A huge bestseller in England, France, and Australia, the fourth book in the Ari Thor thriller series from a spectacular new crime writer. Hailed for combining the darkness of Nordic Noir with classic mystery writing, author Ragnar Jonasson’s books are haunting, atmospheric, and complex. Rupture, the latest Ari Th r thriller, delivers another dark mystery that is chillingly stunning with its … that is chillingly stunning with its complexity and fluidity.
Young policeman Ari Th r tries to solve a 50-year-old murder when new evidence surfaces. But the case proves difficult in a town where no one wants to know the truth, where secrets are a way of life. He’s assisted by sr n, a news reporter in Reykjavik who is investigating an increasingly chilling case of her own. Things take a sinister turn when a child goes missing in broad daylight. With a stalker on the loose, and the town in quarantine, the past might just come back to haunt them.
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It has been a while since I read other books by Ragnar Jonasson, so I got a bit lost with a few of the characters. However, I love reading his descriptions of the northern reaches of Iceland and how the cold and dark mold the people who live there. Especially in these Covid days when we can’t go anywhere, I enjoyed the trip.
An Interesting Set of Storylines Woven Into An Intriguing Novel
The novel opens with Róbert discovering that someone had been in his home while he was with his girlfriend in their bedroom. Thinking that he had left the backdoor unlocked, he decides not to tell his girlfriend, Sunna, so as not to upset her about her and her son’s safety. Sunna is in the middle of a custody battle with the son’s father. Events soon go south. This is only one of the main storylines with which the novel opens. Snorri, whose drug and alcohol problems had robbed his father’s dream of being the Prime Minister, finally has a chance to make a significant advance in his musical career. There is Emil who wants vengeance because his wife just died from a vicious attach in their home two years earlier. A tourist is hospitalized in Siglufjördur and dies of hemorrhagic fever that quarantines the entire town. Lastly, there is Hédinn who askes Ari Thór to look into the death of his aunt who reportedly drank poison accidently 50 years earlier. The author takes this diverse set of events and weaves them into a very intriguing novel. It soon captured my interest and couldn’t wait to continue reading.
One of the reasons that I really liked this novel was the extraordinary rich B-storylines. Tómas, the town’s police force’s senior officer, has a significant decision to make. Ari Thór has an opening to reignite his relationship with his girlfriend, but a serious issue looms on the horizon that could jeopardize this relationship. Lastly, there is a surprisingly rich B-storyline on Ísrún, the news reporter in Reykjavík. The author reveals much about her relationship with both of her parents who currently are estranged, her health, and office politics within her newsroom. All of these are interwoven into the main storylines so that both are enriched and increase enjoyment in reading.
I could not find a single instance of vulgar language. There were not any sex scenes, just a few before-and-afters. No one will have any issues with this novel on these two counts. The translator was British. Previous novels have used some British idioms which to me was strange for a novel set in Iceland. I remember only one instance in this novel. I did use the Internet capability of my Kindle to look up some of the locations.
It should be obvious that I did enjoy reading this novel with its unique set of storylines. Another thing that I found interesting was that there was a pronunciation guide before the start of the novel. Ever since the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, I knew that my American tongue has a definite problem with Icelandic names. I liked this feature, and, yes, I had been mispronouncing many of the names! I do have one warning. Because there are many main storylines at the start and the interaction between Ari and Ísrún, the start was a little slow as I tried to get a handle on all of these storylines and how they related. The sinking of this novel’s hooks into my interest took a little longer, but they did set. I just do not want you, the reader, to give up early, as you will miss a good read.
Overall, this novel achieved every criterion I have for a high star rating. By the end of the novel there were not any loose ends. The slightly slow start lowered my rating to 4½ stars, but that is not allowed. Since otherwise I did enjoy reading the novel, I rounded up to 5 stars rating. I do not see any dependence on the previous books in this series, and I do recommend reading Rupture even if it is your first read from this series. As another testament to the quality of this author’s novels, I purchased one novel to fill in one of the gaps in his series and probably purchase more in the future.
I have received a free kindle version of this novel through NetGalley from St. Martin’s Press with a request for an honest, unbiased review. I wish to thank St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this novel early.