Orenda Books Book Tour: The Last Tenant by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb Elma, Sævar

With the autumn insidiously taking over the city, I am glad for being able to spend more time indoors in the company of eerie books. This time I amm back to the world of Orenda Books, an edition house I am always honored to feature on my blog. 

The Last Tenant by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb is part of the Forbidden Iceland series I had the chance to read and review before. Some of the characters, like the team of investigators, are part of the current story this well, which was a great idea giving their character and special way of tracing the crimes.

As usual, the story is following different directions - the terrifying discovery of a mother and an infant, a single woman with her son trying to start anew, the relationship troubles between Elma and Sævar (the investigators team). Through fine psychological observation and turn of events, there is a common denominator to all those directions, that we are invited to discover.

There is an interesting thread underlying the main thriller plot that has to do with family connections and their potential of hope and consuming power. 

The novel is well paced and with a complex structure. From one installment to the other, it only gets better and better, which makes me really curious about what can happen next in the series.

Rating: 5 stars

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

Orenda Books Book Tour: Home Before Dark by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb

 

I can hardly resist a week without some haunting ´Noir´, preferably Nordic, on my TBR. The mystery of the week comes today again from Iceland, a dark novel by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb, published by Orenda Books. I´ve lost count how often I am reviewing books published by them; the more the merrier. 

The book is part of the Icelandic trilogy, but reads as well as a standalone novel. 

Told by two separate narrators, in an intricated and elaborated narrative, Home Before Dark is one of the darkest stories I´ve read recently. Not only the story itself feels like suffocating, but the characters as well seem to fight helplessly against the inertia of their own evils. It is also interesting that the story is placed many decades ago, towards the second half of the 20th century which gives a certain distance to the current times, allowing the author to have the freedom of choice in terms of events and ambiance descriptions. At a certain extent, it looks like out of time, hence the focus on facts and especially the ways in which facts do carry an existential weight on the characters´ further development.

Marsi, 14 at the time, impersonated her sister, Stina, corresponding with a penpal boy on the other side of the country. (Yeah, those were the times, when penpals were actually a thing). She missed meeting him, but her sister, Stina, is found dead at their meeting place. Ten years after, she is still haunted by the memory and self-guilt of the events, with dramatic effects on her mental health. People from that past may return, leading to answering some questions regarding her sister´s murder. And maybe some more hints about the murderer.

Home Before Dark is less a crime investigation per se, rather a study on living with a traumatic past. Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is perfectly mastering the art of revealing secrets that may be confusing for the reader, but will unexpectedly lead to a possible closure.

I´ve found the writing construction very unique. The spider´s web plot and the evolving dynamic between the characters made it into a story that´s hard to let down until is over.

Rating: 4.5 stars

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

Random Things Tours: Boys who Hurt by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb

 

Icelandic literature, particularly from the crime/thriller category, never ceases to surprise me, and I am more than grateful for being able to follow up in the last year the works of some brand name of the genre. Thus, I had the possibility to figure out not only about literary trends and topics, but also about style and writing skills. One of those authors is Eva Björg Ægisdóttir. I had the chance to previously read two from her series Forbidden Iceland - translated by Victoria Cribb. Boys who Hurt publish by the one and only Orenda Books is the fifth installment and it only gets better.

What I also previously liked about Ægisdóttir books is that they are set in a normal everyday environment and the characters - good and bad - do have a normal life, as everyone does; they are not superheroes. Detective Elma, for instance, is back from her maternity leave and her partner Sævar, that will play a role in the story as well, is staying at home with their daughter. As simple as that. 

Elma is leaving her family quietness to investigate the murder of her neighbour´s son, in a brutal attack that seems to have a repetitive pattern. At least when it comes to the cottage where it took place. Accidentally, Sævar is filling his paternity leave time going through a box with old documents, and one diary may have the key to the crime.

More than in the other two books, in Boys Who Hurt the narrative construction is seamless, and it only gets darker and darker, with small details that do amplify the mystery and do make the solution almost impossive to predict. Like in a game of perspectives, we are offered a kaleidoscope-like of views, which may shed some light on different parts of the story, while still keeping in shadow some of the most important details to be revealed at the very end, if ever.

I wish there will be more books in the series, because I just want the best for me: and I am more than sure that the best of the best is yet to come. 

Rating: 5 stars

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

Random Things Tours: You Can´t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb

 

Extended families of all sorts do offer an unlimited source of amazement and dark secrets. Especially in times of crisis, under the unexpected duress of dramatic external events. From this point of view, the premises of You Can´t See Me by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb, published by Orenda Books are an excellent.

This was my second encounter with this Icelandic author, the book being part of the Forbidden Iceland series.

A rich family reunites in a fancy resort. The conflict between different generations is clear, but maybe stronger than the age-related worldviews is the personal conflict between the new and old members of the family. And as the tension seems to slowly increase in the fancy resort, there is a corpse and police intervenes to investigate. The best occasion to allow more secrets and inimities to reveal.

As an orchestra conductor, the author allows a concert of points of view, shared by most of the characters of the book. Instead of creating a cacophony it offers a magistral display of the human nature, with all its weaknesses. However, it amplifies the mystery and the doubts about the possible outcome.

I am a big admirer of writers creating a story out of an everyday life situation - family conflicts, minus the corpse, obviously - and Ægisdóttir is definitely a crafted master in her own way. I loved how the story - universal, translatable all over the world - was given a local Made in Iceland flavor, which makes the reading experience even more powerful and unforgettable.

I can only expect more installments from the Forbidden Iceland, as I am becoming more and more fascinated with this society, one Icelandic Noir book at a time. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

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

Random Things Tours: Night Shadows by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir translated by Victoria Cribb

 

Night Shadows by Icelandic author Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, translated into English by Victoria Cribb, is an intricate tale built up with the highest finesse and attention to the smallest plot detail. 

Iceland detective Elma is requested to investigate the death of a young man during an unexpected fire accident in Akranes. But the more she and her team are digging deep into the incident, the more surprising the details discovered. Such as the fact that the fire was not an accident but an arson act, and it seems that there is more than one corpse. Meanwhile, Elma herself is dealing with her own personal issues and the terrible secrets she is discovering while investigating this case put her in moral danger.

This is just a short outline of the plot, which leaves over 70% of the rest of the story to be discovered by the reader him/herself.

I love thrillers because it allows me to get involved in searching for a solution myself, obviously based by the details revealed be the author. Sometimes I do guess the ending, sometimes part of it. In the case of Night Shadows, I was completely at lost. As mere details were revealed - at wisely calculate times and moments - , the whole prediction was proved fully wrong in just a delicate twirl of a new twist. It´s annoying, indeed, especially for someone so highly competitive as me, but it´s the good kind of annoyance, that happens when you deal with some intellectually changing person or, in this particular case, story.

With Night Shadows, one of my favorite thriller and mystery edition houses, Orenda Books (here you can find more reviews of their titles) rewards the mystery and crime reader with just another extraordinary suspenseful read. My particular pleasure of reading this book was to have been given the chance to read about some details about Icelandic pronunciation. Thus, the reader is more than immersed into the story, but equally introduced to a culture and its language.

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir herself is born in the city where the action of the book takes place, in Akranes, a port city in the Western part of the country. Night Shadows is part of the trilogy Forbidden Iceland, featuring Elma as the main investigative character. The book can be easily read without being familiar with the others, but it opens the appetite for further readings. Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is the winner of the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for The Creak on the Stairs. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

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