Random Things Tours: Red As Blood by Lilja Sigurðardóttir translated by Quentin Bates

 

After Cold As Hell, Lilja Sigurðardóttir continues the series featuring the financial investigator Áróra with a new installment, Red As Blood, translated from Icelandic by the same talented Quentin Bates and published by Orenda Books, an edition house I am always grateful to be given the chance to feature on my blog. 

This time Án Áróra still looking for her missing sister, alongside with her investigator friend Daniel, is requested to solve a case involving an unusual kidnapping - at least unusual for Iceland - of a middle class woman, Gudrun, by request of her husband, Flosi. Upon returning home, he discovered his house upside down and is sent a note to pay a significant ransom unless she will be killed.

Sigurðardóttir meticulously created an ambiance which is both local and profusely human. Crime and drama in general may affect everyone of us, even the happiest and non-eventful among us. We should not be criminals or with an evil mind. Crime can happen, just as happy events can happen. Another strong point of the book is in my opinion the well researched procedural part, which makes the reading interesting from the logical point of view. It makes the story even more relatable because it is supported by a realistic background, with legal explications. Fantasy rarely suits crime novels anyway. 

Although part of series, Red as Blood can be read independently, but Sigurðardóttir´s writing is so unsettling - in the good literary sense - that you may spend your next days reading everything she ever wrote. 

For the lovers of Nordic Noir novels and for those whose high tastes in excellent crime novels are uncompromising, Red as Blood is a recommended choice. It takes the reader alongside on the journey towards finding the truth and although guessing the ending is an almost impossible riddle, at least it is very much worth the journey. 

I bet I - as we all do - will meet Án Áróra pretty soon again.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour but the opinions are, as usual, my own