Hidden Iceland (The Darkness, The Island, and The Mist) by Ragnar Jónasson

 The Darkness  Buy it from Bookshop.org and support local booksellers 

This is the first of the Trilogy although it main story is chronologically the most recent – however even within this book there is a layering of past and present – things hinted at, revealed and then corrected as more unfolds. There is a multi-generational character to the pain that is core to the narrative.

It is a thriller, and fairly light reading, I rattled through the 300+ pages in a couple of evenings – midway through I was rather uninspired - the lonely cop taken off the case on the eve of retirement was perhaps one cliché too many piled on - but then something shifted and drew me onto the conclusion – so rather than giving up I have now got the other 2 books from the library. 

 

The Island Buy it from Bookshop.org and support local booksellers 

Once again the narrative is driven by the revelation of secrets long held, piling the layers like an onion skin, but I didn’t find the same intensity of connection as in the first book – in part because the shadows in Hulda’s own past referred to here had been explained before. 

 

The Mist Buy it from Bookshop.org and support local booksellers 

During the first third of the book tension builds, to some extent, but it seems to slip away, and as the explanation of the events unfolds I found myself reading with no real interest or engagement in the characters.

Hulda’s narrative felt particularly lacklustre in this outing – we knew from the earlier books exactly what happened to her at Christmas 1987, and how that moment of tragedy shaped the rest of her life, there was nothing new said about it.

Also the chronology is bound by only a few months, and this narrowing compared with the Darkness is part of why this feels a much more limited and unambitious offering. 

On p271 of my library copy a previous reader had circled the word "mist" - while snow storms and winter darkness feature heavily, this is the only time "The Mist" of the title appears - I am not sure if that is a consequence of translation?