alone thriller. Any information or background from the previous books that  you may have needed has been sewn into this story.

Those like me who live in a climate that is scorching hot this time of year will love this as a summer read. As I sit in Texas in the middle of June, an Icelandic winter sounds like the best idea I have ever heard!

The Mist is a great length to read in a weekend and it will absolutely grab you and fully engross you in Hulda’s world that Jónasson has created. It is no exaggeration to say that as soon as I finished this book, I immediately started ordering more form this author. The Mist has definitely been added to my ‘frequently recommended’ list!

The Mist is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of June 23rd 2020.

Will you be picking up The Mist? Tell us in the comments below!

Synopsis | Goodreads

The final nail-biting installment in Ragnar Jonasson’s critically-acclaimed Hidden Iceland series, The Mist, from the newest superstar on the Icelandic crime fiction scene.

1987. An isolated farm house in the east of Iceland.

The snowstorm should have shut everybody out.  But it didn’t.

The couple should never have let him in.  But they did.

An unexpected guest, a liar, a killer.  Not all will survive the night.  And Detective Hulda will be haunted forever.

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