Autumn of 1987 takes a young couple on a romantic trip in the Westfjords holiday – a trip that gets an unexpected ending and has catastrophic consequences.
Ten years later a small group of friends go for a weekend in an old hunting lodge in Elliðaey. A place completely cut off from the outside world, to reconnect. But one of them isn’t going to make it make alive. And Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is determined to find the truth in the darkness.
This was my chosen Christmas Eve read (an Icelandic tradition) and I read it cover to cover in just over two hours, an utterly compelling and beautifully descriptive story that is impossible to put down.
This is the second in the Hidden Iceland series, the story of Hulga, but in reverse order so in The Island not only do we get a new and intriguing mystery, but also more hints about what leads Hulga to her ultimate fate in The Darkness.
It’s an interesting way of telling a story and in this case it is working brilliantly. Knowing what happens to Hulga in the future really informs how you read about her past.
The mystery element is clever and as usual the author layers his characters beautifully. This is one of those books you sink into and was the perfect, chilly, winter read on the night before Christmas. Or at any time.
Highly Recommended.
You can purchase The Island (Michael Joseph) Here.
Happy Reading!
