I first discovered Icelandic author Arnaldur Indriðason about three years ago and I was immediately captivated by the tone of his novels and I’ve now got our small town library filled with his books. When I saw his name and this book available for request for reviewers, I was excited to make the request.  What I didn’t know was that this is part of a new series (the second book) known as the Reykjavik Wartime Mystery series.  This definitely threw me off as I read the first few chapters … Why are we in 1941?  Where is Inspector Erlendur? … Of course I caught on that this was not part of the Inspector Erlendur series and I just sat back to enjoy my mystery.

A man is found dead, shot in the head execution style, in a small apartment in Reykjavik. The bullet belonged to a Colt .45 pistol – standard issue for American GIs! Icelandic Detective Flóvent must work with U.S. Military Police Officer Thorson (a Canadian with Icelandic parents) since there is a strong possibility that the killer is a U.S. serviceman.

But the first surprise comes when the landlady informs them that the dead man is not the man who rents the apartment, as they first suspected.  Now they must identify who was murdered while also looking for the killer.  The deeper Flóvent and Thorson get into the case, the more disturbing the connections to the world war become.

I found this book to be very straightforward and without the entanglements of multiple subplots. My reaction, as I neared the end, that this was a very straight-forward detective mystery. We arrive on the scene with the detective(s) and follow them as they look into the case.

This makes it a slow-moving book.  Slow is not always a bad thing.  I enjoyed following along and making these discoveries. And the history of Iceland’s involvement as a strategic location in WWII was very interesting.

I missed, though, the moodiness that is typically concomitant with Icelandic mysteries.

I’ve seen this book identified as a ‘thriller’ and as a ‘police procedural.’  ‘Police procedural’ – Definitely!  ‘Thriller’ – not so much.

Looking for a good book? If you enjoy detective novels, police procedural stories, and WWII history, Arnaldur Indriðason’s The Shadow Killer is just the right read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Shadow Killer

author: Arnaldur Indriðason

translator: Victoria Cribb

publisher: Minotaur Books

Ellie Matthews is a criminologist now working as a professor at a local college. She recently assisted on a high-profile murder case, garnering some unwanted attention and now he’s happy to just get back to teaching. Despite her desire to hide in obscurity she agrees to an interview with a charming young student who says he wants to make an impression on the school newspaper editor by landing the one interview that no one else can get.

Not long afterward, a family friend is found dead, murdered, in the bushes on campus and Ellie’s younger sister, Rachel, is missing. The only clue is a cryptic note that references an older criminal case – a case that has been closed due to a conviction.

Despite her close connection to victims of the crimes, Ellie is the bast at what she does and she is brought in to help solve the case.  Time is of the essence when the kidnapper gives Ellie and the police a deadline before he does to Rachel what he did to the family friend.

Under a great deal of pressure, Ellie falls into alcohol bottles and pushes away Detective Nick Baxter who is looking out for her as well as trying to solve the case.

I’m familiar with Caroline Fardig’s writing only from the more lighthearted Java Jive mysteries (which I’ve greatly enjoyed) and the darker nature of this book took me a little bit bu surprise. But a good surprise.

Fardig is a solid, quality writer and this dark thriller is nicely plotted. Ellie works swiftly, uncovering clues from the past with relative ease. She does occasionally make some assumptions (that prove correct) in order to keep the story moving along, but this is mostly forgivable.

There are a couple of moments when the suggestion of romance is brought forth, in particular, when Ellie takes note of a strong, handsome man, but of course she dismisses it because she’s busy trying to find her sister. Just the idea of her noticing it strikes me as a little bit off, but I recognize that this likely speaks to her larger reading audience.

Every once in awhile, when reading a book, a line or phrase really strikes me. In this case it was the simple phrase “…while knowing my only sister is waiting for us…”. I’m not sure why the adjective ‘only’ is used here.  If Ellie had more than one sister, would that have lessened the severity of the need to rescue her?

This is the second book in the Ellie Matthews series, but I never felt as though I missing something important to understand what was happening.  Anything that was needed to know from the previous book appeared to be

Overall this was a solid, quick, thriller read.  It ends a bit abruptly, but the journey is engrossing.

Looking for a good book? An Eye for an Eye by Caroline Fardig is the second book in the Ellie Matthews thriller series. It is a dark, tense thriller with just enough touch of gentleness, that this should appeal to many mystery/thriller readers.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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An Eye for an Eye

author: Caroline Fardig

series: Ellie Matthews Mystery #2

publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

ASIN: B078KC116Q

Kindle Edition, 334 pages

Are you about to read this Robert Bailey book?  You’d best put yourself on a strong exercise routine … find a good cardio workout … because this book will have your heart racing, your adrenaline pumping at high levels and you will want to be strong enough to finish.

JimBone Wheeler is about as bad a human being as a man can get.  He’s a killer without remorse and he’ll delight in defiling a body – preferably before the victim is even dead. And JimBone has a grudge against Tom McMurtrie since it was Tom who put Wheeler behind bars.

The absolute worst kind of killer is one with charisma and is able to convince others to do his bidding.  Wheeler has that charisma and elicits help from the prison nurse and manages his escape from the highly fortified prison, not long before his scheduled execution.  And with JimBone Wheeler on the loose no one with even the most remote ties to McMurtie are safe. JimBone Wheeler doesn’t want revenge … he wants his ‘reckoning.’

I am absolutely exhausted!  This book is one breath-catching moment after another (though author Robert Bailey does manage to give us just enough pauses between high-anxiety moments to let us catch a breath before the next assault).

This might be the perfect legal thriller.  Tom McMurtrie is about as clever and good as Wheeler is charismatic and bad.  They are perfect foils for one another and this is their ultimate showdown.  I think it is safe to say that neither will come through unscathed.

Bailey’s characters are a unique combination of being a bit stereotypical and having a great sense of uniqueness (they stand out from one another quite well) and depth.  It helps, I suspect, that I’ve read a few of Bailey’s books now and I can follow the characters better.

The story is quite singularly focused.  There’s a brief little sub-plot but we don’t spend much time with it.  The JimBone Wheeler story is our only real focus here (Wheeler wouldn’t have it any other way), but there’s all we need, and more, with this single story.  Wheeler’s reckoning is all we know at the start – how he will achieve that is the question that keeps us going, and how McMurtrie will survive. If he survives. McMurtrie is likely on death’s door (we experience a few doctor’s visits with him) and it looks as though he’ll take that knowledge and make of himself a sacrifice to save others.

This book is a phenomenal reading experience. It is a thrill ride that is made more exciting because the characters are created so solidly that we connect with them as if they really are our neighbors and friends.

Looking for a good book? The Final Reckoning by Robert Bailey is a tremendously exciting legal thriller that you really must read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Final Reckoning

author: Robert Bailey

series: McMurtrie and Drake Legal Thrillers #4

publisher: Thomas & Mercer

ISBN: 1503902269

hardcover, 416 pages

“Nordic Noir” has become an actual category of mystery/thriller.  Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the sub-genre. Although Nordbo is not yet listed among the authors mentioned, with this book it is clear (to me at least) that he is bound to be a very strong voice in the bleak landscape of horrific crimes.

Danish journalist, Matthew Cave, is sent to Greenland to research the story of a recently discovered mummified body. The expectation (and hope) is that this is a body from the Viking age of explorers. But shortly after Cave arrives a policeman who was guarding the find is brutally murdered and the mummified body is missing.

As an investigative journalist, Cave is accomplished at doing research and he soon discovers some horrifying similarities between the gutting and skinning of the policeman and a series of murders that occurred in a remote town nearby in the early 1970’s.

Although Cave manages to get the notebook of a policeman who investigated the 1973 murders, but of the locals seem to be pretty unmoved despite the gruesome nature of the killings and the local police help is tepid at best.  And so reporter Matthew Cave suspects a cover-up and takes on the investigation alone. But the closer he get to discover the truth to the mummified body and the decades-old murders, the more danger he finds himself in.

I’ve read a few books in this “Nordic Noir” sub-genre of thriller/mystery and there is something remarkable and  … I’ll say it … beautiful in the juxtaposition of horrible crime and stark, harsh landscape with the human drive to seek truth and retribution or closure.  This book fits so nicely into this category.  The crimes couldn’t be much more terrible.  The title alone brings to mind such a dark visual that you have to know going in that this will be pretty gruesome.

But the story here unfolds so nicely and we’re caught, like spectators driving past an accident, that the combination keeps us turning pages. It’s a great reading experience (if you can handle the cruelty).

This is a top-notch mystery and a thrilling read.  It is highly recommended.

Looking for a good book? The Girl Without Skin by Mads Peder Nordbo is a wonderful read in the Nordic Noir sub-genre and well worth reading if you don’t mind a little gruesomeness in your mystery/thriller.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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The Girl Without Skin

author: Mads Peder Nordbo

translator: Charlotte Barslund

publisher: Text Publishing

ISBN: 1925603830

paperback, 356 pages