Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavik, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller from Ragnar Jonasson, one of the most exciting names in Nordic Noir. The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed. Over a year later Detective Inspector … a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the ReykjavÃk police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice. She knows which one: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended on the dark, cold shore of an unfamiliar country. Soon Hulda discovers that another young woman vanished at the same time, and that no one is telling her the whole story. Even her colleagues in the police seem determined to put the brakes on her investigation. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.
Hulda will find the killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger.
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I like Scandi noir and this was delivered exactly what I wanted: a darkly compelling tale pitting criminals against detectives. I LOVED that the protagonist was a detective nearing retirement; Hulda was a fabulous character and I loved watching her story unfold. The book was set in Iceland, which was a new setting for me and very enjoyable because it introduced me to an entirely new landscape (I couldn’t believe how beautiful the Googled pictures of the various locations were – so much more color and greenery than I expected, somehow). The characters were marvelous – damaged yet struggling to do their best to right wrongs in a way that felt believable and human and relatable even when things were at their darkest. A great series start!
“The Darkness” came highly recommended, and I was not disappointed in this my first “Nordic Noir” read.
I empathized with Hulda, a detective inspector in the Icelandic police, who hopes to solve one last case before retirement. The author weaves several layers together from both the past and the present, as Hulda unravels the truth.
However, all is not what it seems and each character that she meets holds secrets…
I will be reading more from this series.
Set in Iceland, The Darkness is billed as a thriller, but it’s really more of a mystery, and all I can say is WOW!!! I finished this book in record time because I could not stop reading. The mystery element, the personal struggle the (unexpected) main character is going through, and the pacing were all done to a T. And the ending!! Well, let’s just say it is not your typical thriller/mystery ending. I immediately put the next book in the series on hold at my library!
I had not read a book by this author before but I’ve found the Icelandic authors I have read, Yrsa Sigurdardottir most notably, have an unusual appeal for me. It is described as an “atmospheric and complex thriller” and it certainly is that. The detective is an interesting protagonist with a multitude of secrets but was not someone I found likable. There are so many twists and turns it’s almost hard to keep up and the ending was both surprising and unconventional. I found the book so hard to shake off that I go and had to find something different to read.
AUTHOR Jonasson, Ragnar
TITLE The Darkness
DATE READ 08/29/20
RATING 5/A
FIRST SENTENCE “How did you find me?” the woman asked. There was a tremor in her voice; her face was frightened.
GENRE/ PUB DATE/PUBLISHER / # OF Crime Fiction/2015/library/318 pgs
SERIES/STAND-ALONE #1 Hidden Iceland
CHALLENGE Good Reads 2020 Reading Goal 156/120;
GROUP READ
TIME/PLACE 2014/Iceland
CHARACTERS Hulda Hermannsdottir/ detective
COMMENTS Great introduction to his author … I will definitely be reading more. Hulda has not had a happy childhood and marries a man when she is finished college and later has a daughter, Dimma. She enjoys her job in law enforcement. All seems to be going smoothly. Her daughter tragically dies at age 13 and her husband passes of a heart attack 2 years later. Now all she has left is her job…she is nearing retirement age and does not want to leave but her superior has other ideas. She has one last cold case she is working on before her final leave.
An Interesting First Book of a New Series
The novel opens with the 64 year old heroine, Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík Police, interviewing a woman concerning a hit-and-run of a pedophile. During this interview, Hulda made what might be the worst mistake of her police career. While Hulda understood that she will be retiring soon, she hasn’t come to terms with it yet. The next day she received an e-mail from her boss who wanted to talk to her that morning. During that meeting, her boss announced he is replacing her and she is to retire in two weeks as she has adequate leave on the books. He has reassigned all her cases. Hulda argued against this but the boss won. In the last two weeks Hulda as her boss if she could investigate a cold case. Without really thinking, her boss agrees. Hulda selects the case of a death of a young Russian woman who was seeking asylum. Her body had washed up on a remote shore a year earlier. It was ruled a suicide, but Hulda had followed the case second hand and was suspicious of the determination. The novel takes off from here. Hulda fines that the investigation was sloppy, missing details, inconsistent information easily discovered, and obvious witnesses never interviewed. Soon, Hulda fines herself with an angry college, an angry boss, and a mystery that keeps becoming more complex. It had captured my interest. I finished this novel in half of my usual time.
There is a second storyline about a young woman who finds herself pregnant by a soldier stationed briefly in Iceland after World War II and now is back in the United States. Her parents want her to give the baby up for adoption, but the young woman will have it. This story unfolds every few chapters. Near the end, the author folds this into the main storyline.
The B-storyline deals almost exclusively with Hulda in the main storyline. She is a widow, lost a daughter to suicide, and does not make friends well both inside and outside of work. The pending retirement and money weigh heavily upon her. One bright spot is a friendship she has made with Pétur from a walking club. Throughout the novel, each of these aspects of Hulda are explored. This made Hulda a real and complex character.
There is only a very few uses of vulgar language and all context appropriate. There are not any graphic or otherwise sex scenes. Readers should not be offended while reading this novel. The translator was British, so some British slang is used. I find it strange that Icelanders would use British slang. I did have to use the dictionary on the Kindle and the Internet to understand some of the British slang used.
When I started reading this novel, I had a question as to why a new mystery/thriller series would start right before the retirement of the heroine from the police force. When I finished reading this novel, I had the answer to this question. There is one aspect of this novel that I did not like; it was the ending. I do not require or desire “happily ever after” ending. The capturing and holding of my attention is my primary criteria for a high rating, but this ending lessened my overall enjoyment. Therefore, I rate this novel with four stars. I am waiting and want to read the next book in this series.
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.