BOOK REPORT
Received a complimentary copy of The Lost House, by Melissa Larsen, from St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books /NetGalley, for which I am appreciative, in exchange for a fair and honest review. Scroll past the BOOK REPORT section for a cut-and-paste of the DESCRIPTION of it from them if you want to read my thoughts on the book in the context of that summary.

We watched a really good, really depressing movie last night. It was set in rural Quebec, probably before the year 2000, and featured the landscape as a primary character—all that beautiful snow and bitter cold. [shudders]

At some point, one of the characters was plodding across desolate ground in snow shoes. Every once in a while, in real life I will fantasize about taking a luxury trip to the Yukon to see the Northern Lights, This fantasy includes me taking to snow shoes like a pro the first time I put them on and amazing everyone with my athletic prowess—and the ability to look svelte and glamorous in a snowsuit. When, in reality, of course, I would probably look like the Michelin Man and fall over in a heap directly onto my face if I ever attempted such.

Why am I prattling on about such? Well, because, sadly, reading this book made me feel like that character last night, plodding along in beautiful bleakness, searching for a way out of a situation I really never should’ve gotten myself into to begin with.

Sigh.

As much as I love me some Nordic noir, this book just didn’t do it for me. The pacing was glacially slow (no pun intended), the characters unlikeable, and, heck, even the landscape didn’t excite me the way it normally does. Plus there was convoluted-y-ness. And y’all _know_ how I hate me some convoluted-y-ness.

Oh, well. Life goes on!

The Aforementioned Movie
It was Whitewash, and we watched it on Kanopy (about which I cannot say enough good things).

Link to movie: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2297063/

Link to Kanopy: https://www.kanopy.com/

DESCRIPTION
In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a certainty: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life—which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver’s invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp mystery packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.

5 stars / This review will be posted on BookwormishMe.com & goodreads.com today.


This was one heck of a thriller. Larsen writes beautifully, sharing the wild nature of Iceland with us.

Agnes was devoted to her grandfather. While she felt very removed from her father, her grandfather doted on her and made her feel loved. Agnes knows little of the story of her family and why they fled Iceland for northern California, but she does know that it involved the murder of her grandmother and aunt.

When a true crime podcaster reaches out to the family, near the 40th anniversary of the Frozen Madonna’s murder, Agnes’ father Magnús declines to participate. But Agnes decides she wants to know more. So Agnes agrees to meet Nora in Iceland and help shed some light on her family.

Agnes doesn’t know how her arrival in the small town of Bïfrost is going to upset the locals. Apparently she looks just like her grandmother Marie, the Frozen Madonna. While in a Starbucks she also sees that another doppelgänger who has gone missing from Bïfrost. The plot deepens and Agnes finds that she’s not only immersed in the history of her grandmother and aunt, but also this latest missing person’s case.

This was an amazing story about trying to find yourself in the midst of life upheaval. Agnes has been to hell and back after the death of her grandfather. While in Iceland, Agnes comes to terms with a lot of what has been haunting her. It’s so well written. Agnes is very layered.

I really enjoyed this novel. I loved the concept and location. Truly makes me want to visit Iceland someday.

“I hope I haunt you.”

I’m not a fan of snow but I love books with it! This one is atmospheric and set in Iceland. A cold case that happened 40 years ago of a young woman and her infant daughter that Agnes’s grandfather was the prime suspect of. But Agnes grew up close to him and she believes he would never kill his wife and baby.
She’s ready to clear his name and meet true crime podcaster, Nora, in Iceland where the crime happened. A local girl goes missing when Agnes arrives…. Is this a coincidence or are they connected?

A brutal murder 40 years ago is receiving some renewed interest. The Madonna and child were found in an icy river, with the mother’s throat slit from ear to ear. The case was never solved with the husband as the main suspect. Fleeing from the horrors, he took his son the California where they started a new life. After close to 50 years, Agnes wants to clear her grandfather’s name and travels to Iceland to the place where it all happened. Coincidently on the same day that Agnes arrives to Bitfrost,, a girl is found murdered.

The Lost house is an atmospheric tale with many twists and turns. It is a page turner that keeps you guessing as new secrets are uncovered. And no one is safe from the truth.

I really liked the idea of this book. I got the audio and the book. So I read/listened to both. The story was slow which kind of goes with the atmosphere of Iceland where the story takes place. The book picks up at the end a lot which was good. I was glad Agnes got to find out answers to her family's tragedy.

This was really really good. I've been going through a lot and haven't been in the mood to read and this got my attention like right away and sucked me in to the point that I couldn't put it down. Loved that it was set in Iceland and the automsphere it gave as well as all the secrets, lies and amateur sleuthing. I didn't figure out the who at all which is always a plus.

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen
Narrated by Saskia Maarleveld

Forty years ago a young woman and a baby girl were murdered and left in the snowy, cold terrain of Bifrost, Iceland. That woman was Agnes' grandmother and that baby was her aunt. Although never convicted, only questioned, Agnes's grandfather was considered guilty through the rumor mill of the town and later through podcasts and unsolved crime enthusiasts. Yet, having moved to the faraway USA, Agnes's distant father allowed Agnes to spend time with her grandfather, a man suspected of murdering his wife and child.

Now Agnes' grandfather has died, she's struggling to recover from a serious leg injury, she's just come out of a failed long term relationship, and solving the murders of her grandmother and aunt is the escape that Agnes needs. The fact that means traveling to faraway Iceland is the icing on the cake. True crime expert Nora Carver, a woman investigating the murders, is already there, with a place for Agnes to stay and a willing ear if Agnes is willing to talk about what she knows about her grandfather, father, and their past.

I am fortunate to have both the ebook and the audiobook so I could listen to the audio will seeing so many words and names that are strange to me. I couldn't begin to guess how the words were pronounced and I wouldn't be able to spell them if I just heard them. Getting to see and hear them at the same time made the story feel more real. Saskia Maarleveld narrates and her voice is great for this story of a place and people that are matter of fact, mostly saying much less than what they mean, and with a somber mood of mistrust and suspicion of this granddaughter of a "murderer" coming into their midst.

The atmosphere is extremely chilly in so many ways, an exterior that can kill in minutes, and a main character that is struggling mentally, emotionally, and physically. What is she even doing here, she asks herself. How has she destroyed her life so completely. Her injury sidelined her in so many ways and left her addicted to the very meds that allowed her to make it through numerous surgeries. Can she become a new person just because she ran away from where she just came from?

There is a sense of danger from the outset. Afterall, if her grandfather didn't kill her grandmother and aunt, could the killer still be in or near Bilfrost? Rushing headlong into unwise situations, Agnes taunts the past, hoping to draw it out but not really knowing what she'll do with what what she learns. I could feel the cold through this story and was so glad to not be in this place although I love reading stories in such locations.

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

It was a good book it did daragg in a couple spots but all in all it was a good read. The book went back and forth in time to let you see things from different character's point of view. It was a good book to read and I think people will enjoy it.

Unfortunately, this novel did not work well for me.

I found the characters to be flat overall. While the main character (and some of the characters around her) was given some back story, the connections between the back story and current events was inconsistent in a way that made her feel incomplete. Some of the characters around her were bare sketches of people that felt more like caricatures than characters.

Both the plot and the setting suffered from the same level of inconsistency. While the author did do a good job of setting us in Iceland, the particular location was very murky. We have a piece of land with three houses on it, as well as a neighboring house. But the connections between these structures were not well established. I felt the author did not have a clear picture of these locations, either, as we had instances of the main character walking up a driveway and "somehow" ending up behind the house instead of at the front door. This happened more than once in the same chapter, both times to serve the plot and allow the character to see something she would not have seen otherwise, even though it did not make sense geographically.

There were also huge inconsistencies and misrepresentations related to the main character's injury and drug addiction. From moment to moment, the injury would differ in how it allowed her to move, again in ways that seemed to serve the plot, and not be true to the character or injury. Her dependence on pain medication was presented as an issue in will power, rather than a physical dependence. Sometimes the character was feeling well enough to just not take the pain pills, and in other moments, she would "give in" and "seek oblivion."

Overall, this novel had elements that could have created a good story if they had been more fully developed.

Unboxing a murder mystery from years ago while also dealing with a recent possible kidnapping and murder entails a lot of moving parts and details. Larsen handled them beautifully.
Set in Iceland, the plot weaves from present to past and back again in order to foster investment in, and bring these characters to life. The details are thoughtful and well placed, having you guessing and second guessing what could have happened, until all is eventually revealed. I couldn’t put this one down and it kept me thoroughly engaged.

I read this book at the perfect time, when the weather got super cold and we had a little snow. Iceland has always been on my bucket list for travel, so getting to read a book in this setting was so picturesque. However, this book sent me chills because it was so suspenseful. Agnes is the main character who travels alone to Iceland for a podcast on the murders of her grandma and aunt. When she arrives, a young girl goes missing. So, along with grappling with flashbacks to her past as a she helps interview people who knew her grandam and aunt, Agnes is also trying to find the young girl with the help of the podcaster. This was a new author to me, and she may have just become my new auto-buy thriller author.

This is a dark, atmospheric read that left me chilled to the bone. The Icelandic winds slicing through my skin and settling in. The Icelandic names falling out of my mouth in a jumble, wishing I knew how to pronounce them. The eerie, desolate landscape adds to the plot line. Anyone can get lost in the blowing snow, frozen in place, locked in the ground until spring.

Anges Glin has lived with a story hanging over her head. The story of the Ice Madonna, the woman who was killed locked in a loving embrace with her baby daughter. The woman was her grandmother, the baby girl, her namesake. It is believed that her grandfather killed his wife and child. He was told to leave the small town of Bifrost, Iceland and never come back. He made his way to California with his 9-year-old son and never looked back. Agnes cannot believe that her grandfather murdered anyone, including his own wife and child. Every person in the news, and even her father illudes that he did. When the chance to go to Iceland and be interviewed for a true crimes podcast pops up, Agnes jumps at the chance. She needs to see where her father grew up, the farmhouse and the land that was theirs. To finally uncover the truth.

I loved the descriptions and details of the setting. I was completely drawn in. The small-town drama and how that played into how her grandfather was looked at. The girl that goes missing adds to the suspense and made me want to focus on how it all tied together. Thank you to Melissa Larsen and Minotaur Press for this thrilling suspense.

Thank you to Net Galley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this Icelandic noir thriller. I was intrigued right away by the dual timeline mystery: a brutal murder of a young mother and her child 40 years earlier, and a recent disappearance of a local student in Bifrost, Iceland, the same town where the double murder took place.
The protagonist is Agnes Glin, a young woman who grew up in California. Her beloved Icelandic grandfather emigrated to the U.S. 40 years earlier with his nine-year-old son after being accused of murdering his wife and infant daughter. When the story opens, Agnes has broken up with her partner, she's unemployed and almost estranged from her father, and her grandfather has recently died. She's also recovering from a debilitating injury to her leg and is hooked on painkillers. She gets an invitation from famous podcaster, Nora Carver, who is doing a story about the murder of her grandmother and aunt. Nora invites Agnes to join her in Bifrost to be interviewed and to gather some insights from the locals, most of whom remember the murder.
The more they talk to the locals, the more the evidence points to Agnes's grandfather's guilt. (Although he was never charged, everyone assumes he did it.) Agnes has a hard time forgiving her father for allowing her to love her grandfather all her life despite his heinous crime.
Because the village is currently consumed with looking for Asa, the missing girl, Agnes and Nora get involved with the search (and Asa's friends), as Nora believes there could be a connection with the cold case murder.
Agnes is not a terribly likable character; she's somewhat rude and short with people. But she's troubled, and I found myself rooting for her regardless. And in the end, she proves to be heroic.
I suspected the killer/kidnapper early on, but there are enough other suspects to keep the reader guessing. The author did a fine job evoking the bleak Icelandic landscape and bitter winter cold—great atmosphere for a terrifying thriller. Highly recommended!

This book starts out very interesting and I was excited to read it, then it started to drag and got repetitive. I had a hard time staying interested and had to skim to be honest. Over all I think it was just OK for me.

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

The Lost House is a mystery set in frigid, snow-covered Iceland, a place that drew this reviewer to the story for its unique location. Agnes, the protagonist, travels from California to her ancestral home in Iceland for a true crime investigation of her family. She is determined to vindicate her grandfather for decades-old suspicion of murder.

Agnes is both physically and emotionally damaged, making Iceland's freezing temperatures and her tragic family history especially challenging. The setting is the perfect vehicle for this character, since the climate forces slow, steady, and deliberate movement. The story pacing is also slow, which seems compatible with the setting. The faster pace of the third act brings the novel to an exciting, satisfying conclusion.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for providing an advance copy of the book to read and review. This review will post to Bayside Book Reviews.com at https://baysidebookreviews.com and its Instagram page on release day. Follow us! *NetGalley Top Reviewer*

I really enjoyed this book! The setting in Iceland immediately had me hooked and I was so curious to see how the old timeline story came together with the current time line mystery. I found all of the characters compelling, and it was an interesting B Plot to have Agnes addicted to pain killers. All the reveals were surprising and the last 25% had me on the edge of my seat.

frigid and atmospheric murder mystery that has a lot of cool aspects and i really liked the characters. 4 stars. tsm for the arc.

My first Melissa Larsen novel but definitely not my last. Fantastic setting and characters. All round enjoyable read, nice cozy mystery.
Thank you NetGalley, Melissa Larsen and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read and review this book

"In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother's throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a certainty: the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather's name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life - which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver's invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes's father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora's investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life - discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp mystery packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless."

A true crime podcast, a family mystery, and Iceland? Sold!

“The Lost House” is a thriller that follows a character who is not just trying to solve her own family mystery; along the way, she discovers and learns about her own emotional strength and perseverance.

As a young man, Agnes’ grandfather had to leave Iceland due to the accusations of unaliving his wife and baby. He took his son, Agnes’ father, to the States to escape but never spoke of Iceland or the incident. However, Agnes’ father always believed that he did. After Agnes’ grandfather passes, she is brought back to Iceland due to unfortunate events there while trying to recover from the personal challenges she is struggling with.

Author Melissa Larsen introduces several characters to establish a “who has done it” scenario, which I thought was uncomplicated. “The Lost House” wasn’t as dark and haunting as I thought it would be compared to what I usually read. I found Agnes’s internal struggle woven into the plot a bit tricky as I wanted more about her grandfather and grandmother’s past to be elaborated. But overall, I was entertained.