If you love a good Icelandic thriller you will enjoy The Lost House!Agnes goes to the former home of her father and grandfather to try to prove her grandfathers innocence in a murder that took place forty years before.Her grandfather was accused of murdering his wife and infant daughter and then fleeing Iceland with his son-her father.Agnes goes to Iceland to help a podcaster.She is recovering from a devastating surfing accident and fighting to break an addiction to opioids..While she is there a young woman disappears.The twists and turns in this thriller especially at the end will keep you reading!Thank you St Martins Press/Minotaur Books and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC!

Wow what a thrill ride this was! The Lost House is the story of Agnes who goes to Iceland, where here father and grandfather lived before immigrating to the US after the brutal unsolved murder of her grandmother and aunt 40 years earlier, hoping for answers to all the questions she's never had answered. Upon arriving, another young woman goes missing.
This was such an intriguing story line, filled with emotional trauma, unsolved mysteries, family drama, and an unbelievably beautiful and rugged setting. Great characters that kept me glued to the pages. I loved it!

I found the premise of this book so intriguing!! A young woman, Agnus, returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family. Her grandfather was accused of murdering his wife and baby although never charged.

Him and his young son flee to America for a new start. Agnus is desperate to know the truth of what happened. As she participates in a podcast to uncover the truth, another young woman goes missing!

This book was a slow burn and I truly didn’t see the ending coming. It was a bit slow for me in the middle but ended in such an unexpected way. Overall a good story with an atmospheric vibe.

This book is definitely for those (like me) that live a good cold case. This book fast forward 40 years to the grand daughter trying to clear her grandpas name. This book has so many twists and turns. It definitely kept me on my toes. And was a very quick read for me.

Interesting premise, but predictable. There was a TON of repeated phrases and thoughts and reiterating of plot which was distracting.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

It has been forty years since the horrific death of a mother and her newborn baby, known as the frozen madonna murders. Agnes is going to Iceland to find out the truth about her grandmother's tragic death. She needs answers about her grandfather, father and herself. A good book to read in the winter months, enough of a mystery to finish.
Thanks to Netgalley and publishers for the advanced book, in return for my honest opinion.

Forty years after the tragic murders of her grandmother and aunt, Agnes travels to her family's homeland in Iceland. She joins forces with Nora, a podcaster determined to solve the cold case. Agnes is driven by a desire to clear her grandfather's name and to take a break from her life in California. However, her plans are disrupted when a local girl goes missing the same weekend she arrives. Is this merely a coincidence, or is there a deeper connection? How far will Agnes go to protect her family and uncover the truth?

This book is a chilling and well-crafted murder mystery that true crime enthusiasts will love. It kept me hooked, and I genuinely had no idea who actually committed the murder, until the reveal. Although the pacing was a bit slow, it built up to a satisfying conclusion. The dual storylines were engaging and wrapped up nicely by the end.

Agnes' character development was outstanding. Her emotions felt incredibly real, making it easy to connect with her and enhancing the overall enjoyment of the story.

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Melissa Larsen for a chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

3.5

This book started out really promising, I was hooked immediately and excited to read. As it went on, the story started to feel repetitive and wasn’t fully keeping my interest.

Agnes has a tragic family past, her grandmother was killed when she was only in her twenties, along with her baby daughter. Agnes agrees to return to her families home country and work with a podcaster investigating the cold case. The town has said for years it is Agnes grandfather who is responsible, but Agnes can’t accept that her loving grandfather is behind the heinous crime.

Overall, not a bad read. But it didn’t keep me as captivated as I was hoping for.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC

A big thanks to St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing me with an early copy to read and review.

It’s been awhile since a thriller captured my attention so quickly and it was difficult to put down! The generational mystery, the location and tying it all in with a modern true crime podcast was a fantastic idea.

Definitely atmospheric. A release in January will be great!

This if the first book I’ve read by this author and WOW! I loved the setting in Iceland - the description of the mountains, rivers and cold and I felt like I was there. There were many twists in the last 20 percent of the book that I didn’t see coming. So so good!

First off, Melissa Larsen does a masterful job of taking us to Iceland. From the beginning, we feel the cold and the picture the snow and ice. It helps so much to get wrapped up in a book when you feel like you are there.

Agnus Glin travels to Iceland to be interviewed by a podcaster, Nora, who is researching the deaths of Agnus' grandmother and Aunt 40 years ago. She believes that her loving grandfather who helped raise her in California was not involved in his wife's murder but everyone she meets in Bifrost, Iceland thinks he did it.

And, shortly before she arrives, another young woman has gone missing, Nora and Agnus want to help find her also. Agnus is a flawed character, but one you root for and hope she can get her life together. That goal is looking pretty hard when she questions her entire 26 years, believing her grandfather a good man.

There are twists and turns near the end that make this a thriller, one I recommend.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved the atmosphere and setting, which I could practically see and feel.

Beyond that, I got bored quickly.

Pacing drags with lots of tedium.

We were told about Agnes’s leg injury over and over… and over. Yet she continued to stubbornly abuse her body, then acted shocked when the pain exploded.

And we have an instalove subplot, which is never my favorite.

I knew the whodunit part early on.

The ending felt unsatisfying to me. I wanted to know the reason for certain actions (and inaction), which I can’t list because of spoilers. But I felt that a little communication between certain people would have prevented this entire story from happening. And I don’t understand why that communication never took place.

*Thanks to Minotaur Books for the free eARC, provided via NetGalley.*

A perfect winter read, The Lost House is an atmospheric read about a woman named Anges who returns to her ancestral home to get the the bottom of a decades old family mystery. This was a slow burn that kept me interested the entire time as we get to the bottom of whether or not Anges grandfather was the man she knew and loved or the brutal murderer of his wife and daughter.
For a more indepth review check out my spoiler free youtube review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU3G7KLWRBw

This book is perfect for a cold winter evening, ideally enjoyed in front of a cozy fire. We meet Agnes as she travels to Iceland for an interview with a true crime podcaster. Living in California, Agnes is recovering from an injury to her leg, with details of the injury revealed later in the story. The book has a slow pace and an atmospheric quality that truly immerses the reader in the small town of Bifrost, complete with its biases, prejudices, and secrets.

I really enjoyed this book. Having been to Iceland, the imagery was spot on and I could really see the strange, black, rocky landscape.
The character development was great and I got a good sense of who everyone was. It was interesting to see how adamant the town members were about who killed Marie and infant Agnes forty years prior.It even got Agnes questioning her long held conviction of her grandfather, Einar’s innocence. A gripping thriller full of physical and emotional pain that left me wishing for more.

Agnes Glin is haunted by her grandfather's legacy--that he was driven from Iceland 40 years ago with his son after the brutal murder of his wife and baby daughter. Agnes reaches a tipping point in her life after a terrible injury, a break-up with her partner, and the death of her beloved grandfather, Einar Palsson. Determined to reconcile the grandfather she knew with his horrific reputation, she travels to Iceland on the 40th anniversary of the murders. Her father, Magnus, has not been back to Iceland because he believes his father committed the murders. He warns Agnes not to go.
Crime podcaster Nora Carver is obsessed with the murders and hosts the young woman. Iceland is the safest country in the world, so a double murder stays fresh in the collective consciousness of the people there, especially in the village of Bifrost, where the bodies were found.
Everyone she meets has an agenda and secrets of their own. On the anniversary of the murders, a young woman disappears, and fears are renewed that she was murdered. The young woman was at a drinking party with others at the abandoned murder house.
This twisty, fast-paced story presents the Icelandic culture and unpredictable environment through the generations of people affected by this crime. Everyone has something to hide and a reason for being involved in the young woman's investigation. The shocking revelations drive the story to its powerful ending.
I'd like to thank Author Melissa Larsen and NetGalley for providing an advance reader's copy of this fine crime novel.
#NetGalley #MinotaurBooks #TheLostHouse #CrimeFiction

This book intrigued me, I haven't read books that take place in Iceland, and the author gives a good description of the snow and ice, and cold.
Agnes Glin comes to Iceland to find her roots and the truth about her aunts and grandmother's murder.
I guessed early on the culprit, but not the the extreme! Yes, there are some surprises, and danger near the end.
We also deal with Agnes hard ability to walk, she had a surfing accident, and is dependent on help.
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher St. Martin's Press, and was not required to give a positive review.

I don’t know that I’d classify this as horror, but it was an ok thriller. I am going to give this another shot on audio due to the formatting. I feel like I may enjoy it more by listening to its also a slow burn which is hard for me to get thru and I end up not enjoying the story as much.

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.