Hidden Iceland Trilogy Series by Ragnar Jonasson
Published on 11th December 2020
The first book in this series called The Darkness, is penned by Ragnar Jonasson and it is an atmospheric thriller set in the stark, bleak yet bewitching and enchanting landscape of Iceland. The impact of the isolation on the people lends itself to be the ideal setting for a crime novel.
The Darkness revolves round Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir, who is 64 years old and soon to retire. As far as her boss is concerned, it can’t be soon enough, as he has a younger male, lined up for the job. He relents by allowing her to take up the last case of her career; a cold case (no pun intended!)
The case Hulda chooses revolves round the body of a young Russian asylum seeker called Elena whose body was washed up on an Icelandic beach. A slapdash investigation by her colleague Alexander put the death down to suicide. But Hulda is determined to prove otherwise.
The more she digs into the case the more she believes that foul play was at hand. With dogged determination she sets out to close her final case. This is not only a crime novel but has different threads running through it relating to Hulda’s life and the obstacles and challenges she faced in her personal life and her career.
Next, on to a second thrilling book of the Hidden Iceland series called The Island. All the action takes place on a tiny island off the coast of Iceland. What is interesting or unusual about this is that it is set in reverse order. Hulda is in her 50’s and it is set 10 years before the first novel of this series The Darkness.
A reunion is planned on a remote island for four friends who have lost touch with each other. This trip coincides with the 10th anniversary of the murder of one of their friends’ at the hands of her alcoholic father.
The trip ends in the death of another member of the group, and Hulda finds herself tasked with investigating this suspicious death. She also decides to review the death from ten years previously. I don’t want to give any spoilers away so I will leave it at that and let you read them for yourselves.
This series is not just another Nordic noir crime thriller but it is the deeply troubled story of Hulda from birth to retirement which is unravelled in each book. I am now looking forward to reading The Mist which I’m sure will provide an outstanding conclusion to the trilogy.
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Submitted by Teresa P. in Inchicore Library.