This book promised so much, yet was so very slow.

I was so excited when I saw this book. It sounded like a great way to read about a different culture, and get a murder mystery on top of it. Instead, the characters fell flat, and the story seemed to be too drawn out. Near the last 10 percent of the book, it did pick up, but by then, I was burned out.

While this book holds promise, it was too slow for me. I hope other readers love it!

Rating: 4/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

Agnes is on a mission to clear her grandfather’s name for once and for all. 40 years ago, her grandfather was accused of murdering his wife and infant daughter, after no arrests or conviction he left Iceland for America. When Nora, a true crime podcaster, asks her to speak up on her grandfather's unsolved case in Iceland, she jumps on the plan to see what she can do to help clear his name but when she gets there, she finds out that another girl has gone missing, and they have no leads. With the help of Nora, Agnes gets to solving this twisting and turning mystery.

I really liked this suspenseful murder mystery. I loved how the author wrote this chilling, winter book. You will feel the cold of the snow, feel the ice-covered roads. I loved that the author wrote about the different places that Agnes’s father played and where her grandfather used to live. I liked how this thriller/mystery checked all my boxes; the plot was thrilling and suspenseful, I loved that it was twisting and turning and that it felt you on the edge of your seat. I liked that the author made sure that the side characters didn’t feel like side characters to me. I found the depth of the darkness in this book to have been done right. The characters were well written, and the author writes them, they will feel like they’re people who you know and are real. I found Agnes the easiest to connect with and I loved that she was determined to the truth no matter what.

I received the audio for this book as well and I thought the narrative Saskia Maarleveld did a perfect job. She has the best voice to bring this thriller to life for the readers and will keep you on your toes/edge of the seat.

I would like to thank NetGalley, St. Martin Press and Mcmillian for the opportunity to review this book.

Thank you to Netgalley for the arc of this. Sometimes I rate higher than I really feel and this is one of those times because I thought it was well written and didn't deserve dragged down by my personal issues. But holy crap I couldn't stand Agnes and it took me awhile to realize why she annoyed me so much. Partly it's because she's such a sad sack (with reasons) or that I don't like unreliable narrators (which she is) but also because like Agnes I suffered a leg injury that left me learning how to walk again and joints filled with synthetic tendons, pins and screws through the knee. I could have been Agnes and I see in her a dark reflection of me (I avoided the narcotic dependence she has but that might be down to the fact the nursing home cold turkeyed me when they sent me home vs me being stronger than Agnes)

Agnes, against the wishes of her father, Magnus, has gone to Iceland where he was born because Nora, a true crime podcaster, is doing the story of the Frozen Madonna, a young mother found with her drowned baby frozen in her arms and she, herself, had her throat cut. This is Agnes's grandmother and her Aunt Agnes for whom she was named. Einar, her grandfather was the only suspect which was why he left Iceland to raise her father in California. Agnes believes in her grandfather's innocence (but does her father) and wants to go to Iceland to the farm house her father grew up in just to prove her grandfather innocent.

Once there, she's swept up by the charismatic Nora and meets her host, Thor who was a bit older than her father and now owns the family property. he remembers the case. Ingvar who was her father's age and has a prospective on the man she's never seen and then there's Oskar, Lilja and Asa, the latter of whom has gone missing, making a counterpoint for the old Frozen Madonna case with a fresh horror as she disappeared after being at the farm house.

Nora, and with her Agnes, is drawn into that case as Agnes has to face that everyone in Bifrost believes her grandfather is the killer and she might have to admit he is.

I did guess both mysteries but there is a big twist in one of them I didn't see coming and was thrilled by. In fact the last quarter of the book is probably the best part. I did like the book. The mysteries are well done. Agnes' vacillating emotions feel appropriate. What didn't work as well for me is it does get a bit repetitive about Agnes' injury, how her girlfriend left her, how she wants her pills but it's not like I don't think about my old injury often so maybe it shouldn't bother me (but it did, it felt a bit much)

But my biggest quibbles surround Nora. It felt like a few things fell off the radar. At one point Agnes and Nora come into a piece of evidence that should have been turned over to the police (and there are reasons it wasn't story wise) but we don't know why Nora didn't do it. Worse, Nora starts fading out of the story around the halfway point. She does need to be elsewhere for the ending to work but that was easily handled but it felt odd that slowly but surely she goes from being a main player to nearly nonexistent (yes it's Agnes' story but Nora starts with a large role)

Still this is a well written book with interesting mysteries and well worth the read.

I loved the icy cold setting of Iceland as the backdrop for a thriller. The wintry secluded vibes made for a great atmosphere. I also liked how the novel was structured with three parts and a couple of interludes. However, the plot itself moved at a snails pace and felt very slow and repetitive. Not much happened to keep things moving and excited so ultimately this book fell flat for me. Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy!

❄️THE LOST HOUSE❄️ by @melissalarsenauthor was a thrilling puzzle box set in a wintery landscape that gave me chills! Thank you to the author, @netgalley and the publishers, @stmartinspress and @macmillan.audio for the audio and e-ARCs.

🧊🧊🧊

Agnes touches down in Keflavik for the first time after decades of hearing the harrowing story of her family's tragic past. Her grandfather fled Iceland 40 years earlier with Agnes's young father in tow after his wife and newborn daughter were found frozen, the matriarch with a slit across her throat.

Agnes is in Iceland to meet with Nora, a host of the podcast The End who is doing a story on her family and the village they lived in for the 40th anniversary. The two enjoy a tepid reception from a town that has made up their minds that Agnes's grandfather was the killer all those years ago. Can Agnes find evidence that the grandfather she has always known and loved is not a killer?

🥶🥶🥶

This was my kind of thriller! Small town gossip, citizen sleuths, and a locked-in style cold weather landscape made this one shine. The podcast angle is certainly becoming a normal thriller theme and I enjoyed the way the two characters with dueling agendas played against and in collaboration with each other. Loved the ending twist!

My main complaint was that I am over the protagonist as druggie/mental health sufferer that can't ever trust themselves. Makes for good thrillers I guess, but just not my fave. I also probably could have gone without the romance aspect but points for it being sapphic!

I would highly recommend this to anyone who loves cold weather thrillers, dusting off cold cases, redemption ARCs, and Icelandic culture.

Iceland in winter. A derelict house where a murderer allegedly lived. A young woman determined to clear her grandfather's name. Everything stacked up in Melissa Larsen's The Lost House to make it a book that I should really enjoy.

The creepy, ramshackle house and the brutal Icelandic winter weather did draw me in, but those were the only two things that did. The whodunit was not surprising, and the story moved very slowly-- sometimes with too much description.

The nail in the coffin of The Lost House was its characters. This is a book where you must care for the main character, and Agnes never did grow on me. She was a lonely addict riddled with angst-- definitely not my kind of character. Moreover, none of the others could fill in the gap. No, I'm sorry to say that this character-driven reader never did warm up to Agnes, but your mileage can certainly vary.

We follow a woman who heads to Iceland to solve a 40 year old murder that tore apart her family. A woman & infant daughter are brutally murdered & the person blamed was the husband. Agnes wants to clear her grandfather's name & the same week she's there a young woman goes missing. Could the disappearance be connected to her grandma & aunts murder? The setting was so good. A mystery in the Icelandic cold brought the eerie & chilly a5mosphere to life. The murders were heartbreaking but the twist at 5he end was a great surprise

This is an atmospheric haunting mystery that gave me chills. Throughout this gripping story is a strong sense of foreboding. This is a story that will stay with you long after you are finished reading. Chilling, compelling, and suspenseful describe this original absorbing story. Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for my copy.

I enjoyed this true crime podcast novel that is set in Iceland and looks into the cold case of a murdered mother and baby. The story is a slow burn told from multiple POVs. The writing is atmospheric and really pulls at the heart strings as the murdered woman’s granddaughter grapples with being in her family’s home town for the first time.

I’m now going to go back to read Larsen’s debut novel, Shutter and I look forward to her future books!

great book and I loved the action and the romance . I loved seeing the friends and family. I loved that they were able to figure things out. Overall a great book .

The Lost House is the perfect cold-weather (or honestly anytime) book to curl up with and fall into the mystery. What did happen to Agnes's grandmother? How did she and her baby daughter end up frozen on the snow, and, in the current time period, where is Asa? The dual time periods, but somehow connected, in a way that isn't clear almost until the end is so addictive that I found myself frantically swiping left. Right from the very first line, "I hope I haunt you", I needed to know. When the true villain was finally revealed...perfect

I love the Nordic noir genre and books set in Iceland, so I was really excited to get started with this one. It has a dark, chilling atmosphere that’s perfect for reading this time of year. While I appreciated the plot and atmospheric setting, I found it difficult to connect with the characters which ultimately influenced my enjoyment of the book.

I absolutely LOVED the setting of this book. The mystery was there, the characters were nicely done, loved the ending. Will read more from this author for sure.

📚 PUBLICATION WEEK BOOK REVIEW 📚

The Lost House By Melissa Larsen
Publication Date: January 14, 2025
Publisher: St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded Up To 5⭐)

📚MY REVIEW:

If you're a fan of atmospheric slow burn thrillers, allow me to introduce you to your next read. Set in Iceland, The Lost House is the PERFECT read for these cold winter months. Once I started, I couldn't read this book fast enough!

The frigidly cold weather feels almost like it's a character in this read, and it entwines so beautifully with the chilling storylines and the cold detached vibes of the main character, Agnes. The writing in this book so brilliantly foreshadows its conclusion, but provides only a trail of meager bread crumbs as the story unfolds. While much of the book takes place in one period of time, there are a couple chapters that offer a dual timeline to provide a tiny glimpse into more of the backstory.

All her life, Agnes has known that her grandfather, Einar, and father, Magnus, abruptly left Iceland after the brutal murders of Agnes' grandmother and Agnes' namesake aunt (who was just an infant), to begin their lives anew in California. Agnes has also known that her grandfather was rumored to have committed these murders and then run from Iceland to avoid prosecution. However, Einar was more of a father to Agnes than her own father was, and she has always believed Einar was innocent. A year after Einar's death, Agnes agrees to travel to Iceland to participate in a podcast about the brutal murders because she wants to prove her grandfather's innocence once and for all.

This was one of the most atmospheric books I've ever read! The slow-burning mystery created an almost tangible intrigue, and there was a guardedness to Agnes that captivated me. I read this book as quickly as I could, because I simply had to figure out the truth behind the mystery that has shackled Agnes' family with notoriety for all these years.

This book is a captivating and slow-burning dark horse amidst the onslaught of new releases that happened on January 14th. But don't miss this one if you love slow-burn thrillers, locked room vibes, and unique remote settings. A huge thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for this advanced e-copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

#TheLostHouse #MelissaLarsen #MinotaurBooks #StMartinsPress #NetGalley #NetGalleyReviews #ARC #thrilleraddict #thrillerlover #slowburnthrillers #booklover #bookreviews #bookrecs #bookrecommendations

This was an easy read, that I finished in two days, but I didn't feel a strong connection to any of the characters. Nora, the podcaster, felt weird in a "you're to connected to a stranger" and seemed aggressive towards people she needed, Agnes was floating through life with no direction or real anchor; granted she had a lot change and happen within the last year. The plot was a little slow until the last quarter or so when pieces started falling into place and the resolution to the decades long mystery was finally solved. The ending jumped ahead without much of a bridge from there to here. An average read, enjoyable enough, something different, but not a book that has me racing to reach Larsen's backlist.
.
.
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

An Icelandic thriller that revolves around an unsolved murder. Agnes has hit a low point in her life when a podcaster reaches out for Agnes’s help with uncovering the truth behind the deaths of Agnes’s grandmother and aunt. Agnes’s flies to Iceland (without a return ticket) to uncover the truth and find herself. What she doesn’t expect is to be embroiled in another crime.

Rating- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4/5
Agnes returns to her family's home in Bifrost, Iceland to clear her grandfather's name of any involvement with the murder of his wife and daughter. Although no arrests were ever made, everyone suspected Einar who eventually fled to California with his son Magnus. Agnes doesn't believe her father would let her grow up around a murderer, but it seems she's the only one convinced of Einar's innocence. Agnes meets with a popular true crime podcaster to give her side of the story, but Nora is occupied with another case in Bifrost- the recent disappearance of a young girl who is presumed dead. Agnes wonders if the two cases could possibly be connected.

It's an entertaining read, and helped get me out of a reading slump. There are a lot of twists to keep you guessing. I really enjoyed Agnes' character, she's pretty relatable, and I liked how throughout the story we see her start to doubt her own judgement. Thank you to St. Martin's Press for the advance reader copy.

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen follows Agnes, whose grandmother and aunt were murdered in Iceland forty years ago. Despite rumors accusing her grandfather, Agnes is determined to uncover the truth, traveling to Bifrost to investigate. Struggling with her own emotional and physical challenges, Agnes finds herself in a tense, chilling atmosphere where danger feels ever-present. The audiobook, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld, perfectly complements the somber tone of the story, enhancing the feeling of mistrust and suspicion. With a compelling mystery and a sense of impending danger, the novel immerses readers in a cold, haunting setting.

Thank you Netgalley and Minotaur Books for the chance to read The lost house by Melissa Larsen. The author is new to me, and the summary and setting in Iceland is what drew me to requesting it. The suspenseful mystery was interesting and the author was successful in creating a bleak setting, but I did find the pacing of the plot slow, and I had a hard time connecting to the characters. Overall a good mystery with twists that should be appeal to readers.

The Lost House was an excellent wintery thriller. Set in Iceland during the brutal cold, snowy, and dark winter. The Lost House takes us into the life of our main character, Agnes, as she explores her families tragic past and attempts to reconcile that with the family she knows, a distant father and a loving grandfather. A loving grandfather believed to have killed his wife and baby daughter.

Agnes travels from California to her families ancestral home in Iceland after being contacted by a podcaster doing a story on her family. When she arrives, she learns that a young woman has gone missing after being at a party in the families abandoned home. Looking into her families past and the disappearance of this young woman puts Agnes in danger. And Agnes is already fighting her own demons.

This story was such an atmospheric, slow burn thriller. The authour managed to build up so much tension with the descriptions of the cold and harsh winter landscape and with the secondary characters who all seemed to have secrets.

I did not guess the ending, the authour kept me second guessing my thoughts right up until the end.

While it was a slow burn, it was a very captivating story, so I read through it pretty quickly.

If you are a fan of wintery atmospheric thrillers, you should add this to your reading list.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press for the advanced digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.