Reviews

Winterkill by Ragnar Jónasson

bridget1989's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

kfrig's review against another edition

4.0

3.5 - another wonderful Scandinavian detective novel by Ragnar Jonasson. A 5 within the genre but 3.5 compared to all of the books I’ve read. Quick mysteries with detective Ari Thor at the center. Love the lack of gore and the descriptions of the people and places of Siglufjordur, Iceland near the Arctic Circle. This won’t be my last Jonasson novel.

myfrogmonster's review

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

 Another wonderful mystery. This Dark Iceland series has been fantastic. Ari Thor is a marvelous character. I have been trying to figure out if Mr. Jonasson is going to continue the series but it is hard to tell. If this is the end of the series I am sad, but it had a satisfying conclusion. I hope he does continue with stories in Ari's world. I love the atmosphere he creates in these stories. I live in MN and it is easy to relate to the weather. Reading this during a snowstorm certainly adds to the ambiance! 

jenheartbooks's review against another edition

3.0

Quick read, but not especially well-written. I have never read a mystery that utterly lacked suspense before. This story was just plodding and methodical, and not especially interesting or original.

sooky's review against another edition

4.0

Dark and atmospheric nordic noir. It was great to return to this small town and Ari Thor. I do wonder, was he always such a wet blanket though? He was thinking about working in Reykjavik, but instead of saying something, he's waiting for his former boss to recommend him for a job. When the old boss makes noises about retiring, Ari concludes he's going to be stuck in tiny town forever. Why tho?

maw's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

admacg's review against another edition

3.0

Winterkill is the final outing in Ragnar Jonasson’s excellent ‘Dark Iceland’ books. At the beginning of ‘Snowblind, the first book in the series, a body was found and described as a snow angel, peaceful but surrounded by a pool of blood. This time we begin with another body in the snow, a nineteen year old female, having fallen there from a height. Suicide or Murder?

Ari Thor is now Police Inspector, and he’s straight onto the case. As usual, everything is not what it seems and our favourite Icelandic investigator is piecing together the puzzle. It’s coming up to Easter and his ex partner Kristin is visiting for the weekend with his now three year old son Stefnir, who now live in Sweden, so he’s eager to spend time with them but of course the case soon preoccupies his mind and he can’t drop it. To complicate matters, he is also called to the local retirement home, where old flame Ugla now works. One of the residents has written something disturbing on the wall – could it be related to the case? And of course it wouldn’t be the dark Iceland series without a serious turn in the weather – a blizzard that brings everything to a standstill and contributes to the feeling of claustrophobia.

As per usual this is a carefully constructed crime novel, and it’s always good to spend time with Ari, but for me this wasn’t one of the strongest outings in the series. I felt I was able to hazard a guess as to what happened before the final reveal. Still, it was well plotted and I felt that Ari’s story was wrapped up well. I would like to visit Siglufjörður some day, though hopefully when the weather is a bit better. A solid end to a solid crime series.

thebooktrail88's review against another edition

4.0

Visit the locations in Winterkill

A Mystery to transport you to rural Iceland – Siglufjörður

I was so happy to go back to Siglufjörður. It feels like ages, but with the best places, once you go back you feel as if you haven’t left at all. The place is the same yet there are new people passing through, the same Ari Thor in the police trying to work with his new team members and a new mystery. There’s still the feeling of remoteness, snow and isolation yet there’s a new road bringing in a lot more outsiders.

Ooh but this time we go outside of the town and visit Siglunes, an even more remote place. When the characters in the novel go here, I felt genuine trepidation…..

Ari is of course the central character and he’s troubled. His son and ex-partner are back in town and he’s having to manage the complications that go along with that as well as a new and strange case he’s working on. A girl has been found dead outside an apartment block in the town. The owner is away in the city, so who is this girl and how did she get into the apartment? Why was she there? How did she die?

The investigation is deliciously complex and sensitive. Ari visits the parents, talks to her friends and suddenly, slowly, the real reasons for this girl’s death become clear. It’s a twisted case where the witnesses are strange, the girl’s friends distant and then there’s the man, a visiting artist, who ‘just happened to be in the area when the body was found’.

his was a multi-layered and very deep mystery with many more threads to it than I first realised. It’s quite a short novel too, so it really does pack a punch! The writing is sharp, the plotting clever ( but the case is very sad!) and the translation brings this to the fore. Kudos to David Warriner for translating this from the French. Other novels have been directly translated from the Icelandic but you can’t tell the difference.

Aaah, how I’ve missed Siglufjörður. Ari shows us just how this place has changed, yet how it has also stayed the same. He doesn’t like the extra tourists, that’s for sure. He talks and grumbles about the famous tunnel which connects the town to the outside world, and the snow which keeps it apart.

Recommended!

emmaledbetter's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

corks's review

mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I love how atmospheric Jonasson's work is and I love the setting of the Ari Thor books. Big fan, a lot of fun and a lot of manic page-turning.