by Eva Björg Aegisdóttir - Translated by Victoria Cribb
SYNOPSIS
The small community of Akranes is devastated when a young man dies in a mysterious house fire, and when Detective Elma and her colleagues from West Iceland CID discover the fire was arson, they become embroiled in an increasingly perplexing case involving multiple suspects. What’s more, the dead man’s final online search raises fears that they could be investigating not one murder, but two.
A few months before the fire, a young Dutch woman takes a job as an au pair in Iceland, desperate to make a new life for herself after the death of her father. But the seemingly perfect family who employs her turns out to have problems of its own and she soon discovers she is running out of people to turn to.
As the police begin to home in on the truth, Elma, already struggling to come to terms with a life-changing event, finds herself in mortal danger as it becomes clear that someone has secrets they’ll do anything to hide…
REVIEW
Night Shadows returns to Akranes where Detective Elma is called to investigate the death of a teenage boy in a house fire. The case, which could have been a tragic accident, starts to take some unusual turns as the evidence found points to the fact that another body might be out there somewhere for Elma and her team to find.
Elma begins by questioning the group of friends who were all at the house the previous week for a party and then Laufey and Unnar (the parents of one of the teenagers), when it becomes clear that their au pair is missing after also having attended the same party. Layer upon layer of tension and deception build up between the characters, but with no concrete proof of anyone's involvement, Elma takes a risk on her gut instinct about the case which puts her own life in jeopardy.
Without a doubt, this is my favourite Scandi Crime series from the last few years. I didn't have to read more than the first page before I knew that I was going to love this story. The descriptions were so dark and, overall, I feel like Night Shadows really took it up a level with some quite creepy scenes and one particularly tense situation for Elma and Saevar. I won't go into any more detail to avoid spoilers, but at one point I almost couldn't bear to turn the page knowing what could possibly be coming next.
The story and the translation are beautifully written, and the descriptions of the town and its surrounding landscape are so captivating that whenever I read one of the books in the Forbidden Iceland series, I just want to pack my bags and move to Akranes! I have loved all three books in the series so far but I think that Night Shadows is actually my favourite, so it goes without saying that I am very excited for the next instalment. Elma is a fearless and engaging protagonist but I am also a big fan of Saevar and, based on the direction of the storyline in Night Shadows, I would be really interested to hear more from him moving forward. Authentic, absorbing and addictive - an easy 5 star read from me!
GIVEAWAY!
Thanks to the lovely Orenda Books I have 1 paperback copy of Night Shadows to give to one of my readers. If you would like to win a copy, send me a message through my blog with the subject Night Shadows.
If you retweet my review on Twitter you will also get an extra entry.
UK Only - Closes on 10th July
You must be happy for me to pass on your address details to the publisher
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva moved to Trondheim, Norway to study my MSc in Globalisation when she was 25. After moving back home having completed her MSc, she knew it was time to start working on her novel. Eva has wanted to write books since she was 15 years old, having won a short story contest in Iceland. Eva worked as a stewardess to make ends meet while she wrote her first novel, The Creak on the Stairs. The book went on to win the CWA Debut Dagger, the Blackbird Award, was shortlisted (twice) for the Capital Crime
Readers' Awards, and became a number one bestseller in Iceland. The critically acclaimed Girls Who Lie (book two in the Forbidden Iceland series) soon followed, with Night Shadows (book three) following suit in July 2022. Eva lives with her husband and three children in Reykjavík.
Follow her on @evaaegisdottir
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir - @evaaegisdottir and Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks for the opportunity to read and review.
Genre: Icelandic Noir / Thriller / Suspense
Publisher: Orenda Books
ISBN: 978-1914585203
Pages: 276pp
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