The young student was a bit unusual. He was German, but chose to study in Iceland. He was a History major, but seemed to spend most of his time exploring the country's Middle-Age witchcraft practice and practitioners. Oh yes, and whoever killed him removed his eyes â¦
Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, a divorced mother of two, has been hired by the mother of the deceased student. Thóra isn't an investigator, she's a lawyer who is finding that her take-home pay doesn't stretch as far without two incomes. BUT, she's also diligent â and she's a mother; the victim's mother believes that these qualifications may help find the REAL killer, not the poor guy who the police's slip-shod investigation fingered. He COULDN'T have done it â could he?
Ms. Sigurðardóttir presents an interesting look at Iceland. As a native, she knows that there are some aspects of life that may seem a bit unusual to outsiders. To help us readers bridge the gap, she has our protagonist accompanied by Matthew Reich, a representative of the family â his German-based ignorance of Icelandic custom parallels our American lack of knowledge and the main character takes the time to explain things to him, and by extension to us.
Who DID kill our college student. Ms. Sigurðardóttir introduces several suspects and makes us wonder until she gets to the big reveal towards the end of the novel.
I truly enjoyed this well-paced mystery and look forward to reading more of the translated works of this talented author.
RATING: 5 stars.
Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, a divorced mother of two, has been hired by the mother of the deceased student. Thóra isn't an investigator, she's a lawyer who is finding that her take-home pay doesn't stretch as far without two incomes. BUT, she's also diligent â and she's a mother; the victim's mother believes that these qualifications may help find the REAL killer, not the poor guy who the police's slip-shod investigation fingered. He COULDN'T have done it â could he?
Ms. Sigurðardóttir presents an interesting look at Iceland. As a native, she knows that there are some aspects of life that may seem a bit unusual to outsiders. To help us readers bridge the gap, she has our protagonist accompanied by Matthew Reich, a representative of the family â his German-based ignorance of Icelandic custom parallels our American lack of knowledge and the main character takes the time to explain things to him, and by extension to us.
Who DID kill our college student. Ms. Sigurðardóttir introduces several suspects and makes us wonder until she gets to the big reveal towards the end of the novel.
I truly enjoyed this well-paced mystery and look forward to reading more of the translated works of this talented author.
RATING: 5 stars.
