I am delighted to welcome you to today’s stop on the blog tour for Ragnar Jonasson’s latest crime novel, Rupture.
Author: Ragnar Jonasson
Title: Rupture
Publisher: Orenda
Publication Date: 24 December 2016 (Kindle) and 15 January 2017 (paperback)
Twitter: @ragnarjo
Website: http://www.ragnarjonasson.com/
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Blurb
1955. Two young couples move to the uninhabited, isolated fjord of Hedinsfjörður. Their stay ends abruptly when one of the women meets her death in mysterious circumstances. The case is never solved. Fifty years later an old photograph comes to light, and it becomes clear that the couples may not have been alone on the fjord after all…
In nearby Siglufjörður, young policeman Ari Thór tries to piece together what really happened that fateful night, in a town where no one wants to know, where secrets are a way of life. He’s assisted by Ísrún, a news reporter in Reykjavik, who is investigating an increasingly chilling case of her own. Things take a sinister turn when a child goes missing in broad daylight. With a stalker on the loose, and the town of Siglufjörður in quarantine, the past might just come back to haunt them.
Haunting, frightening and complex, Rupture is a dark and atmospheric thriller from one of Iceland’s foremost crime writers.
Review
Thank you to Karen at Orenda books for inviting me to join the blog tour and providing a copy of Rupture for review.
Rupture is the fourth book in Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series, featuring police officer Ari Thor and the isolated town of Siglufjordur. This is one of the few series I have read where I can honestly say that each book is even better than the last!
As the book opens, things are not going so well for the citizens of Siglufjordur. The town is in quarantine due to a suspected outbreak of haemorrhagic fever. Everyone is staying indoors, in the safety of their homes. This gives an immediate element of claustrophobia to the tale.
With Siglufjordur a veritable ghost town, Ari Thor needs something to occupy his mind. When asked to look into a cold-case, Ari Thor finds his interest piqued and is determined to get to the bottom of the decades-old mystery.
We also become reacquainted with news reporter, Ísrún, who is finding herself stretch in several directions; worrying about her health, acting as go-between for her estranged parents and attempting to establish herself at work.
The story proceeds at a good pace, complete with a few twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes. The plotline contains several threads for the reader to follow: a child abduction, a hit-and-run accident and a suspicious death. Jónasson is certainly skilled at smoothly bringing together seemingly unconnected storylines.
The writing is, for me, one of the highlights of Rupture and the earlier books in the Dark Iceland series. Jónasson writing style is particularly to-the–point and feels almost sparse at times, yet there is a poetic element to his prose which compliments the bleak elegance of the tale. Each word feels as though it has been intentionally chosen to draw the reader into the pages and immerse them in this fictional world.
I like Ari Thor as a character and I was interested to read his interactions with Ísrún, whom we have already met in Jónasson’s earlier book, Blackout. Their different investigatory styles seem to compliment each other and they certainly made a good partnership. I hope that we see Ísrún once again in any further additions to this series.
Rupture is a great crime novel – a classic mystery with a contemporary nordic twist. It creeps up on you, gripping your attention until you just can’t put it down. A beautifully bleak, intelligent and atmospheric tale which I thoroughly enjoyed and would highly recommend.
About the Author
Icelandic crime writer Ragnar Jónasson was born in Reykjavík, and currently works as a lawyer, while teaching copyright law at the Reykjavík University Law School. In the past, he’s worked in TV and radio, including as a news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service. Before embarking on a writing career, Ragnar translated fourteen Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic, and has had several short stories published in German, English and Icelandic literary magazines. Ragnar set up the first overseas chapter of the CWA (Crime Writers’ Association) in Reykjavík, and is co-founder of the international crime-writing festival Iceland Noir. Ragnar’s debut thriller Snowblind became an almost instant bestseller when it was published in June 2015, with Nightblind (winner of the Dead Good Reads Most Captivating Crime in Translation Award) and then Blackout following soon after. To date, Ragnar Jónasson has written five novels in the Dark Iceland series, which has been optioned for TV by On the Corner, and had rights sold in fourteen countries. He lives in Reykjavík with his wife and two daughters.
Buy Links
Blog Tour
I am one of the last stops, so why not check out the earlier stops on the Rupture blog tour. Details as listed below.
The Curious Ginger Cat 