December 6, 2021
Domestic abuse, high-finance hanky-panky, and illegal immigration all figure in this arresting series launch from Sigurdardottír (the Reykjavík Noir trilogy). Áróra, a half-Icelandic financial investigator living in the U.K., has already rescued her older sister, Ísafold, from the sister’s abusive boyfriend, Reykjavík drug dealer Björn, too many times when their English mother begs Áróra to find Ísafold, who’s disappeared. Áróra returns to Iceland, where she soon gets sidetracked bugging the hotel bedroom of Hákon Hauksson, a smooth big-time swindler, in an effort to locate his ill-gotten stash. Meanwhile, Grímur, a weirdo living downstairs from Björn, has his own plan for Björn, which involves Omar, an undocumented refugee hiding out with a gullible middle-aged widow. At her mother’s suggestion, Áróra enlists Daniel Hansson, a police detective who was once married to her aunt, to help search for Ísafold. Intriguing characters and strong local color compensate for the somewhat flat ending that sets up the sequel. This scathing exposure of greed and betrayal is sure to please Scandi noir fans. Agent: Valgerdur Benediktsdottir, Forlagid (Iceland).
January 14, 2022
Sigur�ard�ttir's "Reykjavik Noir" trilogy (Trap; Snare; Cage) was about survival, a woman trapped in the world of drugs and smuggling. Her latest isn't about survival so much as investigation and an Icelandic investigator named �r�ra, solving a series of partly interlocking puzzles. �r�ra's sister has gone missing and has an abusive boyfriend who's clearly hiding something. �r�ra has barely begun digging into the matter when she meets a sexy millionaire who declared bankruptcy to avoid mountains of debt but still lives high. �r�ra, who earns her living doing financial investigations, wonders where he has hidden his money and sees a potential payday in him. Strange moments and people abound, like her sister's creepy neighbor who shaves his body, all over, three times daily because he can't stand the feel of hair on his body; there's also an undocumented immigrant with the name of a murdered man, and a faked postcard from �r�ra's sister. The subtext of Sigur�ard�ttir's mystery is abuse, a bad man ruining a weakened woman. Is everything resolved by the end of the book? No. But �r�ra does the best she can with partial and sometimes misleading evidence. It's just like life. VERDICT The writing is crisp, and �r�ra is an appealing character. For lovers of Scandinavian noir.--David Keymer
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