#BlogTour: The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson @Icnicol @MichaelJBooks @ragnarjo

Book Description:

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.

The Darkness was published by Michael St Joseph on the 15th March.  You can purchase a copy here.

My Review:

I really enjoyed Ragnar’s previous series, the brilliant Dark Iceland, so I was very excited to receive a copy of The Darkness the first book in his new series, Hidden Iceland.

The pace in this book felt a little different from his previous ones.  For me it was faster and I felt drawn into the story a lot quicker. My interest was piqued from the start not only by the murder investigation but by Hulda’s personal back story and struggles.  I thought it was great that the author was able to make this story stand out by being different from his previous books.

I wasn’t expecting the story to be as though provoking as it was as it does raise a lot of interesting questions regarding how we treat people in the work force, particularly women and the older members, and the techniques people can use to get ahead in work.  I found myself thinking about this story quite a lot when I wasn’t reading it wondering how I would react in such a situation.

Hulda is a brilliant main character that I found highly likeable.  I enjoyed following her investigation and learning more about her.  I felt so sorry for her and the way she was treated by her colleagues that at times I wished I could reach into the book and give her a hug.  We’ve all been been there and felt under appreciated so I really emphasised with how she was feeling.  I wanted her to succeed and solve the cold case she was working on so she could show her colleagues how capable she was!

As with his other books Ragnar provides some great descriptions of the stunning Icelandic scenery.  I felt I could really imagine the setting of the novel and even looked up some of the places on the internet.  I’d never heard of the lava fields and I did enjoy looking at pictures of them as they are so unlike anything we have in England.

This is the third book I have read by this author and it definitely won’t be my last as I really enjoy his books.  I’m very interested to read the other books in the Hidden Iceland series, especially as the story is being told in reverse order and the other books are set in an earlier time.

Huge thanks to Laura Icnol and Michael St Joseph for my copy of this book and for inviting me onto the blog tour.

About The Author:

Ragnar Jónasson is author of the international bestselling Dark Iceland series. His debut Snowblind went to number one in the kindle charts shortly after publication, and Nightblind, Blackout and Rupture soon followed suit, hitting the number one spot in five countries, and the series being sold in 15 countries and for TV. Ragnar was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he continues to work as a lawyer. He also teaches copyright law at Reykjavik University and has previously worked on radio and television, including as a TV-news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Ragnar is a member of the UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) and set up its first overseas chapter in Reykjavik. He is also the co-founder of the international crime-writing festival Iceland Noir. From the age of 17, Ragnar translated 14 Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic. He has appeared on festival panels worldwide, and lives in Reykjavik with his wife and young daughters.

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