Orenda Books Tours: Stop Dead by Katrín Júlíusdóttir translated by Larissa Kyzer

The author of the bestselling debut Dead Sweet entrepreneur, former politician and crime author Katrín Júlíusdóttir is back with the timed sequel Stop Dead, published by Orenda Books, translated from Icelandic by Larissa Kyzer. 

Detective in training Sigurdis has to abandon her academic training in criminal psychology in the US for further investigating the murder of her father. However, as a controversial media personality is murdered as well, during a marathon, inconvenient truths are revealed as the crime web goes deep into the darkest layers of the Icelandic society and especially its politics.

The mixture between political intrigue and crime is one of my favourite crime sub-genres, therefore, I enjoyed every single page of this novel, well-paced and diving deep into the dark encounters of corrupt and machiavellic politicians and their supporters. 

The story is slowly switching from what was considered as a simple procedural investigation into a much serious and clearly dangerous dive going beyond a simple crime. But the book itself does not read only as a true crime as Júlíusdóttir creatively built momentum through both the plot and the characters. 

Although more than one topics approached may pertain to everyday social challenges, their role in the narrative is not to demonstrate a thesis or to prove a theory, but to nurture the plot and allow the characters - like Sigurdis, which is my favorite - to expand.

I haven´t read too much Nordic Noir this year, but Stop Dead is definitely a book that I will remember and keep recommending to anyone interested in clear and strong Icelandic crime voices.

Rating: 5 stars

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