Ragnar Jonasson’s Blackout, the third book in his Dark Iceland series, is a decent murder mystery set in Iceland during the height of summer and in the midst of ash fallout from volcanic activity. A resident of the small northern town of Siglufjörður has been killed with a knock to the head with a nail-studded two by four. While the crime occurs outside of city jurisdiction, local policeman Ari Thor is put in charge of tracking down information on known contacts of the victim. Many other narrative threads run parallel to the policeman’s: a reporter who sees this case as her possible big break, Ari’s ex girlfriend who has moved on, a fellow policeman battling his past demons, and several others.
Jonasson’s set-up is good. The reader eager awaits to see how all the stories will somehow meet and possibly come to fruition. But the problem is that several peter out without any connection to the central plot. The writing is jilted at times, and while it may be an issue with the translation, it was distracting to a fault.
Overall, there are too many other good options in this genre to recommend Blackout, including several by Iceland’s own Yrsa Sigurdardottir.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press/ Minotaur Books, and the author for the advanced copy for review.

I’m a big fan of the Nordic Noir genre, so I was pleased to find a new author. My excitement was short-lived, however. The book was hard to get into—boring, in a word. A journalist and the police are both investigating the same murder. So many plot lines, involving murder, human trafficking, rape, lost loves, past abuse, medical malpractice—unfortunately, this book just didn’t work for me. I didn’t care about any of the characters at all.

Ragnar Jonasson's Dark Iceland series is a solid addition to the Scandinavian Noir genre, perhaps not as dark as some of the standard titles in this category. Ari Thor is a policeman in a small Icelandic town, finding his way among the locals. This title involves the murder of a not-so-nice man, many people having possible motives. The first in this series is Snowblind, which is excellent. Blackout is good, but not the best in the series. Jonasson learned English by translating Agatha Christie books into Icelandic, which can give you a sense of the series.

The summer days in Iceland are long, the sun barely sets before it rises again, but this year the skies are darkened by the ash of an erupting volcano and a man is found beaten to death under the Arctic sky. A police officer and a reporter both search for answers about why the man was killed, even as they struggle with their own demons. Iceland provides a majestic backdrop in this intense and meticulously told tale of Nordic Noir

I am so angry at myself. I have already read this wonderful book and posted my review on Goodreads. I gave it five stars out of five. Highly recommended!