Like others have said, this was a slow burn, but still very intriguing. I’ve only recently gotten into “Nordic Noir”, and while this one doesn’t have all the action and drama that a Stieg Larsson book has, I still enjoyed it very much. There was quite a bit of telling, not showing, but I am not sure if this was a result of the writing itself or the translation. It wasn’t enough to bother me, but it could have given the story a bit more oomph had it been edited out. One thing I will say is that the protagonist changes midway through the story. I’m generally not a fan of that, and it’s hard to make that work in my opinion. So it was hard to form attachments to some of the characters because they weren’t with me the whole time. With that being said, I think the story was done well.

Huge thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for sending me this ARC for review! All of my reviews are given honestly!

I am a long time fan of Scandi mysteries, especially those set in Iceland. Though I have not read anything by Katrin Jakobsdottir, I have enjoyed books by Ragnar Jonasson so the chance to read this was a treat. Likewise, I know from previous books that Victoria Cribb is an excellent translator. The authors and the translator did not disappoint. Billed as a crime story, the action begins in the 1950s. A young girl, Lara, disappears while working on a vacation island off the coast of Iceland. The country is stunned, especially since the crime is never solved. Periodically updates are published, continuing to ask the public for help. The decades go by without a solution.

In the 1980s, while the city of Reykjavik plans a celebration of its two hundred anniversary, a local journalist decides to investigate Lara's disappearance again. What he finds is far more complex a case with secrets still tightly held after all those years. The investigation threatens those involved in the crime and dire events occur.

Though this novel is billed as a crime story it is also a reexamination of the 1980s culture of Iceland and even other world events happening at the time. I found it fascinating to revisit that decade while reading the crime story. The authors did a wonderful job depicting the culture of the time. They serve up a clever combination of crime and culture.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-galley.

This Icelandic crime story about a long missing teenager who vanished from an island was not my first book from Ragnar Jonasson, but it was indeed the first book ever by Katrin Jakobsdottir, the Prime Minister of Iceland. This wasn't my favorite of the Jonasson books I've read. At first I thought the translation might have been a bit clunky, but that soon improved. I just wish it had been more atmospheric and descriptive. Otherwise, it was just fine.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an advanced copy of the manuscript.

Another winner from Ragnar Jonasson, the storyline is well written and keeps you guessing right till the end. His books are always a joy to read and this book doesn’t disappoint.

This was totally enthralling and captivating.
I loved the setting - we need more books set in Iceland!
I LOVED the afterword.

This was so well written, really kept you engaged, guessing and on the edge of your seat.

A crime novel set in Reykjavik, Iceland in the late 50s and then again in the 80s when journalist Valur reviews the 30 year-old story for his newspaper, attempting to solve the disappearance of a 15 year-old maid on an island a few miles of the coast. The story is first told by Valur and picked up later in the novel by his sister Sunna which gives great perspective on both of their characters. The newspaper setting seems true to life (having worked at a newspaper). As is the self-doubt expressed by the protagonists. Tension could have been greatly heightened if the culprit had been suspected of the crime much sooner in the story.

A very enjoyable mystery in what is, for me, a far off land. Even so, the characters are believable and relatable. Journalist Valur Robertsson, very much a rookie in the reporting industry, becomes intrigued with the 30 year old disappearance of Lára Marteinsdóttir, who was working as a house maid for a prominent couple on the small island of Videy. Lára leaves her position early but never makes it to the mainland, and speculations abound as to whether she is still on the island, if she's dead or alive, is she in hiding in Reykjavik or elsewhere. It quickly becomes apparent that a person or persons does not want the mystery solved, and Valur receives some communications that indicate that he is on the right track. The story is picked up by his younger sister Sunna after Valur's untimely death and between the two of them, the story progresses.

There were places in this story where I felt the writing was not as strong as it could have been, and I would have liked more details about Lára. She almost seems like an afterthought, as I felt like I didn't know her well. A little more of her story would have made the book a little more complete for me. But overall this was a great read and I would highly recommend it!

My ARC was provided by the publisher and by NetGalley, the opinions expressed herein are my own.

In the afterword, Jakobsdóttir explains how she and Jónasson wrote this novel as a throwback to their youth, and how they had a lot of fun reminiscing about their favorite decade. I grew up in the 80s, so I vaguely recalled some of the events in the background and it was fascinating to see the similarities and differences between my recollections and what happened in Iceland. The subject matter being a disappearance in a small Icelandic island in 1956 that lingers for three decades reminded me of one of my favorite writers, Erlendur Sveinsson. The pacing was also similar in that it’s a slow-burn, with a strong focus on the historical background. That said, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have. The mystery was compelling, if a little predictable, and the cast of characters was solid enough that I was rooting for them. My problem was that I couldn’t connect with anyone, maybe because the lead changes over time. I also think that the plot was drown in too much historical detail. I enjoyed knowing that the radio was playing Madonna, but the content of the two TV stations became distracting when all I wanted was to know what had happened to Lára. I’m sure many readers will enjoy this novel, it was just not for me.
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!

Completely captivating and just what I needed to read. This will keep your mind guessing and your head spinning. Highly recommend to readers of all types.

What level of class privilege is necessary for a celebrated lawyer and his wife to allow a young teen to allegedly leave their home without ensuring the child was safely returned home? And this was in 1956, when even having a 15-year-old from a middle-class family employed far from home was, at least in the US, almost unheard-of.

That’s the basis for Reykjavik, a mystery set in Iceland in the mid-1980s, and for mystery lovers bored with the repetitious kind of narrative and characters that tend to be standard fare, it’s a definite candidate for the TBR pile.

One of the pleasures of reading mysteries set in the past is watching detectives using their brains to track evidence and deal with suspects instead of a battery of technological bells and whistles. It’s also the reason why cases more easily went cold, especially if direct effort was employed to ensure that happened. In this case, however, the solution to who killed Lara is obtained using completely non-tech methods.

In brief, 30 years after the fact young journalist Valur Robertsson takes on an investigative project to determine whether he can solve the disappearance of Lara Marteinsdottir, who went to work on Videy, an island off the coast from the city of Reykjavik, and never came home. He begins to unravel secrets those keeping them want to remain hidden. Then, a mysterious phone call opens a crack in the wall of silence—and Valur, too, is murdered.

The cold case might have gone back into the freezer at that point, but the murderer didn’t count on Valur’s sister Sunna, who decides she needs to complete her brother’s investigation.

To some degree, this book might be considered a cozy mystery, given the sleuth isn’t a detective but a university student whose beloved brother is murdered when it seems he’s getting too close to the truth. However, the style is much more interesting than the all-too-often cookie-cutter format of cozy mysteries. It’s a story about finding the culprit, but it’s also about how the process of doing so affects those most closely involved in doing it, and the personal changes they experience.

In US mysteries, most of the focus is on a handful of characters as the sleuth and/or detective goes about solving the crime. Here, we meet one after another of not just potential suspects or witnesses but groups of married couples, business partners and similar social clusters, and are invited to meet them, to form a relationship. We learn some of their darkest secrets, so they’re never just sketches to keep us anchored to the plot—passers-by on the way to the Big Reveal.

There’s also a level of intimacy missing from much genre fiction, in that Icelandic naming conventions lead to everyone referring to others using their Christian names. Even so, the division between the wealthy and powerful and the rest of the population lurks beneath the surface.

What’s fascinating about this novel is that all the clues are made available, and one might even begin to feel slightly suspicious, but when the murderer is finally revealed it still comes as a surprise. Perhaps that because the alternative suspects are all such arrogant members of the Upper Crust one’s prejudices there’s a lower-class urge to really want one of them to be guilty. And one of them is, of course, but you’ll have to read the book to find out which.

I enjoyed this title quite a bit. It wasn’t quite a cozy - it had a darker thriller line running through it. However the writing kept me reading. The characters were interesting. However many of them seemed to pop up and then not go anywhere (like Pall’s wife and Olof and Gunner). And the murderer really came out of nowhere. Don’t love it when the reader doesn’t have all the facts.
Sunna and Valur were great. The police officer was another charter that felt incomplete.
I did like this book. But it feels like it has a lot of loose threads.

Reykjavík is a tour de force. It is a really riveting read which serves as a loving homage to the best of Icelandic noir. It's a great genre book which deserves the full attention of the reading public. Jónasson and Jakobsdóttir have written a mystery about a teen girl who seemingly vanished into thin air one night in the 1956. Is she dead? Is she still alive? Those are questions the authors revisit in 1966, 1976, and 1986 through the eyes of their characters. It is a hunt for truth which keeps the readers enthralled from beginning to end. The conclusion is deftly done by these two masters. You'll applaud both at the end. I read the book in one setting. I think you'll do the same too. Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books, and NetGalley for the advance reading copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

A remote island,Videy, off the coast of Reykjavik, is the last place that 15 year old Lara is seen. It’s been 30 years with no sign of her, but her parents still hold onto the hope that she is alive.
A young journalist,Valur, becomes determined to solve this case. There were only two other people on the island,Lara’s employers, who claim she decided to leave with very little notice. They have no idea who picked her up or where she went next. Valur gets an anonymous tip, stating that Lara is dead. While he pursues any lead he can, he seems to be having no more luck than the police in solving this baffling mystery.
But another tragedy strikes and someone else Sunna(Valur’s sister), decides that she must figure out what happened to this young girl. This wasn’t as fast paced as some of the books I’ve read by this author, perhaps because he had a co-author, and they were just going for more character driven mystery. There are a lot of characters,and except for the ones I ruled out by their age, everyone seemed like they might be guilty at one point. I did not guess whodunnit. Probably thanks to the authors providing so many red herrings.
Even though I really didn’t feel like I got to know Lara, I still wanted justice for her, and for someone else in the story too( no spoilers). One thing that was provided was an extremely helpful pronunciation guide. I really appreciated that.

Reykjavik
In 1956 15 year old Lara took a summer job on Videy, a small island off Reykjavik. The Oskarssons, the wealthy couple she worked for, were the only people residing on the island. Lara’s parents became concerned when she did not make her weekly call home. The police were notified and Kristjan was put in charge of the case.When he investigated, the Oskarssons told him that Lara had suddenly quit her job, taken her belongings and left. She was never seen again.
Kristjan was hampered by his superiors when he tried to further question the influential Oskarssons. Although the case was news all over the tiny country (about 150,000 inhabitants) it remained unsolved.
Thirty years later Valur, a young reporter on a weekly newspaper, decided to conduct his own investigation of this cold case. He wrote a series of articles after questioning Lara’s parents, Kristjan, the Oskarssons and others who knew Lara. He also received an anonymous phone call and a cryptic letter at the newspaper office. Then Valur was pushed in front of a bus and killed.
Sunna, his sister, was convinced that Valur was murdered because of his involvement in Lara’s disappearance. So Sunna took up her own investigation into the case and was able to solve the 30 year old mystery.
I was fascinated in this book because I have recently visited Iceland. The authors, an award winning writer and the Prime Minister of Iceland, wrote most of this book together during Covid lockdown. They used historical events like the 200 year anniversary of the city and the meeting of Gorbachev and Reagan as a backdrop to the story.
I enjoyed the story as I learned many things about life in a city of this tiny county.
I received this ARC from the publisher and NewGalley in exchange for an honest review.

In 1956, fourteen year old Lara gave up her summer job on the island of Videy, Iceland and disappeared. The couple for whom she worked was well connected politically, as well as having some high powered friends. The detective investigating her disappearance was dissuaded from pursuing the case as he would have liked. That haunted him until, on the 30th anniversary of her disappearance, an inquisitive reporter is given a clue and initiates his own dangerous investigation.

In this story, the reader is brought back to the 1980s, the 200th anniversary of Reykjavik and a time before cell phones and internet searches. It is a slow burn; don’t look for fast paced action. Yet, I couldn’t put it down, wanting to find out the solution. I do enjoy Nordic noir and this is a nice addition to that body of literature.

The authors kindly provided a cast of characters in the beginning and a pronunciation guide at the end for all the Icelandic names. I wish I had reviewed the pronunciation guide before reading the book as I realized some of the inflections I used were totally wrong!

In 1956 fourteen-year-old Lara spends the summer working for a couple on a small island. In early August the girl disappears without a trace. As time passes, the case becomes one of Iceland’s most infamous unsolved case…

Thirty years later, the city celebrates its 200th anniversary and a journalist begins an investigation into Lara’s case. As he becomes close to solving the case it becomes clear that some things may be kept unsolved.

This is my third book by this author. I usually really enjoy books and they hold my interest, but this one was a little disappointing for me. The book was a slow burn to the last minute. Not a ton happened throughout the book until the end during the big reveal. I am still grappling whether it was worth the wait or not. The whole book kind of just existed. This isn’t a bad thing, it just is. I will still be reading more from this author, I think that this one just didn’t work for me.

If you are looking for an Icelandic Noir, then check this one out.

Thank you to the publisher St Martins Press, @StMartinsPress and Netgalley @Netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

More links will be added once posted.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

In 1956, on a small Icelandic island named Videy, a fourteen-year old girl named Lara disappeared without a trace. Supposedly, she took her luggage and left a position as a maid for a wealthy attorney and his wife. They are the only inhabitants who lived on the island.

The investigating officer, a newly minted one named Kristian, interviewed the attorney and his wife. The wife seemed to know more than she told Kristian. But a telephone call from one of his superiors put paid to the interview. The wealthy attorney has friends in the police department.

It is now 1986, thirty years later. Valur, a young, ambitious reporter takes on Lara’s story, His small paper sells many, many copies of papers in which Valur’s stories about Lara appear.. He receives a mysterious phone call from a woman who says Lara is dead and deserves a proper burial. Valur feels he is working on a real solution to the apparent murder. He receives a note with a woman’s name, but nothing else.

Value meets with his sister, Sunna to talk through the case. But he doesn’t tell her everything. Armed with Valur’s notebooks, Sunna begins an investigation of her own.

Can Valur and Sunna solve the crime that has fixated Iceland for years?

I have enjoyed Ragnar Jonasson’s novels since the time when they were translated into English. (Hats off to this translator, Victoria Cribb, by the way. She did a wonderful job capturing the essence of this novel.) Ragnar’s books have captured my interest. I like the characters and the wild vistas of Iceland. I can easily see why Ragnar is so popular in their native country.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books for forwarding to me a copy of this wonderful book. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

The "feel" or "tone" of this is very different. Very simple. Very straightforward. Good character development, though they spend a lot of time in their own heads. Is this due to the Icelandic culture? The author? The translation process?

This book was a slow burn to the end. Except for one surprising incident, it was very straightforward until the final reveal, which I did not see coming.

It is hard to tell if the writing is this way in a translation, but it is very matter of fact and sparse. It works for me. I still get the sense of setting, etc.

Lara disappear in 1956 and a young police officer gets this as one of his first cases. There aren’t many clues and since there are influential people involved, the investigation stalls.

Fast forward thirty years and a young reporter begins to dig into the case bringing new inforyto light.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC to read and review.

Got to be honest here…this is not the most exciting book ever written.

It’s a perfectly pleasant murder mystery dealing with a 30-year-old missing person.

There’s very little suspense, very little edge, and the solution to the mystery is quite basic.

It was challenging to truly like our main character(s) because our MC changes part way through the book. And, since we never really get to know our victim (from 30 years ago), it’s hard to truly care.

It’s not a bad book – it’s just not quite what I’ve come to expect from the author.

• ARC via Publisher