Friday Fiction Review

Winterkill
A Dark Iceland Series novel by
Ragnar Jónasson
Orenda Books, 2020

Another Inspector Ari Thór Arason mystery, set in the far northern Icelandic town of Siglufjörður. At the start of the Easter weekend a young woman’s apparent suicide throws a wrench into Ari’s holiday plans when he senses that there is more than meets the eye in her demise. It is written in the style of the other books in the series, differing from a lot of other modern crime fiction in that the plot actually makes sense! If you enjoy Jónasson’s other work you should find this satisfactory as well.

This book slipped my attention, perhaps because it was actually translated into French first and then into English by a ‘minor’ publisher. I have read that Icelandic fiction is hot in France right now and I know that there is a definite shortage of Icelandic–English translators which might explain the book’s odd provenance. The writing may have lost a few nuances along the way because of that. It is an easy read, short (224 pages), a perfect airplane book (does anyone fly anymore?) or just the thing to while away a snowy winter evening. It is not ‘great’ literature by any means.

Qualified recommendation.

Links to other FITK reviews of Jónasson’s books and other Icelandic authors here.