I didn't realize this was a series book and it probably would have worked much better if I had read the first 2 books. As it stands, the idea/concept of the story was very intriguing but I was a little confused by some of the events that probably took place in the previous stories.

Special thanks to Minotaur Books for providing our copy in exchange for an honest & fair review.

When I'm in the mood for a dark & suspenseful crime novel, Ragnar is the man. I highly recommend these novels to my fellow suspense lovers. These novels are thrilling & I really enjoyed this one.

Thank you for the opportunity to be an early reader.

It is summer in northern Iceland, but the 24 hour sunlight is blotted out of the sky by an ash cloud from a recent volcanic eruption. The darkness is a constant reminder of the darkness of the human heart.

A man is found in a peaceful fjord, brutally beaten to death. Who is the dead man? Why was he beaten and killed? Such a murder stretches the limited capacity of the local police. A young reporter from Reykajvik leaves the comfort of the big city to investigate in Siglufjordur on her own.

The Siglufjordur police struggle with personal problems while trying to understand and solve this horrific crime. They also suspect that time is of the essence. They don't want more bodies in their little town, but the foreboding blackout from the volcanic ash suggests there will be more.

This is, apparently the third book in a series. I'm not sure which characters are consistent through the books. It doesn't seem like it should matter ... the story feels mostly self-contained in this one volume. But at the same time, it feels as though there is something else happening that we're not being let in on.

I've been fascinated by the dark literature of Scandinavia in general and Iceland in particular, and I really thought that this book would fit right into this very specific type of thriller. But it didn't.

Except for the beginning, which did a wonderful job of setting up the crime and getting me interested in reading more, I found the book to be quite dull. I never really understood who the different characters were and their personal stories seemed to conflict with the plot rather than merge with it. The pacing all felt very even (again, with the exception of the opening) and I never gained the excitement, the thrill, I expect when reading a thriller of this sort.

This one really didn't work for me, and I will attribute it to the fact that I haven't read the first books in the series.

Looking for a good book? Blackout by Ragnar Jónasson is the third book in a series and one probably needs to read the previous books. As a stand-alone this doesn't thrill.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

BLACKOUT by Ragnar Jónasson is the third book in the Dark Iceland series that begins with a brutal murder, and the subsequent investigation that follows, and involves a few main characters with several others involved; all who are presented in a way that gives the reader a window into their thought process; and a common theme is that each is dealing with personal struggles hidden from others.

Ari Thor is the policeman assigned to the case, and he is working with two other officers Hijnur and Tomas, both of whom are dealing with serious problems that impair their abilities to focus on the case, which leaves Ari Thor in a difficult situation and affects his progress on the case, which forces him to proceed under great stress due to the pressure to provide results as expected by his superiors.

Excellent descriptions of the bleak and dreary surroundings in the setting of this story, along with the effects of this on the mental state of the characters in the story presents the dark landscape perfectly, giving the reader a sense of the apathy and hopelessness present in the lives of those involved.

Definitely not a “feel good” novel, it is a well written one that doesn’t suffer from the translation, and although the story and investigation develop quite slowly; it builds quickly as the investigation intensifies when unearthed information shines light on a few likely suspects.

4 stars.

This series just continues to get better! Regardless of the season, Ragnar Jonasson creates atmospheric settings, skillfully intertwining his stories with well developed characters. Outstanding Nordic noir!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

On the shores of a tranquil fjord in Northern Iceland, a man is brutally beaten to death on a bright summer's night. As the 24-hour light of the arctic summer is transformed into darkness by an ash cloud from a recent volcanic eruption, a young reporter leaves Reykajvik to investigate on her own, unaware that an innocent person's life hangs in the balance. Ari Thor Arason and his colleagues on the tiny police force in Siglufjordur struggle with an increasingly perplexing case.
If the title or the author appear to be from the North Atlantic area including Iceland and Scandinavia, I am automatically drawn to the book as a read. And I was not disappointed with this book. I keep telling myself that one of these days I will take a trip there and see some of the places described in the book. But alas, I would hope not to see the ask cloud. Among other things, I would be reminded of the darkness of this book.
It took a little bit to get into but when I did, I devoured it and am looking for more of this authors books to read. He weaves a good story revealing bits at a time. Layer upon layer. Almost delving into the lives of the characters more than necessary. And there were almost too many of them for my feeble mind to keep up with. But still a good story. I received a copy of the book for giving a review. The comments are my own.

Blackout is book 3 of the Dark Iceland series by Ragnar Jonasson. Although I read this as a standalone, there was very little confusion from not reading the previous books in the series. It was a fast paced story of a murder, an investigation and the rush to find the killer before more death reigns down upon the small town in Iceland. I will be hunting down the rest of the series by Ragnar Jonasson.
Full Disclosure: I was allowed to read a copy of this book for free as a member of NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and I was not influenced to give a positive review.

Published in Iceland in 2011; published in translation by Minotaur Books on August 28, 2018

A tourist discovers a dead body in one of Iceland’s unpronounceable northern villages. The murder victim, Elías Freysson, was beaten to death with a board. It’s the kind of story that Ísrún would like to cover, but the Reykjavik newsroom only assigns her fluff. Her editor, in fact, fears that Ísrún might be promoted over his head. When Ísrún fights to cover the story, it is clear that she is pursuing a personal interest, but the reason for Ísrún’s intense desire to investigate the murder will not be revealed until the novel nears its end.

Why Freysson was murdered is revealed in flashbacks that develop his unhappy past. We also learn, rather quickly, that Freysson was connected to a young woman who has been brought to Iceland under false pretenses and who is now locked away. Yes, this is another human trafficking story, but the trafficking is a background element that doesn’t try to milk the hysteria that so many human trafficking thrillers depend upon.

Freysson had been working on a construction site in another unproduceable northern village, where Ari Thór Arason is trying to make a career with the police. Hlynur Ísaksson has more seniority than Arason, but the boss believes that Hlynur has lost his edge and assigns Ari Thór to find out what he can about Freysson. Hylnur has been receiving disturbing emails about his bullying past, a distraction from work that becomes an important subplot.

Learning who killed Freysson requires Ari Thór to figure out why he was killed. The reader soon suspects that Freysson was engaged in unlawful behavior and that others within his orbit may also be at risk. Ari Thór wonders if the murder was linked to a retired doctor whose alcoholism was responsible for three patient deaths. He also explores Freysson’s link to a man who was raised on the same abusive farm when Freysson was a child.

All of that gives the reader a good bit of substance to ponder as the story picks up steam. The various subplots give Ragnar Jónasson the opportunity to develop interesting (and usually tormented) secondary characters with nearly as much depth as he brings to the primary characters.

Ari Thór has a caustic personality that certainly doesn’t breed respect for the police. His personal problems stem from his broken relationship with the woman he left behind in Reykjavik, opening the door to another subplot that contributes to the action in the novel’s last chapters.

After developing characters and story threads, Ragnar Jónasson opens the throttle in the novel’s concluding chapters. This is Iceland, so there aren’t any mindless shootouts or the kind of fights that let dimwitted heroes with Special Forces training demonstrate their martial arts prowess. Rather, Jónasson demonstrates his ability to escalate tension without undue violence. The focus is on people and their emotions, not action, but that focus does not diminish the pace. Blackout is easy to recommend as a fine addition to the reader's shelf of Icelandic crime fiction.

RECOMMENDED

Ragnar Jónasson's "Blackout," translated by Quentin Bates, is set in Iceland in June 2010. Inspector Arí Thor Arason, his colleague, Hlynur Ísksson, and their superior, Tómas, keep the peace in the isolated northern town of Siglufjörður. One day, a tourist finds the dead body of thirty-four year old Elías Freysson, who was beaten to death by an unidentified assailant. Arí Thor and Tómas interview the victim's landlady, friends, and colleagues to find out if Freysson had been involved in anything nefarious. Another central figure is Ísrún, an ambitious reporter whose condescendiing boss treats her dismissively. In spite of him, she is determined to make her mark as a television newswoman.

The novel's tone is desolate. A volcanic eruption has covered the southern part of the country in ash, forcing the residents to breathe in acrid air. In addition, most of the characters are unhappy for one reason or another. Tómas misses his wife, who is studying down south in Reykjavík; Arí Thor bitterly regrets his breakup with his ex-girlfriend Kristín, whom he still loves; and Hylnur, who as a child was a vicious bully, is filled with fear and self-loathing, especially since he has begun receiving threatening emails from an anonymous source. Adding to the angst-filled atmosphere, a beautiful woman is brought from Asia to Iceland-- ostensibly to work in a hotel--but gets an unwelcome surprise when she arrives at her destination. There are also a number of flashbacks that shed light on the impact of past events on the present.

This tale focuses on some of humanity's most negative traits: selfishness, jealousy, lust, rage, and greed. There are few compassionate individuals in these pages. Arí Thor is a competent detective, but he is immature and egotistical. Unfortunately, Jónasson crams everything into "Blackout" but the kitchen sink. This book's catalog of misery incorporates rape, suicide, abduction, medical malpractice, serious illness, and child abuse. Too many melodramatic elements, a lack of humor, and an overly cluttered plot make this a dreary and melancholy mystery.

The first book in Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series, Snowblind, introduced rookie policeman Ari Thor. Set during Iceland’s financial crisis, Ari, a Reykjavik resident and former theology student, takes a job in far-way Siglufjördur. This isn’t a dream job by any means, and Ari’s girlfriend Kristin, is upset with Ari for taking the position. It means long separations and Ari’s decision will impact her career as a doctor, so there’s relationship turbulence ahead. The second book in the series, Nightblind, takes place five years after Snowblind. Ari and Kristin are now living together and they have a child, but their relationship problems are far from solved, and the murder of a local policeman strains their relationship even further.

Blackout

The third novel in the series, Blackout, takes place between the first two published books. Ari is in Siglufjördur and he and Kristin, who is working as a doctor in Reykjavik, no longer have a relationship–although they have sporadic contact. The novel is set during a volcanic interruption, and a tourist discovers a corpse of a murdered man.

Ari isn’t quite as central to this novel. He’s there, of course, and he has regrets about his lost relationship with Kristin. There’s an ambitious reporter, Ísrún, who hears about the discovery of a body and runs with the story. Her boss is looking for an excuse to get rid of her, so the story may just be the ticket she needs to help her flailing career.

The investigation into the man’s death follows two tracks: Ísrún’s hunt for the story and the police investigation. For this reader, Blackout is not as strong as the other two entries in the series. It’s looser and not as tightly written. Whereas the other two novels emphasized the bleakness and isolation of winter in Siglufjördur, this novel moves to another feature of Icelandic weather: the volcano. As with all crime series novels, we get the current crime woven with details of our characters’ lives, and depending on the book/series, one aspect is usually more interesting than another. It didn’t help the momentum factor that this novel takes place between the other two books, as the reader already knows where Ari and Kristin’s relationship is heading.

Translated by Quentin Bates.

Review copy

I really like this series because it is so atmospheric. Ari Thor isn't my favorite of all the Icelandic detectives I read, but I still enjoy sharing his investigations. I wasn't overly crazy about the solution to this mystery that seemed a bit abrupt at the end, but it was still a good read.

When a somewhat lost tourist happens across a dead body in a remote area of Iceland, the backwater town's police department is aroused from their personal dramas to investigate. Luckily for them, a savvy journalist is tired of being belittled by her boss and finds a way to cover the story while also doing a bit of her own sleuthing which may bring closure to her own personal issues.
The first portion of this novel seems to focus on the personalities of the flawed characters. The personnel in the PD, network news program as well as the suspects are temperamental, lovelorn, bullies, vindictive and damaged individuals, some seek redemption. It's actually quite tiresome and whiny.
The second portion contains a little more action and interesting story lines bring it all together and comes to a satisfactory conclusion.
This appears to be the sequel to Snowblind, which I've not read, and has been translated to English for September, 2018 publication.
Thank you NetGalley, Ragnar Jonasson and publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel.

This book will keep you engrossed from start to finish. It is set in Iceland, but the story would be outstanding wherever it was set. I had not read any books by this author, so was not sure what to expect. He kept the story moving while keeping the characters true, which so many authors cannot do these days. I now understand why Mr Jonasson has such a loyal fan base.

Jonasson returns with an enthralling third (translated) installment of his Dark Iceland series. Like earlier titles in the series, Blackout is a gripping story that demonstrates Jonasson's masterful command of the Scandinavian crime fiction genre. Highly recommended for fans of Steig Larsson's Millennium series.

While I have enjoyed all I have read of the Dark Iceland series, Snowblind and Nightblind, Blackout is now my favorite. The combination of a complex, multilayered plot with a wide cast of new characters, all of whom seem to be hiding or outrunning something in the past that won’t stay behind them worked well for me and kept me glued to the book the last two days. Even Tomas and Ari Thor, the well known local police, have other things on their minds along with their duties. Is all of this because they are now living in summer with near 24 hours of light? Or is it somehow related to ash from the recent volcano eruption falling increasingly over Reykjavík, clouding that city and worrying even those who live at a distance? Many, if not most, people who live in this small island nation have heard tales of past volcano eruptions, of life being turned upside down by ashy blackouts.

Here in northern Iceland the blackouts are more metaphoric, where the sun may be bright almost continuously but there are lies and half truths and unspoken thoughts interfering with a murder investigation; a man has been found outside of a home he has been helping to build, beaten to death.

There are many strands to this story but I urge patience. You will be rewarded. There are several moments in this book where I felt truly satisfied with what Jonasson had accomplished. And I highly recommend this book.

One note on this series. This is listed as book three in the Dark Iceland series. It is the third to be translated into English. The action of this story actually takes place before that of Nightblind, listed as D.I. #2. I have read these books in the order of the English translation. This may lead to some temporary confusion as you begin Blackout, since you are moving backward in time, but I had no major difficulty with it. Some are reading these two books in reverse order. I would have to investigate further to find how they were published originally in Iceland but I will leave that for another. I recommend all of the books I have read and I plan to read the rest of the Dark Iceland series when they are available.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

An Enjoyable Read But With A Rocky Start
Blackout starts with a tourist finding a body in the northern part of Iceland. At this point the main story line changed direction to character development for the major characters in the book. It was not until about 25% of the way into the book before the main storyline really returned to focus on the murder. At this point main storyline unfolded in an intriguing and attention capturing way. There were plenty of misdirections, twists and turns that kept me interested and wanting to continue reading.

The B-storyline was quite rich and built around most of the major characters in the novel. As I wrote earlier, almost 25% of the start of the book dealt with character development. The upside of this was that not having read the first two books there was adequate background. Also, I did not feel that I was missing anything because of that fact. Unfortunately, all this background material confused me as to who the main character was. I thought that it was Ísrún, a TV reporter. She has the most background material throughout the novel. By the time I read this novel, I had forgotten the subtitle, “An Ari Thór Thriller.”

There wasn’t any graphic sex, and very minor use of vulgar language. This novel was translated into English by a British translator. As such, much British slang is used. British slang used by Icelanders was a little strange. Reading this novel on a Kindle was good because I made much use of the Kindle dictionary and searching Google for the meaning of some of the British slang. I did not find any major problems with the translation.

One feature of this novel that I did like was that the police thread and the Ísrún, TV reporter, thread were working on different information. You as the reader can see more information that either side had. The one feature that I did not appreciate as much was that some of the storylines, both the main and B-story lines, went into much detail while not contributing that much to the overall storyline.

When the novel ends, there were no loose ends in the main storyline. In the continuing B-storyline for one of the characters the next novel may start with some fireworks. Overall, even with the problems I liked the novel more than a three star rating but not quite a true four star rating. Unfortunate, the star rating system does not allow for that level of nuance, so I am rating this novel with four stars. If it looks interesting, do give it a try.

I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this novel early.

Topical and atmospheric procedural featuring not only a detective-Ari Thor- but also a female journalist-Isrun. Best of all is the unique seting of Iceland under the shadow of a volcanic disruption. I realized partway through that I had not read the first books, which led to a bit of confusion but not enough to diminish my pleasure with this one. The characters are well done and the plot is appropriately twisty. I didn't guess the answers, which is always a plus. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. For fans of Nordic noir.

4 stars
This is book 2 in the Dark Iceland series. It is centered around 2 people, Isrun, a reporter for a tv station in Reykjavik, and Ari Thor, a policeman in Siglufjordur. A man is found brutally murdered in Skagafjordur, whose address is in Siglufjordur and the 3 man police team in Siglufjordur is asked to assist with interviews in the investigation. Isrun, ambitious to get ahead, sees this as her ticket to advancement and wangles an assignment to go and report on the death.
The other 2 officers in Siglufjordur are Hijnur and Tomas, each of whom has personal problems, causing them difficulty in performing their duties. Ari also has his own problems. How they solve this murder and unearth other crimes connected to it makes for an interesting mystery.
The book takes place during the volcanic eruption of Eyjafjallajökull. People living in the southern half of Iceland talk about the volcanic grit in the air.
I read this book because I spent 3 nights in Siglufordur as part of a Iceland land tour last summer. It is a lovely little town that had a thriving fishing industry for hundreds of years until the herrings disappeared about forty years ago. Tourism has now replaced the fishing industry. There is a herring museum in town. Our guide said that life was very difficult during the eruption. Everyone wore face masks.
I recommend this series to anyone who enjoys Icelandic fiction or mysteries in general. The translation was excellent. I read it in 2 days.
One quote: "She could taste the polluted air in her mouth. The ash cloud over the city had grown thicker and heavier as the day passed. The sun was blotted out by the heavy haze, its presence behind the grey miasma hidden but still felt as the temperature continued to climb."
Thanks to Minotaur Books/St Martins Press for sending me this eARC through NetGalley.

Blackout is the first novel by Ragnar Jonasson I have ever read. Icelandic authors have been steadily appearing on the bookshelves worldwide and there is a great potential in Jonasson. He creates fantastic atmosphere with the volcanic ash all around and beautiful landscape descriptions. The plot is interesting and the motive of human trafficing has been relatively presented. Narration is interesting, however, I sometimes was at a loss regarding their development. Was it because I hadn't read parts 1&2? This was a good read but I was not that much captivated by the story.
I would like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for ARC. The review presents my honest opinion.

I'm a big fan of Nordic Noir and am really pleased to add Ragnar Jonasson to my list of Scandinavian authors. Now that I've read No 5 in the Dark Iceland series, I can go back to the beginning and find out how it all began. There really is something special about the Nordic authors - they have a fantastic way with words and really bring their countries to life. Iceland is a country I have yet to visit, although it's on my 'must visit' list and I've heard plenty of great things about it.

The author manages to balance an excellent mystery with just enough of a dark atmosphere, great characters, and beautiful descriptions of the country to bring together this police procedural in a very satisfying manner. It can easily be read as a standalone. It took a few pages to capture my attention but once it had, I couldn't put it down. I hope there are plenty more to come in this series!