Excellent, went to Iceland a couple of months ago so I really wanted to read this book, as I have heard so much about this author. The book is full of twists and turns and keeps my attention. Will definitely read other books by Ragnar Jonasson.

Well Ragnar Jónasson is on my list to devour everything written!!!

Brilliant characters and I NEED to know what happens next!

Scandi crime has another one to watch

This fast paced, quirky crime novel flirts with the topic of senior dating as the second story line, and I hope that there is more of this to come in future publications as much more could be done to enhance this element. There is a lot of believable soul searching undertaken by Hulda (the main character), a few well worked red herrings, and a cinematic tour of Icelandic scenery - from mountaintop to coastal shoreline. However, I was nonplussed by the ending and for this reason have given this otherwise well written story a 3 star rating.

Powerful if somewhat relentlessly informative, delivered in flat prise .. this story of retiring under-rated cop Hildur is dark .. not only her life told in flashbacks as she tentatively teaches or to a fellow longer, further doctor of certain age she befriend, but running obstacles in her last case of the murder of a Russian refugee and the mystery of her body washing up on shore a year ago, and no one cared including badly run case by cops. She bumps into a major prostitute trafficking scheme .. but her investigations are impossible for her colleagues to ignore. The. constant theme of the difficulties for a woman doing this job boys home repeatedly. Impressive and groom. Yet I wanted to find out what happened with pressing urgency. Terrific

I really enjoyed this book and managed to read it in a few settings. Without giving anything away what a twist to the ending.

I have read and thoroughly enjoyed Mr Jonasson's previous Icelandic novels but I was disappointed with The Darkness, and don’t believe that it will bring him any new fans. I felt that he was just going through the motions when he wrote it.

Even though there were several sub-plots and twists they didn’t bring much to the table and in the end we were left with a pretty depressing run of the mill tale of a maverick lady cop reluctantly facing impending retirement after a career of hitting glass ceilings and never quite being accepted as one of the lads down at the station; I just persevered with reading because I am familiar with the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland where most of the action was set, and I enjoyed the accurate descriptions of the scenery and atmosphere of that unique place.

I am not sure whether a lot of the writer’s voice has been lost when the story was translated from the original Icelandic but I found it very bland to read, which is a shame because I was really looking forward to getting stuck into an gripping piece of Scandanavian Noir. To me it was just a ‘filler’ book from Mr Jonasson until a welcome return to form.

I am still looking forward to reading more from this author however and many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to review it.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable book. I had looked forward to reading it as I had heard good things about the author. I found it to be quite a light read, the story and the plot are compelling, it is well written and the characters are interesting. I found Hulda, the police inspector, to be a little stereotypical for my taste but I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, and most importantly liked the ending, it did not disappoint.

Hulda Hermannsdottir is a 64 year old police officer. She’s due to retire at the end of the year but now her supervisor has told her she has to leave in two weeks time as they’ve appointed her successor. Before she leaves he tells her she can open a cold case, any case she wants, and see if she can solve it before the two weeks are up. Hulda chooses the case of a young Russian asylum seeker whose body was found in a remote cove - the original investigator decided that she had committed suicide because she had been told she couldn’t stay in Iceland but Hulda soon finds evidence to contradict this. Instead of retiring gracefully Hulda continues her investigation and ultimately puts herself in danger.

Thanks to Netgalley, Michael Joseph and Ragnar Jonasson for the ARC in return for an honest review.

A different though thoroughly enjoyable detective story and heroine, with a real shock and surprise at the end

I picked up this book mainly because it was based in Iceland and was by an author I hadn’t read before. The Icelandic landscape was described well and conjured up the scene nicely. The fact that the detective was not only female, but also in her 60s was a refreshing change.
However after a good start, I lost a bit of interest. It was perfectly ok, but not the amazing writing I was hoping for. I did like the ending though. Different. I’ll definitely give the author another go as it shows promise and was a very quick read.

Enjoyed this....well written and good example of the genre.

Too long winded to get to the main story, not enthralling to get me past the halfway mark

good grief there’s a lot going on here ! I’ll start with the good stuff, the characterisation is fabulous there’s not a single character who is not fully developed even those who don’t feature prominently are developed to the point of reader understanding. Iceland itself plays such a huge role that it is a character in itself. I have not yet visited however I now really want to go

The plot is thin although the addition of Hulda’s Back story helps although I thought it went on a bit. The ending felt rushed and so sad. I’m not sure if Hulda will be back as it is a trilogy so I will wait and see.

A bit of a mixed review for this one and it took me a while to decide on the three star rating I gave it too. I love Scandinavian thrillers and Iceland a new venue for me. A completely original “heroine” which I was pleased about even if she did come across as quite bristly but that was somewhat explained as the story progressed. So all in all it should have been my perfect match but whilst I would really recommend it to any thriller lovers out there it seemed a bit of a let down to me.

It is refreshing to find a crime novel set in somewhere like Iceland. A nation of people said to like reading and a place I have visited. To me it was perfect, not too graphic or scary, yet there was an underlying fear of how were things going to work out.
Hulda is a Detective Inspector, who has more or less been told to retire, in her last few weeks of work Hulda has been offered a 'cold case' to investigate. The book has an underlying sadness throughout, Hulda is lonely and who is looking out for her? To me it wasn't the sort of book that was edge of the seat, as the story slowly evolves and this is why I liked it. A great read and would make a lovely present.

Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavik police force, is suddenly called into the office by her boss Magnús and is told her retirement is being brought forward to two weeks time rather than later in the year. To keep her occupied in the final two weeks, Hulda is given the opportunity to pick a cold case, and she knows the one she wants to investigate: a Russian asylum seeker who was found in a cove, which was dismissed as a suicide by her colleague. Hulda realises that another missing Russian asylum seeker is probably related and starts to look into this case too, talking to their lawyer and translator about the women.

I really enjoy Nordic Noir and other foreign crime drama television programmes on BBC Four, so this was right up my street. This story is shorter than the usual detective novels, spread over just three days. It follows Hulda as she investigates this cold case and is interspersed with a young woman visiting her baby daughter in a state institution then her life after claiming her back plus a couple taking a hike through the snow to a remote cabin.

The book is set in Iceland between Reykjavik and its outlying districts, giving a flavour of the landscape of dark lava fields and surrounding mountainsides.

Unusually, it did not overly go into police procedures. We are also provided the background story of why she is a widow and the loss of her daughter at the age of just 13 years old – though the reason for each comes to light later and explains why on the case of the nurse she informs her she won’t mention her confession in her report.

One of the connections that Hulda makes is maybe a little far fetched, and her change of heart over her retirement seems odd. Even with these it was a good read seeing her investigate her last case before her enforced early retirement.

The ending surprised me; this one took it in a completely different direction to normal detective novels which was very refreshing to read. I don’t want to say too much as it will give it away but not enough books do this and more should.

I received this book from netgalley in return for a honest review.

I was sent an uncorrected advanced proof of The Darkness by Rangar Jonasson to read and review by NetGalley.
This novel set in Iceland is an easy read. It is about the final case of Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir before her forced early retirement. The protagonist had been given her choice of cold cases to review to placate her after being informed that her office was already going to be cleared ready for her replacement months earlier than her official retirement date.
The case she chose, one that she felt a colleague had handled shoddily, was regarding the death of a young Russian female, an asylum seeker found drowned.
While this novel has plenty of content and characters I have to say I didn’t feel that there was enough tension in the writing. For me it was as if the author was almost just stating the facts rather than really getting inside the characters and bringing them to life. That’s not to say that the book wasn’t enjoyable and I’m sure that many readers will disagree with me but I prefer a book I can get immersed in and this one, for me, was a little two dimensional.

We are in present day Iceland and Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is due to retire, but before she leaves the police force, she is keen to solve the case of the death by drowning of a Russian asylum seeker that her colleagues had thought to have been an accident or suicide. With only a few days left Hulda starts digging into the case and it becomes clear that the previous investigations into the death have been cursory at best. In parallel we start to learn more of Hulda’s difficult upbringing and about the death of her teenage daughter and her husband and the influence these events have had on her life as a detective of police. The plot is well constructed and gathers pace to a climatic and surprising ending; however, I was disappointed that the descriptive passages failed to convey the bewildering beauty of the stark Icelandic landscape and I also thought that the characters were lacking in depth with the text failing to bring them fully to life. The book has been translated from the original Icelandic and maybe the original text was more effective.

This is the first book I have read by Jonasson and I picked it up because I do enjoy some scandi noir now and again.

The Darkness is told from the point of view of 64 year old Hulda Hermannsdottir, who is investigating one last cold case before her retirement.

I am still processing what I thought of this book. It seemed quite short to me, and with a few different flashbacks and threads happening at once, it gave me the feeling that it didn’t delve into things or create as much mystery as it could have. Because of the length, the pace was pretty quick in revealing different secrets, so the suspense didn’t last very long. Having just finished it, I also feel like the ending didn’t provide much resolution so I don’t feel satisfied. I was going to give it 3.5/5 until the ending! I like my scandi noir to be gritty and intellectually stimulating, which this book missed a bit for me.

I did enjoy reading this book overall but I didn’t like the ending and wasn’t gripped by it as a whole, which meant I didn’t actually mind it being quite short. 3/5 stars.

Hulda Hermannsdóttir is 64, a Detective Inspector in the Reykjavik Police and is being put out to pasture by her boss and forced to take early retirement. With a week left at work and no cases of her own to work on she re-opens a cold case, the death of a Russian woman, Elena, who was awaiting asylum in Iceland. Written by Ragnar Jónasson, author of the Dark Iceland series of books, The Darkness is the first in his Hidden Iceland series. intriguingly, this is the final chapter of Hulda’s story with the rest being told in reverse chronological order.

Things don’t go according to plan for Hulda; the book opens with her questioning a woman over the hit and run of a paedophile and she makes a questionable decision which has potentially huge consequences. The cold-case she re-opens steps on the toes of the colleague who investigated originally, she visits a suspicious drug-dealer who unbeknownst to her is under surveillance putting a long-running operation in jeopardy and her boss really, really doesn’t want her to be at work. The only silver lining is a potential relationship with Petar, a kind, retired man who she can see herself living the rest of her days with in quiet companionship.

I’ve enjoyed the books I have read from the Dark Iceland series, they are well-written noir thrillers and I am pleased to report that The Darkness is just as good, if not better. I really loved reading about an older woman, it made such a refreshing change especially as Hulda is a complicated, nuanced character who I found utterly compelling. Jónasson writes people so well, they’re never black and white and are always fully formed – words are used sparingly to build characters who, love or loathe them, get deep under your skin.

As usual in a Ragnar Jónasson novel, Iceland is a character in itself. I’ve developed a bit of a love affair with Iceland after reading Names for the Sea recently and the descriptions of the brutal yet beautiful landscapes in The Darkness did nothing to dampen it. Hulda’s strength and resilience is mirrored in the harsh terrain which is subjected to the elements and I loved how the weather was used to build tension and horror.

This is a book with a clever and inventive plot which examines the present day but is also interspersed with the story of a woman who is visiting her child in a children’s home. Who the child and woman are and how they fit into the story isn’t immediately clear but is gradually unveiled to create one of the shock moments in the book (there a few!). This is a wonderful counterpoint to the thoroughly modern story of refugees and asylum seekers and in particular how they are treated. A dead Russian woman isn’t important news, a year or so after her death nobody remembers her or much about the story. Hulda’s dedication to finding out what happened to her reflects her pain at retirement staring her in the face and her loss of identity. Who would miss her if she was gone? The layers that Jónasson builds into The Darkness are wonderful – yes it is a thriller/mystery but at its heart it is an examination of life and its value.

I really enjoyed this book and tore through it quite quickly – the writing is excellent and the plotting and narrative structures excel to create something that is a little bit different and very special.