Oh, what an atmospheric tale, the cold, bitter weather of an Icelandic winter echoing the coldness in so many of the characters’ hearts. I found this to be a tough, yet captivating read, the two mysteries almost a backseat to Agnes’s journey to better mental health.

This book was a chilling read in more ways than one. Not only does it take place in Iceland in the winter, but it is also a murder mystery in which everything is suspect and therefore, chilling.

Larsen definitely makes the cold and ice and snow a character. I’m shivering just thinking about it. And Agne’s wounded leg, smashed to bits on a rocky California beach, is far from completely healed more than a year after the accident that caused it. An accident in which the avoidance of pain has become an opioid dependency—two things essential to how the book plays out.

Agnes, against her father’s wishes, travels to Iceland to speak to a podcaster who is delving into the mystery of who killed her grandmother and her aunt, an infant at the time. Her grandfather, whom she grew up loving more than her own father, has always been the main suspect. But now that he has died, Agnes wants to put to rest the rumors about him. She can’t believe he would have done such a thing, but as she delves deeper into the mystery, she begins to question everything.

It's a slow build, at first, but by the end of the book, your heart will be racing just as fast as the pace as the truth is finally revealed. There’s a bit of romance, as well.

Agnes is visiting her ancestral home of Iceland for the first time. Her father and grandfather left 40 years earlier under suspicions of being involved in the death of Agnes' grandmother and her infant daughter. Her family has never returned. With an invitation to be a part of a podcast investigating the murders, Agnes heads to Iceland to see what truths are laying beneath the surface. Agnes arrives to find another local girl has gone missing. Is there a connection between the two women, 40 years apart? What secrets are hiding beneath the ice and snow of this peaceful remote town?

This was a good murder mystery. It felt like "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" meets "Good Girl's Guide to Murder." The story kept me guessing and had a bunch of twists and turns. I really empathized with Agnes' struggle with painkillers and depression. I can't imagine having to flip all your ideas of what you think you know about your family and reexamine them.

*** I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. ***

Book Title: The Lost House
Author: Melissa Larsen
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: January 14, 2025
My Rating: 3 Stars
Pages: 352

Agnes Glin lives in California and recently had a surfing accident that causes serious injury to her leg. While healing she had of time to think more about a family tragedy that happened in Iceland in1979. Her grandmother Marie and baby daughter were killed. Her grandfather Einar Paisson was accused but immediately left the country which made everyone sure he did it.
Now Agnes plans to go to Bifröst, Iceland to meet Nora Carver, a podcaster who is making an episode about the deaths. Agnes wants to clear her grandfather's name.

Agnes no sooner arrives in Iceland, when another young girl goes missing. Is it merely a coincidence?
In either case Agnes and Nora’s investigation has been s turned upside down,

I have reads only a few other books based in Iceland and there were great so I kind of went into this with high expectations.
Although this is good- I did not love it probably has a lot more to do with timing as I recently read several awesome stories!

I did enjoy reading the ‘Author’s Notes’ Acknowledgments as well as ‘About the Author’.
I laughed out loud at the comment
When Ms. Larsen isn’t traveling somewhere to do research or hurting herself in the process she lives in New York City.

Want to thank NetGalley and Publisher St. Martin’s /Minotaur Books for to this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for January 14, 2025,

Agnes has lived her whole life with the story of her family’s violent history, of the belief that her grandfather murdered her grandmother and baby aunt and then fled to America from Iceland. She only knows the grandfather who helped raise her with love so when the chance comes for her to travel to Iceland to participate in a cold-case podcast about the murder she jumps at it. This hugely atmospheric thriller kept me immersed and turning pages as fast as I could.

I usually love thrillers and horror set in winter, especially in an Icelandic setting. Unfortunately this one fell flat. I couldn't connect to the characters or the plot.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the #gifted electronic copy. All opinions are my own.

A bit of a slowburn mystery with an interesting hook. A woman found dead with her infant daughter in the snow. All fingers point to the husband. Now many decades later Agnes, the granddaughter of the deceased woman, returns to Iceland to resolve her feelings toward her beloved grandfather, the accused murderer. A true crime podcaster also wants to get to the bottom of the many decades old murder mystery. But alas, yet another young woman goes missing.

Themes of murder, dissatisfaction in one's life, familial love, unrequited love, and addiction at times became muddled. I would have enjoyed this book a bit more without the distraction of the injury/addiction.

Thank you to the publisher, Melissa Larsen, and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Lost House will blow your mind! I loved the setting, Iceland, and the strong complex female characters. There's nothing I love more than a complex main character. Agnes travels to Iceland to help a murder podcaster, Nora, get answers about whether her grandfather killed her grandma and aunt. She's in a complicated spot because if she finds out that her grandfather did commit the murders than everything she believe in could be wrong.

Agnes is a complex character because she is trying to hide the fact that she's going through a lot. She's grieving her grandfather's passing, she's in physical pain from an accident, her father isn't speaking to her, and she has no one else in your life to turn to. Then you add the isolation of being in a foreign country and not knowing the land or the language. Plus, everyone she meets thinks her grandfather is guilty, which adds another layer to her grief.

The Lost House is a slow burn but the twisty turns of the plot throughout will keep you guessing. It's a great book for the cold winters when you want to cuddle up with a good thriller. This book was so good and I'm glad I received it from NetGalley. I will be reading more from Melissa Larsen!

The Lost House is a thriller focusing on two separate incidents that happened 40 years apart. Agnes has traveled to a small town in Iceland to meet with a true-crime podcaster who is investigating the unsolved murders of Agnes’ grandmother and aunt. A young woman goes missing from the town shortly before Agnes’ arrival.

The character development of Agnes was top notch. You could feel both the physical and mental pain she was in as she deals with the aftermath of an accident that shattered her leg as well as dealing with the grief of losing her grandfather, who was the main suspect in the murders, but who had only shown love and kindness towards Agnes. It was also interesting to read a novel set in Iceland; the setting was so important to the story. I look forward to reading the author’s first book and her future books!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book. It is written as a podcast host investigating a cold case on a milestone anniversary, and she invites a descendant from the original suspect to Iceland with her.

Overall, the book was good. The characters were dynamic and enjoyable and the plot built for most of the book. A couple of things that turned me off were (1) some of the characters kind of just disappeared and I wanted more of them and (2) I felt like some of the story line was fluff and could have been omitted.

Overall, I loved the concept for this book and the setting in Iceland. I found myself greatly enjoying reading it and would recommend

The Lost House is an atmospheric, slow burn.

Agnes is reeling from the death of her grandfather and she decides to return to his home in Iceland. Years before she was more, her grandmother and aunt were found murdered and frozen in ice, with her grandfather as the only suspect. He fled Iceland and she grew up with her father and grandfather with no discussion of the past. Now, a popular podcaster is delving into the case and against her father's advice, Agnes has agreed to travel to Iceland and revisit the scene of the crime and try to clear her grandfather's name. Another woman goes missing right before her arrival--could these cases be related??

This book is very, very descriptive, has a host of characters and is relatively slow moving. There are a few flashes to the past, but the story is mainly told in first person by Agnes. She has a lot going on in her personal life and makes many questionable decisions. Once the events of the murder in the past and the missing woman in the present are revealed, everything makes sense and Agnes can get on with her life.

Overall, a three star read. There was too much description and too little plot movement for my liking.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I love a good thriller, and having one set in Iceland got me really excited. The first half of the book was slow, and I put it down several times until I forced myself to keep reading. I am glad that I did. The second half of the book flew by, as it was very fast-paced. I would definitely read more by this author in the future.

This book came into my life at just the right time. Desperately in need of a distraction, I became fully immersed in this story, and the lives of the characters in it. A young woman with a haunting past returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family. I was immediately transported to Iceland’s frozen landscape, and the small town of Bifröst. It’s rare I find a mystery that really grips me, but in this case I was captivated from start to finish. The story felt very character driven, and I cared about Agnus and her quest for the truth about her family’s dark past.

Traveling to her hometown to meet true crime podcaster, Nora, was an interesting angle, and allowed Agnes access to suspects she might not have had otherwise. I was intrigued by Agnes’s past—the murder of her grandmother and aunt—and the more recent missing young woman Asa. The character arcs were fascinating, specifically how they intertwined with Agnus’s family. I definitely had multiple theories about the murder, but had no clue how or if it connected to the more recent crime. The end twist caught me completely off guard but made perfect sense. One particular scene that still haunts me was when Angus fell through the barn floor, breaking her already shattered knee. The ending was very satisfying and there wasn’t one loose end or detail out of place. The pace and plot were perfectly executed, and held my attention throughout.

5/5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For readers who enjoy suspense, immersive settings, and complex female protagonists.

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Agnes is trying to solve a decades old murder that her grandfather was a suspect in. Shortly after her arrival, their is another murder in this quaint town. This book kept me interested from the start.

This book reminded me of Arnaldur Indriðason’s Erlendur Series, not only because it’s set in Iceland and deals with historical crime, but also the pace of the story. In this atmospheric slow boiler, Agnes returns to the country that her grandfather fled long ago, accused of murdering his wife and baby girl. Now Nora, a true crime podcaster, is on the case and Agnes is back to talk about the case. Agnes gets to meet all the people involved with her late grandmother’s murder, as well as their descendants. They all remember differently, and it will be up to her and Nora to try to make sense of it all. To complicate matters, a girl has recently disappeared and it’s not clear if it was a crime, suicide, or an accident, or if maybe she left and is fine somewhere far away. The resolution of the mystery is not that important, the biggest question is whether Anges’ beloved grandfather did it and how could he had been so good to her if he had been a monster. The big reveal was not as unexpected as I was hoping for. But my real problem was Agnes. I just didn’t like her, so it was hard to care about her problems, because most of them are of her own making. I was still interested in the mystery.
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.

This novel is an atmospheric Nordic Noir. Agnes Glin leaves her house in California to return to an ancestral home in Iceland that her grandfather fled after the horrific discovery of his wife and child buried together in the snow in 1979. The local authorities could never gather enough evidence to bring any official charges. In the eyes of the community, Einar Palsson was guilty and left town with his son and that blight firmly on his name. To Agnes, Einar was a gentle and loving grandfather who could never have committed such a brutal crime. Agnes returns to Bifrost with the hope of clearing her grandfather’s name along with the help of Nora, a true crime podcast journalist covering the 40-year-old murder. Upon her timely return, the small town is once again rocked by the mysterious disappearance of a local young woman, and a frantic search in the bitter cold ensues. Lock the doors and make yourself a hot cup of tea, the subsequent investigations are chilling in more ways than one.

I thank NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of The Lost House for my unbiased evaluation.  3 stars

Iceland!

An unsolved murder: a mother and child found, brutally murdered, in a shallow icy grave.

A granddaughter determined to clear her grandfather's name.

Another missing woman, in the same town.

Agnes was raised by her grandfather, who fled Iceland under suspicion of having murdered his younger wife and their newborn daughter. She is lured to Iceland when a podcaster invites her to join her investigation into this unsolved crime.

Agnes is recuperating from a serious fall which shattered one of her legs. She is in constant pain and is taking strong painkillers. So, you have to ask yourself: how reliable is Agnes?

We begin to doubt just about everyone's motives in this very well-written thriller.

Emotions apparently run high in Iceland in The Lost House, and although I did guess the culprit (I read waaay too many thrillers!) that action-packed ending had me glued to each page. The author does an excellent job of maintaining suspense and her writing is very visual. I could easily picture the frozen countryside and the derelict, vandalized ancestral home - now abandoned and soon to be demolished.

I highly recommend this atmospheric, action packed read: I'm rating this a 4.4 out of 5. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARc of this novel in exchange for an honest review. (Scheduled publication date: January 14, 2025.)

Imagine growing up with the knowledge your grandmother and aunt were murdered in a foreign country and used as folklore around the country? Now add the fact they believe your grandfather did it. All the while you grew up with him as nothing but a kind a loving soul.
If given the option after his death to revisit and find answers for yourself would you? Well that’s exactly what Agnes did. She is a very flawed character trying to navigate her life by pushing through the pain of the past and how that shattered her current life to start a new. But the only way she can is to uncover and understand the sins of her families Past.

Thank you NetGalley and Atria Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Agnes just landed in Iceland to visit the town her father is from. She’s never been here before, but an invitation to visit from a true crime podcaster was too good to pass up. The podcaster is investigating the unsolved murder of Agnes’ grandmother and aunt decades before – a crime her beloved grandfather was accused of before moving with his young son to America. Agnes is hoping to learn more about her roots and the history her father wouldn’t discuss while helping the podcaster investigate, but arrives to find a town engrossed in a search for another woman missing from the same home her family used to live it. Is it just a coincidence, or does her grandmother’s murder have a connection to this latest disappearance?

The Lost House is the sophomore release from acclaimed thriller author Melissa Larsen. With strong female characters, the author delivers a setting where both a language barrier and the weather also become characters in the plot. What starts as almost a coming-of-age story, turns into a domestic thriller with a story as powerful as some of the greats like the Marc Cameron or John Sandford. This is a book about trusting yourself and learning not to believe in first impressions.

I give The Lost House 5 out of 5 stars. Thrillers like this aren’t usually my first choice, but this was a fantastic read! Larsen knows how to make a scene leap off the page. The author built great characters and layered in plot points and relationships in a way that kept me guessing until the end! I appreciate the family dynamics throughout the novel and the way the author closed the loop with Agnes’ family journey at the end. I will say the romantic relationships in the novel felt slightly out of place and developed on too quick of a timeline. But given that the characters are part of a rave and drug scene, I can understand the quick hookup and development.

With themes of murder, assault, and sex, this book would be best directed to more mature readers over 16. While classed as a thriller or suspense novel, this book is suitable for readers of other genres. With the turn of cooler weather, this novel feels like a great fit for getting in the cold weather mood!

I was excited to be asked to review The Lost House by the publisher and NetGalley. This is not a book I would have selected on my own, but I’m so happy I took the chance to read this! The further I got into the book, the more I didn’t want to put it down. I found myself recommending this to friends before I had even finished it.

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I thought that I had this storyline figured out numerous times. I was always wrong. I love the ending and the truthfulness of the brokenness in the character.