The Girl Who Died

The Icelandic branch of Nordic Noir is an intriguing one. That such a tiny and safe country can produce such impressive crime writing is impressive. Ragnar Jonasson is the third author from this small subgenre that I have tried (after Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Eva Björg Ægisdóttir). There is definitely something about dark northern winters that give a particularly wild and bleak feel to Nordic noir and Ragnar captures this with aplomb in The Girl Who Died. Here we are are transported to a remote hamlet on a northern peninsular of Iceland, about as bleak and isolated as you can get. A young teacher from Reykjavik has been employed to teach the settlement's two young children. However, such small communities are close nit affairs and outsiders are distrusted and this is no exception. The sense of isolation of the location is effectively compounded by this culture and this loneliness and bleakness feeds effectively into the story as the protagonist takes to drink for comfort.

When a death occurs that is remarkably similar to an earlier one, the teacher starts digging. Ragnar uses the isolation of the setting, the secretive and tight nit nature of such isolated communities and the bleakness of Icelandic winters to conjure an effective and chilling crime mystery. I am a fan of Nordic Noir and this is a worthy addition to the oeuvre.

There were more secretes than I expected and less sense of place. The plot twists and secrets were interesting, but the pacing toward the end was a little slower than I expected. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but I am glad I read it.

kept my attention - thought it was going to turn into a Shirley Jackson-like “The Lottery” but it turned into something different. Inventive and engaging though the digressions to the person in prison were distracting for me.