The Reckoning is the stunning follow-up to The Legacy, which was the start of a thrilling new series that Booklist (starred) recommends for fans of Tana French. Vaka sits, regretting her choice of coat, on the cold steps of her new school. Her father appears to have forgotten to pick her up, her mother has forgotten to give her this week’s pocket money, and the school is already locked for the … pocket money, and the school is already locked for the day. Grownups, she decides, are useless.
With no way to call home, she resigns herself to waiting on the steps until her father remembers her. When a girl approaches, Vaka recognizes her immediately from class, and from her unusual appearance: two of her fingers are missing. The girl lives at the back of the school, on the other side of a high fence, and Vaka asks to call her father from the girl’s house. That afternoon is the last time anyone sees Vaka.
Detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are called in. Soon, they find themselves at the heart of another shocking case.
From the international number one-bestselling author of The Silence of the Sea, winner of the 2015 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel Yrsa Sigurdardottir returns with the follow-up to The Legacy.
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This was amazing! Starting off with a now-demoted Huldar stuck with a mundane task, it quickly turns grisly. I loved how I could really feel Huldar’s frustration level increasing as he tries to get his boss to see the connection between a decade-old note and some gruesome discoveries, then has to cope with his own internal struggles as he makes a big mistake in his personal life.
I also loved that many people seemed like the possible killer. It definitely kept me guessing, and kept me turning the pages.
Poor little Vaka is waiting in vain, after school, for her father to pick her up. Just when the cold really begins to bother her she sees a girl she recognizes from her class. Vaka asks the girl if she can go to her house to call her father. This is the last time Vaka is seen by anyone. Detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are called in.
There are some very interesting twists and turns to this story making it a very entertaining and intriguing read. The characters are realistic and I look forward to reading the next installment in this series. Strongly recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, the author Yrsa Sigurdardottir and the publisher St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this excellent book.
Think back to some of the famed detectives of the “old days”. Sherlock Holmes. Miss Marple. Charlie Chan. The perfect sleuths. An orange peel carelessly discarded a block away from the scene of the crime would lead them to the correct conclusion that the butler must have killed the old dowager in her sleep!
Detective Huldar is cut from the same cloth of those earlier detectives. Unfortunately for him (but a blessing for the readers), his portion of the cloth is frayed, stained, and generally irregular in many ways. He dwells on the poor choices that he’s made in his personal life – while going out and repeating them. His professional career has managed to launch itself sideways, with successful solves being offset by missteps with his superiors. It’s a wonder that his colleague from an earlier case, a child psychologist named Freya, is willing to work with him again, let alone even TALK to him!
Wait … back up that last statement. She’s not, her involvement with Huldar’s case is only because Huldar made a couple of phone calls and convinced her superiors into coercing / forcing her into it. Bodies – or body parts – start showing up in unusual places. Could this be tied to a 10-year-old threat unearthed in an elementary school’s time capsule? Could it be tied to a convicted child rapist / murderer who has been released from prison? OR are both “clues” merely red herrings to draw attention away from the real motive? There seems to be a time crunch in solving this mystery, as the killer does not seem to be done with his or her agenda …
Author Yrsa Sigurdardottir weaves an incredible tale, bring characters of different ages and social strata together in a mystery that kept me guessing until the last page. (Yes, even when you believe the mystery has been solved, don’t put the book aside – like a Marvel superhero movie, if you leave before the credits are over, you’re going to miss something!) I confess – it took me a few pages to get into this book, but once I did, I found it even more difficult to put it back down again!
RATING: 5 stars – and an ovation to go with it.
In the fall of 2004, Vaka sits waiting on the school steps for her father to pick her up from school. He does not come, and she is getting cold. When one of her classmates comes along and offers her the use of her home phone, Vaka goes home with her. Vaka is never seen, again.
Fast forward to 2016, and detective Huldar and child psychologist, Freyja, are involved in a mysterious case. A school time capsule from years ago is opened, and among the letters describing what the children thought 2016 would be like, there is a threatening letter inside, stating that certain people will die in that year. The list is nothing but initials. But, people start disappearing. And one of them has initials that match one of those that are slated to die this year.
This is an interesting story. It moves slowly at times, but the mystery is definitely intriguing and difficult to figure out.
Because this is a foreign, translated work, the unfamiliar names were difficult, at times, to keep straight. Also, the writer gives details that are later abandoned and deemed unimportant. That made this story a bit confusing at times. However, for a translated work, this was enjoyable.
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.
I have developed a liking for police thrillers. And I have an interest in these type of books set in other countries. So when I saw The Reckoning is set in Iceland, I needed to read it. I am glad that I did. I got insight into how the Icelandic criminal system worked as well as their version of CPS.
The Reckoning is book 2 in the Children’s House series. When I saw that, I was immediately put alert. In my experience, the second book in any series lacks. It is usually a filler between the 1st book and the 3rd book. But not in this case. The Reckoning is a stand-alone book. There were a few references to book 1 but they did not take over this book. That alone made me like the book.
I wasn’t sure if I liked Huldar or not, at first. He didn’t exactly fit into the image I had of an Icelandic police officer. His appearance, for one. Whenever I picture a police officer (especially ones in a foreign country) has clean cut and neat. Huldar was not that. I also had doubts about his professionalism. At one point in the book, he was sleeping with his boss. But, I did come to like him. He was a good police officer who was dedicated to tracking down the threats that were in the time capsule. He treated the suspects (and victims) with respect.
I thought that Freyja was a mess in this book. She was in a codependent relationship with her incarcerated brother. She had suffered a demotion at work because of Huldar. And, to top it off, she was back to working with Huldar, who was also trying to pursue a relationship with him. I also did wonder why she was in the plot during the first half of the book. But, as the book went on and more of the main plotline was revealed, I started to understand why. She also played a pivotal role at the end of the book.
I thought that main plotline was heartbreaking. I loved how the author kept who the killers were until the end of the book. I loved how she tied everything together. I will say that the identity of the killers were surprising. I didn’t see it coming. As for the writer of the threat, I did call that one. But, the reason behind the threat, I didn’t.
What did surprise me in this book was the twist that the author threw in at the end of the book. All I have to say about it is “Whoa“. I did not see that coming. I could understand why those people did what they did.