*spoilers* Good but a few plot devices difficult to believe--mostly how much time had passed before the revenge plot.

Outside by Ragnar Jónasson

Four long time friends are trekking through the Icelandic highlands to bird hunt. It's a strange get together for these friends because it's not as if they are into hunting but Armann suggested the trip and the others went along with it. Armann has made his fortune organizing trips so he knows what he is doing. So how do things go so very wrong?

That atmosphere is charged, the sense of danger and wrong choices made is very real. It's so cold and then a storm hits. Decisions need to be made where no matter what choice is made, it could be the wrong one.

As the story progresses, we go from the viewpoint of each of the four characters, over and over. Being inside their heads allowed me to know I didn't like any of them. The more I knew, the less I liked them. Something is very wrong with this excursion and it's only at the end that we learn motivations and reasons. And then the book ends very abruptly, in an almost not an ending manner. So, I was left feeling frozen in my dislike of the situation and the people.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this ARC.

This author was new to me, as I enjoy Nordic Noir and mystery I was excited to read it. The plot had potential, however; it fell short of thrilling.
The setting in the Icelandic moors was perfectly chilling and realistically described. The chapters alternate between the four main characters perspectives.
Daníel, a struggling actor from London meets up with Helena, an engineer, Gunnlaugur, a lawyer, and Ármann the guide, for a reunion trip. They are "friends" from college days. They are going bird hunting despite having little knowledge of the sport or firing a gun. Ármann assures them he's skilled, will teach and even loan them a gun.
A storm threatens to ruin all their plans and they must find an emergency hut for shelter. When they finally break into the locked hut they make an odd discovery. There's an unknown, nonverbal man sitting in the dark with a gun.
What follows was a somewhat tedious, unrealistic and slow trek into the snowstorm for help. The pacing mid-story was more annoying than tension building.
Each person has secrets, bad choices, past mistakes and lies. Ulterior motives for this reunion of people who really don't like each other begin to surface. None of these characters were particularly likable. The setting was more intriguing than this strange group of revenge seeking adults.
Having heard and read many good reviews of the author, I would like to see if I preferred his other books and may try him again.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance digital copy of "Outside" by Ragnar Jónasson and to Minatour Books. These are my honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily.

I loved the set-up - four friends with secrets stuck in a cabin in a snowstorm ... but the writing was a bit on the nose, and I found myself not really caring if any of them lived or died.
Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur for the advance look.

There was a lot of chilly atmosphere here - a group of four friends from their university days (siblings Armann and Helena, plus Daniel and Gunnlauger) are spending a weekend together on a hunting trip when a terrible white-out blizzard forces them to seek shelter in a remote cabin. When they get there, they are shocked at what they find. Things deteriorate from there.

Overall, though, this is pretty slow paced and higher on atmosphere and dialogue than actual plot. The reveal comes at the end with a big info-dump. Then the book ends abruptly, leaving the reader with more questions than answers.

A group of friends, out on a hunting trip, caught in a storm…. What could possibly go wrong. Perfect for the edge of your seat, wilderness thriller reader.

Always ready for a new Ragnar mystery...he does a great job of capturing Iceland and bringing it as a key figure in every book. An adventure of four old friends goes horribly awry but the ending will take you ge surprise!

I love all of his books so I couldn’t wait for this one to come out. I found it to be thrilling and you never knew what was going to happen.

Outside is a bone-chilling, hair-raising mystery that will have you making hot cocoa and curling up in warm sheets courtesy of Ragnar Jonasson’s haunting descriptions of the cold Icelandic setting. Beware, Jonasson’s manner of establishing a sinister and devious situation with relatable and deeply disturbing characters makes Outside the perfect story to read during nighttime.
Picture a dangerous and heavy snowstorm raging down upon a small hut in the middle of nowhere, trapping 4 friends in for a long haul. Seems pretty harmless, until the secrets start flowing into the open and suddenly nothing is what it seems and no one is who they say they are. Was it fate that they ended up in that hut, and do they have company, are just two of the many more burning questions you’ll have while breezing through this relentless mystery that turns darker by each page.
Jonasson excels at crafting realistic and resonating multi-layered characters that elevate the stakes to dangerously addictive levels for the readers, enchanting and destroying the readers simultaneously with horrible acts that are not too far from what we see in society today. There is a pungent aura of mystique and unsettling climax as the narrative progresses via POVs of each of the 4 characters, keeping your imagination running wild as you wrack your brain to figure out the mystery before its too late for the characters you’re rooting for.
Outside is a magnificent whodunnit story of grief, bad choices, and human nature that speaks to readers on a personal level. The resolution is sure to cause division among readers; Jonasson does not offer a clean ending but rather settles the major premise of the book, leaving the rest to the imagination of the readers. It caught me off guard but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense for a confined-setting story set completely in one location. I would not be surprised if this is picked up for a movie adaptation, it certainly embodies the cinematic charisma.

Full review posted on: https://www.bestthrillerbooks.com/kashif-hussain

This is one of those stories that is hard for me to rate. There were a bunch of plot twist and a strange, unsettling atmosphere. But I had a hard time connecting to the characters, all of whom were kind of cold and unlikable. For me, it’s the characters that drive the story. But I think the story could be more enjoyable for people who find don’t mind focusing on the tension instead.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was my first book by RAGNAR JÓNASSON, did. Or disappoint. Set in the Highlands of Iceland, one cabin, four friends: Armann, Gunnlauger, Daniel, Helena and then a blizzard. This book is a thrilling mind game. Do you ever really know your friends? Can a secret ever really stay secret? Told from many viewpoints this story is about how far each of us would go to survive.

An amazing thriller with twists like crazy. Unlikeable characters galore and a fantastic setting in a frozen landscape. I want more Ragnar Jonasson!

Jonasson is a premiere Icelandic author.
Outside, in a nod to Agatha Christie, involves four friends and one night in a blizzard.
It turns out that they are not alone and work to outrun the evil that threatens them all

This was an ok story for me, but left a lot of unanswered questions. It centers on 4 friends who get together in a remote area of Iceland to bird hunt and end up getting stuck in a blizzard. They find shelter but there is scariness around it; the stressful situation causes some secrets they have kept hidden to come out.

The characters were not likable but I assume they were not supposed to be. I enjoyed the dynamics between them, though I couldn’t figure out why they still got together when they clearly didn’t like each other. The book could easily be pictured as a play, with the entire thing taking place between these 4 “friends” and mostly in that one location.

I really didn’t like the end- it was abrupt and left me with more questions than answers. Up until that point the story was moderately fast paced and contained a couple good scary parts.

Overall, this was a decent read but I didn’t love it. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Outside is by an Icelandic author, Ragnar Jonasson, that I have enjoyed before. I also love Nordic noir. That said Outside was repetitive, I guessed most of the twists right away, it wasn’t really thrilling, and the end left the characters in a weird predicament with more questions left than answered. Ok, did they get back safe? Did they burn the bodies? What about the letters?

The whole premise was just weird. I also think some of the phrasing was lost in translation. Maybe the movie will be better? This was a quick read with short chapters and alternating points of view and still managed to be repetitive. At no point was I truly interested or invested.

This chilly thriller gave me all the feels. The writing puts you right in the frozen atmosphere and the well fleshed out characters kept me flipping pages well into night. This is my second book by Ragnar Jonasson and it definitely won’t be my last.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

Claustrophobic, dark and atmospheric, this short novel reads more like a play. Four characters hiding secrets, a remote shelter surrounded by snow in the middle of the Icelandic winter and an unexpected stranger in their midst. It would be hard to find a more unlikeable cast of characters, they’re supposed to be friends but their grudges make it hard to fathom how they’re even together. I couldn’t relate to any of them and yet, the plot is so tight that I was invested in their story. The author does a great job describing the bleak, cold and dead world in which they’re trapped. The twists are not flashy, but they are relatable, since the characters are complex and very human. It’s best to read this without knowing anything so I’ll stop here. I’ll just say that it’s a tense, fast and smart novel that, like the most bitter cold, will grip the reader and not let go.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books!

Outside is exactly how I love his books, perfectly atmospheric and unsettling. Four friends get together for a hunting trip and end up seeking shelter in an abandoned hut during a blizzard. But they are not alone and as the night progresses, old grievances come to light and friendships get tested and not everyone will come out alive.

Again, love his writing and this book had some of my favourite tropes: multiple POV’s, locked room vibes, snow storm and questionable characters. I’ve only read his Hidden Iceland series so far and if you enjoyed that series, I think you will definitely like this book. This was on the slow burn side but the mounting tension and mystery had me hooked. 4.5⭐️

Ready for an intense read? Then this is the book for you!

"Outside" is about four people who have been friends for years. While they don't see each other as often as they used to, they decide to reunite for a hunting trip in Iceland during the winter. This book is told from all four of the main characters POVs, and I thought the author did a nice job making each of them unique enough that the story was never confusing.

On the first day of their hunting trip a blizzard hits and the friends must seek a hut for shelter. To their horror, when they enter the hut, they find a man who will not speak and is holding a gun. What happens next is intense. Who will survive the night?

The chilly atmosphere in this story had me hooked from page one. Iceland is one of my favorite countries and I felt like I was there, and part of the nerve-wracking evening as I read along. This is a very quick read. It only took me about 1.5 hours to get through, and the only critique I have is I wanted more!

Special thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-arc of this novel, set to release on July 12, 2022.

This is a mystery set in Iceland during a whiteout.

I found the pacing to be a little off. The book, however, was very atmospheric and was interesting.
This is my second book by this author and I'm learning that translated works are not for me.