Book review - Winterkill - Ragnar Jónasson
‘Winterkill’ is the final outing in Ragnar Jonasson’s excellent ‘Dark Iceland’ book series. At the beginning of ‘Snowblind, the first book in the series, a body was found and described as a snow angel, peaceful but surrounded by a pool of blood. This time we begin with another body in the snow, a nineteen year old female, having fallen there from a height. Suicide or Murder?
Ari Thor
Ari Thor is now Police Inspector, and he’s straight onto the case. As usual, everything is not what it seems and our favourite Icelandic investigator is piecing together the puzzle. It’s coming up to Easter and his ex partner Kristin is visiting for the weekend with his now three year old son Stefnir, who now live in Sweden, so he’s eager to spend time with them but of course the case soon preoccupies his mind and he can’t drop it. To complicate matters, he is also called to the local retirement home, where old flame Ugla now works. One of the residents has written something disturbing on the wall – could it be related to the case? And of course it wouldn’t be the dark Iceland series without a serious turn in the weather – a blizzard that brings everything to a standstill and contributes to the feeling of claustrophobia.
As per usual, ‘winterkill’ is a carefully constructed crime novel, no surprise with Ragnar Jónasson at the helm, and it’s always good to spend time with Ari, but for me ‘winterkill’ wasn’t one of the strongest outings in the series. I felt I was able to hazard a guess as to what happened before the final reveal.
Still, it was well plotted and I felt that Ari’s story was wrapped up well. I would like to visit Siglufjörður some day, though hopefully when the weather is a bit better. There’s something very comforting about the setting of these stories. A solid end to a solid crime series.
Book review - Winterkill by Ragnar Jónasson
210 pages,
December 10, 2020 by Orenda Books