Thank you Netgalley and Orenda Books for the eARC.
This was a real page turner. Set just after the Iceland financial crash, the main character, Sonia, is a reluctant drug smuggler. Having lost custody of her little boy, Tomas, she is trying to save enough money to show Social Services she's able to look after her son. Her smuggling trips are tremendously stressful and dangerous and it will prove impossible to escape the group of men who use her as a mule.
Agla, is being investigated for fraud and could end up in jail. She is just one of the many who are trying to survive the aftermath of the Icelandic financial meltdown. Her relationship with Sonia is complicated, leaving her either bereft or ashamed, but unable to end it.
Bragi, a wily, highly experienced customs official whose beloved wife has Alzheimer's, has Sonia in his sights. His long years in airport customs have given him strong instincts sniffing out drug smugglers and he begins investigating her frequent trips to London and Copenhagen.
Their stories are skilfully intertwined and the ending is satisfying, and left me looking forward to hearing how Sonia's and Tomas' lives progress.
Marooned by a heavy snowstorm I finished the book in 2 days...I thought it fitting it was set in Iceland! The translation by Quentin Bates should be mentioned - it's excellent.

Lilja made her story more interesting in Iceland by flying off to London or Copenhagen to have Sonja caught in the snare of bringing cocaine back to Iceland. Sonja was a divorcee who fell into a trap when she divorced Adam, who was a lawyer, by using his partner in the divorce. She had no monies and had a little boy, Tómas, which was everything to Sonja. She was offered to pick up some cocaine by her then lawyer and had no options but to do it. This was when the banks were playing with other peoples money and Adam was working at the bank. To make a long story short Sonja was found with Agla, who worked the bank Adam was at, in the heat of passion. Divorce. Bragi, who was a airline inspector followed Sonja through several inspections and figured out that she was smuggling cocaine. All the while Sonja and Agla kept having passion, when Tómas wasn't visiting her. Sonja wants out and makes a move where she's beat up by a heavy. Bragi's wife has Alzheimer's and he figures out a plan to get money by helping get Sonja out of having to be a runner. The story continues with Agla having taken part in the banks downfall with Adam being interrogated by the authorities and Sonja gives Bragi the cocaine she got off her shipments to put in her lawyers house. She finds out that Adam was behind the cocaine and decided to flee with Tómas.

I would definitely recommend this book to my readers because it is a "round you go" type of story which is very entertaining.

Betrayal, a mother's love, cocaine trafficking, and a husband's love. You will  experience these and more from Lilja Sigurdardottir's new novel, Snare.

I was lucky to get an arc from NetGalley. I am a huge fan of Orenda books and this one held up their wonderful reputation.

Snare takes you through Iceland's banking crisis, a wife betraying her husband (and herself), the devastation of custody sharing in a divorce and what mountain you will climb for your child, and an elderly husband's love for a wife with Alzheimer's. Oh, and did I say betrayal? Massive amounts of betrayal.

There are 3 main characters with each giving their own voice to the story. Normally, I dont like this as I will invariably have to go back and figure out who's talking. But Lilja is a master at keeping them separate yet together. It is always quite clear who is talking and each chapter builds their own particular story. There are definitely a few surprise moments when you will exclaim out loud.

I have learned film rights have been bought. Now I have to lay awake and think of which actors I need in these roles. Another fabulous Orenda book.

Time for some international reading. Iceland this time, a land of readers and writers if statistics are to go by. Also a land of brutal weather, terrible food and gorgeous scenery. All these ingredients were presents and permanently featured, it’s the story itself that was sort of underwhelming. Scandinavian fiction in general has a sort of flat aspect to it, but here it went beyond muted to plain averageness. Plus the ending was a definite detractor. Yes, I understand it’s a first in a new series and series are nearly impossible to avoid, ok, but every entry should still be self contained and offer a proper resolution. This one sort of just ended in a pretty unsatisfying way. The plot is this…a woman goes through an ugly divorce and subsequent financial challenges entangle her in a…yes, you got it, Snare. Now she, Sonja, has to shuttle cocaine into the country. All the while hoping to get out of the racket and get back the custody of her child. All the while maintaining a terribly dysfunctional love affair with Agla, a woman who is ashamed of her sexuality and also embroiled in a financial scam investigation. And then there’s a security person at the airport who is onto Sonja’s act. So it’s all challenging and complicated. And you’d think would be really compelling, but it’s just compelling enough. The Sonja and Agla thing is just a nuisance, you’d think a country that essentially pioneered gender equality, gay rights and all that would see their citizens have a more progressive mentality, but no, Agla’s so stuck in the closet, she can practically see Narnia from there and the entire relationship is just a sad mess. The state of the country in this book is also kind of a sad mess, set in 2010/2011 financial crisis, Iceland comes across as provincial and claustrophobic and gray. Maybe it just doesn’t mesh with my romanticized version of it. Or maybe it’s just the depressing reality of civilizations unable or unwilling to live up to the high standards nature sets. Anyway, this book had its moments, enough of them to make the reader care, probably enough to want to check out further installments…although it may not have been memorable enough to ensure the recollection of prior events by the time the sequel comes out. Plus it may work as a manual for aspiring smugglers, Sonja has an OCD like precision about her work. But then again as the book demonstrates you might not want to go that way. The ending had a nice twist to it, really enhanced the story, although with the mystery out of the way, the next one is setting up to be just a straight up power struggle with known players. Time will tell. Maybe the author has some new tricks up her sleeve. Oh…is this still Scandinavian noir if it really isn’t that noirish? It’s definitely Scandinavian, but the style doesn’t really suggest noir. Maybe it’s become more of a general generic sort of thing now. Geographically specific thriller fiction. Thanks Netgalley.