3/5 stars!

Attention! This book contains: Morse code, vacuum cleaners, flat irons, big heads, code numbers, siblings, sweet dogs, adoption papers, trauma and little girls.

The first in an exciting new series from the author of THE SILENCE OF THE SEA, winner of the 2015 Petrona Award for best Scandinavian Crime Novel.

The murder was meant as a punishment – but what sin could justify the method?

The only person who might have answers is the victim’s seven-year-old daughter, found hiding in the room where her mother died. And she’s not talking.

Newly promoted, out of his depth, detective Huldar turns to Freyja and the Children’s House for their expertise with traumatised young people. Freyja, who distrusts the police in general and Huldar in particular, isn’t best pleased. But she’s determined to keep little Margret safe.

It may prove tricky. The killer is leaving them strange clues: warnings in text messages, sums scribbled on bits of paper, numbers broadcast on the radio. He’s telling a dark and secret story – but how can they crack the code? And if they do, will they be next?

This was my first time reading Nordic Noir and my first time reading a book from Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. My experience ended up being neutral: I didn’t hate it, but I also didn’t love it.

This is exactly the kind of thrillers I usually run from. And what I mean by that is that I usually don’t pick up very slow paced, descriptive thrillers. But why not, is that a bad thing you ask? Not necessarily, it’s just a personal preference. I don’t like when stories drag too much within this genre because I get too curious and I immediately want progress in the story. With that said, I know a lot of people who like very descriptive stories and long chapters about characters, so I know this book would be a treat for those readers.

The plot didn’t impress me too much either. I was indeed surprised when I found out who the murderer was and it tied everything together, but the motives were incredibly dumb and I can’t get over that. The characters were okay, but there weren’t likable characters as well. There was some weird tension between Freyja and Huldar that was unnecessary to the story – why do authors feel the need to add any sort of sexual relationship to crime/mystery books like this one? I did like the cute little girl, but I feel like her dialog was not age appropriate so it ended up sounding a little off.

On a positive note, I liked the gruesomeness of the story. I think this is one of the few times where I actually felt uncomfortable with murders in a thriller, and I was surprised by that. It was very creative in that regard!

Overall, it was okay. Like I said, there’s a lot of unnecessary information and details that don’t contribute to the plot, but that provide an immersive experience to the reader. Most of the reviews on this book are very positive, so if it sounds interesting to you definitely pick it up!