Thóra Guðmundsdóttir series (book 1)

This book is included in The Icelanders Cometh crowdfunding campaign run by the Jolabokaflod Book Campaign to raise money for UK libraries to spend on titles translated into English by Icelandic authors to mark World Book Night and UNESCO’s World Book and Copyright Day in 2016.

Synopsis

A young man is found brutally murdered, his eyes gouged out. A student of Icelandic history in Reykjavik, he came from a wealthy German family who do not share the police’s belief that his drug dealer murdered him.

Attorney Thóra Guðmundsdóttir is commissioned by his mother to find out the truth, with the help – and hindrance – of boorish ex-policeman Matthew Reich.

Their investigations into his research take them deep into a grisly world of torture and witchcraft both past and present, as they draw ever closer to a killer gripped by a dangerous obsession.

Reviews

‘I can see why so many people are enthusiastic about Yrsa’s work. It’s very engaging, fresh and exciting.’ James Patterson

‘A grisly chiller set in the depths of winter … Her mystery is absorbing and, untypically, instead of the usual gloomy middle-aged man, her sleuth is a young woman … It’s an accomplished debut, with credible characters and a personable heroine. Sunday Telegraph

‘Dark, deep and icy as an Icelandic fjord; this is a rich and rewarding debut novel of ancient mysteries and very modern murder.’ Mark Billingham

‘An intricately plotted tale that keeps the reader guessing whodunit, or indeed whether it was murder at all, right until the very end.’ Sunday Express