Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

The Doll
A Huldar and Freya thriller
By Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Translated by Victoria Cribb

Another mystery from "The Queen" of Icelandic crime fiction. I found it in the Keflavík airport on my way home from my recent trip. At 450 pages, it is really a bit hefty for an airplane book, I needed a few days at home to finish it.

A mysterious doll is hauled up from the ocean bed in the Faxaflói bay that abuts Reykjavík. Five years later skeletal fragments are found in the same spot. Those unidentified remains, a missing teen-aged girl and forays into the underbelly of Reykjavík’s drug scene make this a complicated case for Huldar, lead investigator for Reykjavík’s serious crimes unit. Because the girl was in the foster care system, Freya, a child psychologist (and once upon a time Huldar’s lover) is called into the case which quickly expands with additional murders revealed, including some that were initially deemed to be accidents.

Overlaid on all this plottage are vivid descriptions of various locales in Reykjavík. If you are familiar with the city you should get a kick out of them, if not, it won’t be a hindrance. Because the plot is so convoluted, there is a lengthy denouement which does tie up all the loose ends, albeit in a somewhat tedious fashion. This is one of Yrsa’s better novels, if you are a fan of her work you should enjoy it. Qualified recommendation.