This book starts out slow and never really gets going enough to interest me. I was looking forward to it based on the description and thought it would be the perfect chilling read for a cold winter night but I was bored from the prologue on.

Happy Publication Day to THE LOST HOUSE by Melissa Larsen—January 14, 2025

Sometimes, a book just doesn’t find its rhythm with you, and that’s okay. I wanted to love this one—I could tell the author poured so much care and effort into the story. The premise sounded fascinating, and the writing itself had some lovely moments.

Unfortunately, I found my mind wandering, and I kept having to reread paragraphs, struggling to stay connected. I couldn’t quite latch onto the characters or feel fully immersed in their world. On top of that, some of the subject matter was triggering for me. I’ve learned to recognize when I need to be kind to myself and step away, and this was one of those times.

That said, I know this book has resonated with so many other readers, and I’m glad it’s found its audience. It just wasn’t the right fit for me this time.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley. Thank you!

This book was cold, cold, cold. Everything about it is cold. The atmosphere - cold and snowy. The air - cold. The setting - Iceland - cold. The main character - cold.

This was the perfect story for winter and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Agnes is seriously struggling, not only with family grief and hidden secrets, but she has a prescription pill addiction that is not making things so much harder for her and her damaged knee.

While there were a lot of twists and turns, I did think there were parts that were predictable. However, I just loved the setting and this was a good first book for 2025.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an e-copy of THE LOST HOUSE to review.

I rate THE LOST HOUSE four out of five stars.

Trying to give the author grace as this is a debt novel. For most of the story, I didn’t care for our main character. Then I read the author's note and wondered if some of the pain journey was coming from her own story. It doesn’t make the character more likable in how she interacted with others but it does add a new layer to my thoughts.
The main character is Agnes Glin. She is an interesting person to follow. For most of the book, I was torn between feeling bad for her and being frustrated with her. She seems to be a very lonely person who is stuck at this point in her life. After losing the person closest to her Agnes also suffered a terrible accident. This has led her to be somewhat addicted to pain meds. However, she is making steps away from that self-destructiveness on her trip to Iceland. The way she approaches almost everything though is somewhat rude.
A good portion of the story is Agnes talking with people to piece together what happened in 1979. However, another portion is her “searching” for a college student who went missing, Asa, at the old farmhouse. Things swirl together as to what is connected until everything is revealed in the final chapters.
Overall, I didn’t feel that the mystery aspect really fit with this book. It wasn’t bad but it really read more of fiction with self-growth and solving family trauma mixed in.

This book was really different from what I normally read, but I really enjoyed it. The setting is in Iceland. This was so descriptive that I felt like I was there experiencing the beauty and harshness of the land and the people for myself.

This is a mystery/thriller. A woman, Agnes, who's grandfather was accused of murdering his wife and baby girl decades before agrees to go meet a podcaster exploring the case in Iceland. She is dealing with recovery from a somewhat destroyed leg and the resulting addiction to painkillers. Literally, everything is a struggle for her, both physically and emotionally. She meets very interesting people and while she is there, another young woman that somehow looks like her grandmother disappears. This turns into a hunt for her and adds to the drama.

Very interesting book!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press/ Minotaur Books for the copy. All thoughts ae my own.

Iceland is on my Bucket List, so I grab any thriller that is set there and devour it. This turned out to be a quite worthy find! As an American, I loved the combination of both American and Icelandic characters and settings. It is also great fun to me to Google the terms I don't know. But ANYWAY..... the story was very interesting. American Agnes, who has Icelandic roots returns to the home of her grandfather who fled after being accused of killing his wife and child. Agnes has her own secrets and is recovering from a major injury. She is invited by Nora, a true-crime podcaster (love this trope) who is looking into Agnes' Grandfather's case. Almost as soon as she arrives, local girl, Asa disappears from a party. The story was fast-paced and suspenseful. I loved the characters of both Agnes and Nora, and the atmosphere was amazing! It is the heat of Summer here in Texas so that made it even better! Some parts were a bit predictable, but overall, this one was right up my alley!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Melissa Larsen and St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Instagram and other social media and retail sites upon publication day of January 14th, 2025.

This story is told from Agnes's point of view and mostly takes place in February 2019 when Agnes arrives in Iceland from California to meet with Nora Carver, host of a popular podcast. Coincidentally a young woman has gone missing in the small town of Bifrost and at first Agnes is a bit put out by the fact that Nora seems more interested in pursuing that story than in helping Agnes unravel the truth behind her grandmother's death 40 years previously but she soon becomes involved in the search for the missing girl. Agnes is recovering from a serious accident after which she went through a lot of surgery and rehabilitation and has become addicted to painkillers. Descriptions of her pain were so excruciating I could hardly stand it at times. There are quite a few characters in this story and I found it difficult to decide who to trust. Although slow at times, overall I was totally engrossed in the story and was satisfied with the ending. I'd definitely read another book by this author. 4.5 stars rounded down.

TW: Addiction, mention of abortion, mention of suicide.

My thanks to St. Martin's Publishing Group and Minotaur Books, via Netgalley, for inviting me to read an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Publication Date: January 14, 2025

I could not have read this book at a better time! It came off the heels of me DNF’ing two books in a row, which is discouraging and slump-inducing. But the frigid and snowy weekend in Old Town seemed like the perfect backdrop for reading about frigid and snowy Iceland. Also, I’ve been behind on my NetGalley queue and really wanted to get back on track with a pub day review. So I picked it up, and I am so glad I did! This was the perfect thriller- atmospheric, moody, set in an inhospitable place that you just know going into it is going to factor into the climax (nothing like fighting a murderer and subzero conditions at the same time!).

The story follows Agnes, who is headed to her ancestral homeland of Iceland for the first time. It is the 40th anniversary of the brutal murder of her grandmother and infant aunt, a crime made famous by the horrible way they were found and the supposed (but never proven) perpetrator- Agnes’ beloved grandfather. Now, a true crime podcaster is attempting to find out the truth, and after a horrible year and the loss of her grandfather, Agnes feels like she needs to help. When she arrives, she learns of the recent disappearance of a local girl, which feels related to tragedy of Agnes’ family. But after 40 years, how could that possibly be true? I loved how the unrelated psychological trauma of the main character, Agnes, makes her unreliable in a unique way. We know she’s not involved in the crime, but we also know that her issues are impacting the way she’s experiencing the investigation and relating to others. I was cheering her on the entire time.

I was really proud of myself because I did figure out the twist right before the main character did- I am a very gullible thriller reader and almost always shocked. And I was in this book too, but convinced I figured it out and impressed at how masterfully the author led me there! When the pieces clicked together, I raced to the end of the book at the edge of my seat, and I think it really made the book such a fun experience. January is the perfect month to get lost in a thriller, and this one was excellent! Highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the eARC!

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen was high on my anticipated list!
I was excited when I seen this approval on my shelf!
TLH was an enthralling Icelandic mystery.
The story was well written and engrossing. The suspense is also fantastic.
The characters in this book were well-drawn. This was such a great story. I was totally engrossed all the all the way from start to finish. I loved everything about this book.

Creepy vibes, unexpected twists, and a house full of secrets! The Lost House keeps you hooked till the end. A thrilling, atmospheric read perfect for mystery lovers. Thank you Netgalley I’m def going to expand more into thriller reads!

Forty years ago, Agnes's grandmother and infant aunt were found dead under the Icelandic snow. But they did not die of exposure. They had been murdered. The woman's husband, Agnes's grandfather, was the only suspect but without any evidence against him, no charges were laid and soon he and his 9 year old son moved to California. Now, a year after her grandfather has passed away, Agnes has traveled to Iceland to join Nora, a podcaster retelling the story and trying to solve the crime. Agnes hopes to clear her grandfather's name, but when a young student who resembles Agnes's grandmother goes missing the weekend of the anniversary, she and Nora find themselves trying to solve not one mystery but two. Iceland itself plays a prominent role, setting the tone of this story with its harsh weather and isolation. Agnes is a complex character: troubled woman fighting her own ghosts, trying to reconcile herself to the possibility that her grandfather was, in fact, guilty. In fact, I liked everything about this book, from the writing, to the characters, to the suspenseful plot.

WOW. 2025 got off to a really good start with thriller, suspense book. This is my third book of the year and still thinking about it.

The Lost House is one of those books that once you start, you cannot stop. Chilling, suspenseful, and unforgettable characters.

Thank you St. Martin's Press and Netgalley, for the free ARC, in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost House
by Melissa Larsen
Pub Date: Jan 14 2025

The Lost House is a murder mystery set in Iceland. Forty years ago, Agnes’s grandfather was suspected but not convicted of killing his wife and baby daughter. With the anniversary date coming up, Agnes has agreed to talk to a podcaster, Nora Carver. Agnes has never been to Iceland but hopes that she can clear her beloved grandfather’s name by going there.

Set against the Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists and turns that will leave you breathless. The setting was beautiful, the characters were well descriptive, a well told story which I'm sure you will love just as much as I did!

Many thanks to #NetGalley #StMartinPress and #TheLostHouse for providing me an E-ARC of this murder mystery.

I'll admit that after the first couple of chapters, I thought this was going to be another entry in the up=and=coming podcaster solves a crime/stumbles upon and solves a new crime trope. Fortunately, the podcaster in question, Nora, gets the plot moving before Agnes emerges as the primary protagonist. The plot centers around a mystery in Agnes's grandfather's hometown in Iceland, one that prompted his move to California where Agnes has lived her life. Soon after Agnes arrives in Iceland to be interviewed by Nora, they learn a young woman is missing and they get drawn into the search.
What I like most about this is the depth of Agnes's character and I was drawn into her story. Other characters and relationships lacked that depth however and sometimes that left me feeling lacking. The resolution was satisfying, if a little rushed. Overall it was an enjoyable read and I recommend picking it up.

In some ways, THE LOST HOUSE is precisely the atmospheric mystery that readers of Scandi-noir will immediately recognize. The isolation. The cold. The simplicity of the writing, descriptive and yet just enough, never too much. And yet.

There is an intricacy to this novel, a kind of layered mystery that feels immersive as a reader. The novel asks us how we define ourselves, if our memories of the people most dear to us can be wrong, how we can be haunted by our histories. It is not just a mystery about an unsolved murder. It is a mystery about identity and the stories that we tell about our history, about ourselves.

After a devastating accident has left her with chronic pain, the end of a relationship, and her grandfather’s death, Agnes is called back to Iceland. This is a home she has never visited but where her family fled from after the murder of her grandmother and her infant. Unsolved and yet all but resolved because everyone agrees it was Agnes’ beloved grandfather. Why flee, after all, if he was not guilty? These are infamous murders, the image of the frozen woman clutching her child in the snow having formed a kind of cult following since then.

Agnes is there at the invitation of a determined podcast host with reputation for thorough investigations but she is not quite sure what she wants. It has been a restless year for her, floating between grief and numbness, and in Iceland she finally has a purpose - sort of. Once she learns that there is a young woman missing, she becomes even more entrenched. What unfolds then is the kind of novel that you devour without hesitation.

This is a beautiful, haunting book. I felt the starkness of the landscape in my bones, felt the pain in Agnes’ shattered body, held my breath when she did. It is dark and there are few moments of levity, and yet I ended the book thinking more about resilience than anything else. Brilliantly done. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

This is a story about a cold case, redemption, and learning more about your family history than you probably should! Agnes travels to Iceland to clear her grandfathers name upon his death. He was accused of killing his wife and infant daughter, and fled to California. Although the case was never solved, since he was the husband, he was the main suspect. She accepts an invitation from a true crime podcaster to be interviewed about his case in Iceland, where it all begins. So off she goes to the frozen tundra. The location itself is a character as the author infuses the setting of a cold distant landscape into reality. The descriptions are so realistic, I got a chill just imagining it. Of course the locals are hesitant to open up to any outsiders, even one of their own, and when a local girl goes missing, the plot becomes more dramatic and suspenseful. It starts slowly and takes awhile to build up the various plot devices, but when it does, it's executed beautifully. Atmospheric and compelling, this is a beautifully written mystery with a complex main character that you can't help rooting for.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Melissa Larsen for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC for The Lost House coming out January 14, 2025. The honest opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I’m really interested in novels from other countries. I thought the Icelandic setting was really interesting. It was a pretty good thriller. I think things got a little complicated with the family dynamic. I was a little lost in the story. It wasn’t my favorite, but I would check out more books by this author.

It has been 6+ years since I found a great mystery. Suspenseful and truly did not see any twist coming at all. This is something I think even the non-mystery readers would eat this up. Pacing was fantastic, the characters were complex and the buildup was absolutely superb!

Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this one too much. I DNF, I found it a bit slow for my liking. However, I did like the atmosphere of the book.

What could have been an intriguing mystery set in Iceland melted down to a predictable story focused on the MC’s personal struggles and LGBT. Not what I had expected and I would not have chosen this book to read if I had known the true focus.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.