I recently saw this book at my local library translated into my mother tongue. I was intrigued and when I saw it again on NetGalley, I knew, I wanted to pick it up. I am a newbie at reading Scandinavian crime thrillers but since I am from a nearby country I always feel a weird sort of a connection.
Obviously, I did not feel connected to this plot, but the atmosphere, the weather, the people - it is all familiar.
"The Girl Without Skin," tells the story of a young reporter living in Greenland. This novel is gritty, sometimes painful and if not realistic plot-wise, then definitely portrayed very realistically.

It feels weird to say I enjoyed it, but it definitely kept me engaged and I wanted to find out more about this story, the history, the characters. There is a lot going on and quite a few plot twists. I would recommend this book to people who love Nordic noir.

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All the opinions are my own.

Horrendous crimes involving child abuse, revenge, political corruption, a novel set in Greenland. With a young Danish journalist following a story, aided by a female character reminiscent of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Intriguing Scandinavian crime thriller.

The Girl Without Skin. Mads Peder Nordbo

I have found myself getting more and more into Scandinavian Noir, both in books and in TV Series.

I have to say this is one of the best I’ve read so far, and hopefully will make it to the screen because the plot is fantastic.

Matthew Cave is a Danish journalist living in Nuuk, Greenland.

Sent to cover the discovery of a mummified body in the wilds outside the city he finds a body that may be of historical significance. So why, when it is left in-situ, does it disappear overnight; and why is the Police Officer that is left to guard it killed in a grizzly manner that reflects four murders which occurred 4 decades earlier.

Matthew and his photographer, Greenland Native Malik, begin to look into both sets of murders and it soon become obvious to Matthew that there is some connection.

Nuuk may be the capital of Greenland but it’s like a small town, everybody seems to know everybody, there are no roads in or out of the city. Secrets and alliances abound, as do illicit relationships which encourage abuse.

Then there’s Matthews own past, his American Father that disappeared when he was young, and whose presence always seems to be a shadow in the background.

When Matthew forms a partnership with a young woman, who has just been released from prison for Killing her family, when she was only 11, his life comes under more scrutiny from the Police and Politicians.

Is somebody trying to stop him from getting to the bottom of the murders? Or is it just that they don’t like outsiders.

This book has everything I like about Scandinavian Noir; crimes in close communities, introvert characters, fantastic settings, and hideous crimes.

The book had me reaching for the internet on more than one occasion. The City of Nuuk was an unknown to me, the use of a special tool for skinning whales and seals was new to me, the Greenland folk law was new to me.

So as well as being very entertaining this book educated me. What more can you ask from a good read.

Pages: 352
Publisher: Text Publishing
Available now.

A multiple murder mystery with gruesome details and graphic depictions of child abuse.
A novel where the climate and surrounds are as much of a charade as the people are. Fans of Stein Larson will love this book.

4 stars

****Please be aware that this book is very gruesome and also contains situations of the sexual abuse of young girls.

Matthew Cave is still trying to get past the deaths of his wife and unborn daughter in a car accident when he receives a telephone call about a mummified Viking found. He and his cameraman take a helicopter to the site.

When they return the next day, the mummy is gone and the police officer left to guard the scene is dead – murdered and flayed. Matthew is told of a series of killings that occurred several years earlier that were eerily similar to the policeman’s death.

The mummified Viking’s body shows up later. The body has also been flayed. Someone has been arrested for the murder. It is a woman named Tupaarnaq. Later released, she teams up, somewhat reluctantly, with Matthew. Together they begin to investigate not only the current flayings but also those from the early 70’s.

I’m not sure how I feel about this book. It was well written Mads Peder Nordbo and well translated by Charlotte Barslund. While the story alternates between the earlier and later murders, it was easy to follow. There w3ere some surprising twists to this story and I was pleasantly surprised when I came across them. There was sufficient background information given about Matthew and Tupaarnaq that fleshed them out quite a bit, but it wasn’t so much that it detracted from the story. There were some real surprises in Tupaarnaq’s story. Delicious. This is my first book by Mr. Nordbo, and I am looking forward to seeing more of his works translated to English so that I may read them.

I want to thank NetGalley and Text Publishing/Text Publishing Company for forwarding to me a copy of this good book to read, enjoy and review.

Thank you net galley and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read this book The Girl Without Skin is a creepy suspense thriller that takes place in Greenland. The first murders took place in 1973 and decades later in 2014 there are new ones. This book is a intense thriller that I had to read in one sitting.

Suspense, horror, crime and journalism.
This book has it all.
Matthew Cave returns to Nuuk in Greenland as a journalist after losing his wife and unborn child in a car accident. He was hoping for a slower pace of life but in Nuuk anything can happen and it does.
When he goes to investigate a mummified viking corpse which goes missing the following day and a police officer who was watching over the mummy is found naked and flayed. Matthew has to go back to 1973 where four unsolved murders took place to find the answers here is looking for.

This book had me at the first sentence, and I couldn't put it down until I had finished! Mads Peder Nordbo is an author comparable to Jo Nesbo, and Steig Larsson. Follow the story clearly, as it can take you away on a fast train, very quickly. There are many interesting shady characters in it, but for me, it was Jakob all the way, as the ultimate hero. What transpires is a quick fantastical journey through Greenland, along with all the cold, ice and murder. Thank you to NetGalley and Text Publishing Company, for the perusal.

I've read a lot of Nordic/Scandi crime, but this was my first foray into Greendlandic fiction of any kind. While 'The Girl Without Skin' forced me to break my self-imposed ban on books with 'girl' in the title, I don't regret that for a moment. Nordbo's action-packed novel is full of insight into Arctic-politics and colonial history, and he quickly establishes a sense of place that absorbed my attention. I quite happily suspended disbelief at our reporter-protagonist's propensity to throw himself into dangerous situations without reason, with Nordbo providing a convincingly traumatic past to account for Matthew's disregard for his own future. I look forward to what comes next in this series, with some hope that Nordbo further teases out the gender-political theme he's begun to explore in this first instalment.

For no particular reason I didn't connect to the story. This one wasn't for me.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this title.

First of all thanks to Netgalley for allowing me access to this book, I enjoyed it so much. I really must say that it was riveting from the first page to the last.
The opening was brutal and at the same time mesmerizing - you simpler have to turn the page and continue.
This novel fits perfectly into the realm of the Nordic Noir genre and hits all the best elements of what you would expect. The dark and light themes, the influences of the tribal cultures, the clash of the Westernised ideals and the indigenous belief systems. The harsh landscape and its strong people. I have loved this style of writing and cinema for quite some time due to its realistic and functional style of story-telling. Mads Peter Nordbo writes with clarity and beauty - it is stark but vivid and his descriptions are moody and atmospheric. The landscape is both fearful and welcoming, I am so drawn to the Greenlandic city of Nuuk through his story that I feel the need to book a ticket to explore and experience for real. The story is graphic in parts but not offensively so it is realistic and all the descriptions are necessary, it is in no way gratuitous in any way - everything is as it oiled and should be.
This story follows the life of Matthew Cave a ‘damaged’ journalist with demons from a tragic past that stumbles into the story of his career whilst trying desperately to vanish from the world. His story is woven together with the story of Jakob Pederson as they follow the same path and clues just 41 years apart. The narrative glides seamlessly between 2014 and 1973 and you don’t get lost in the movements in fact each section ‘bleeds’ perfectly into each other. The story is thrilling and the crime and the subsequent investigation s are at the forefront but Nordbo includes a few subsections into the plot line that allow for some softness - the burgeoning relationships both platonic and romantic between the main protagonists and their respective peers is well done. I also enjoyed the fact that their were direct connections between the two eras in the characters as well as the events.
I am eagerly awaiting the few more works to be translated from Nordbo and will definitely keep my eyes pealed for the next in installment in this series. It states Greenland #1 so I will await #2 with anticipation.
If you like Nordic Crime and enjoy reading about unusual places and their idiosyncratic cultures and beliefs this is the book for you. It is both dark and light in just the right amounts.

This is a wonderful example of Scandi crime: dark and bloody with twists and false leads keeping the pages turning and you guessing right up to the climax.

"The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo" gets a makeover in Greenland. Tupaarnaq is an Innuit, with a body encased in tattoos, hates men, can hack computers and can hack men with a local knife used to gut seals. Matt Cave is a reporter who becomes embroiled in a series of gruesome murders that seem to be related to a series of equally gruesome murders that occurred 40 year ago. Together they form a love/hate relationship to resolve the past and current murders that revolve around illegal medical experiments on humans, incest and child exploitation.

A dark & gory tale with disturbing details of child sexual abuse and horrific murders. Set in Greenland, the story opens with the discovery of what's believed to be the mummified body of a Viking. Danish journalist Matthew Cave is on board a helicopter which lands on an ice field so that museum experts can examine this incredible find.
A policeman is ordered to guard the body overnight, but when the archaeologists' helicopter returns next morning, the mummified corpse is gone and the policeman has been murdered, his insides gutted and his skin flayed. Matthew discovers a connection to the deaths of 4 men living in the same block of flats in 1973 and receives a notebook written by Jakob, one of the investigating officers from that time. It seems the men were sexually abusing their daughters and their deaths were the work of a revenge killer. Over 40 years a web of lies and deceit has kept more of the abusers from being caught and some are now in positions of great power. Corruption is rife in local government and the police force, past and present and Matthew's bid to discover the truth puts his life in danger.
Matthew - who moved to the Greenland's capital town of Nuuk after the death of his pregnant wife in a road accident - teams up with Tupaarnaq, a young woman recently released from prison. Matthew is utterly intrigued by Tupaarnaq who helps him understand Greenland's culture, including the hunting and killing of seals and whales. The language is very descriptive and parts of the story, which detail the landscape of Greenland, are almost poetic. But details of the murders and sexual abuse of young girls are very explicit and may be upsetting for some readers.
As the action switches between 1973 and the present day I found, at times, there's just too much information which overwhelms the plot so much that it becomes confusing, especially towards the climax of the story. Overall though, this is a fascinating read and a good example of the grittier side of what has been labelled "Arctic Noir".

My thanks to Text Publishing and NetGalley for a copy of this book in return for an unbiased review.

I didn't know what to expect from this story, but I was pulled in to the storyline immediately. Matthew Cave in sent to Greenland to report on the mummified man found there. Believed to be a Viking, this story could give his career a real boost! Unfortunately, the policeman left to protect the body overnight is found murdered, with his skin removed and split open from top to bottom. This is only the beginning! This crime is very similar to crimes from the 1970's, when four men were found in the same condition. When Matthey is given a diary of a policeman from that time period, he is drawn even deeper into the mystery of what is actually going on and is in danger himself. Very realistic, and some grim death scenes, but I could not put it down!

Mysteries set decades apart yet intertwined brilliantly carry through this suspenseful novel. Set in Greenland, The Girl Without Skin does a good job shining a light on enduring issues that plague indigenous populations in the interaction with colonizing forces. All of this is set in a thrilling mystery that draws the reader into the web connecting the characters across the decades.

The Girl without Skin
Set in Greenland, the land, culture, myths, legends and environment are alien to someone from urban Europe. The magical beauty of this cold and dramatic climate is vibrantly described by the author and brought to mind fond memories of trips to the Icelandic glacier for this reader.

The story is gripping (if gory) and the themes may not suit readers sensitive to the darker side of humanity. Sadly, I think something has been lost in translation when it comes to character development. In addition, the transitions from the present time frame to the earlier history are handled badly and are confusing. I found myself getting lost and eventually caring little about the outcomes for the main character.

I will try others by this author whose makes the setting of Nordic Noir so beautifully evocative.

This is a marmite book for me. I loved certain parts and really didn't like others. The Scandi setting, the writing and the premise all good. Top notch characters and writing. Love the idea of a Greenland setting and a series of murders in and around the arctic.

Did it have to be so graphic? uncomfortably so at times. Think most of it would have been just as effective ' off the page' as it were. There are troubling sections about all kinds of abuse,(child abuse) skinning people etc and well, you really should into read this when going to sleep or eating..

The writing and scene setting though - brilliant:
“Everything was swallowed up by this grey North Atlantic blanket, whose moist breath licked the houses and the mountains and caused everything to run together in a foggy, cold cloud”

There's not that many books set in Nuuk and the author has captured a white and unknown area and stuck his very own crime fiction flag in it.. It's in the vein of The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo - sharp and hard hitting.

I just wish he'd stayed away from child abuse and using it in this way to further the plot. The rediscovered Viking, the Norse traditions, the heritage and everything else worked brilliantly.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Text Publishing for a review copy of The Girl Without Skin, the first novel to feature reporter Matthew Cave, set in Greenland.

Matt is sent to report on the discovery of a mummified Norseman found in the ice outside Nuuk but his exclusive disappears overnight along with the body and his photographer’s pictures. All that remains is the gutted body of the policeman guarding the mummy. The body’s condition is reminiscent enough of four unsolved murders from 1973 to set Matt investigating, ably assisted by Tupaarnaq, an enigmatic Greenlander with her own troubled past.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Girl Without Skin which is a novel full of twists and turns and firmly rooted in its location. The novel is told from two perspectives and timelines, Matt in the present (2014) and Jakob Pedersen’s 1973 investigation. These are linked by Matt obtaining Jakob’s notebook from that time and I think the switch to Jakob’s experiences at the time gives the events more impact and immediacy than a simple interpretation from Matt’s point of view ever could. It works well.

The plot has plenty of twists and mysteries from the disappearance of Jakob to what links the 1973 victims to the present day victims because the policeman, Aqqalu, is only the first. I found it riveting as Mr Nordbo slowly pulls all the pieces together, throwing in even more twists as he does so.

At first pass it seems overly coincidental how frequently the characters seem to have unknown links to others but then you put it in context - Greenland is a vast, sparsely populated country with little in the way of organised historical data so it’s little wonder there are so many links and nobody makes the connections. I really enjoyed these details and the descriptions of the physical landscape which seems to come alive as a dangerous character in some situations. I love reading about places I know nothing about and this novel is extremely satisfactory in that respect.

Matt Cave is an interesting protagonist. He lost his wife and unborn daughter in a car crash in Denmark so he has returned to his birthplace of Greenland for a fresh start, perhaps to look for the father who abandoned him, but that, I suspect, is for another novel as all the ingredients remain mostly unexplored. He is a good, honest man. His sidekick Tupaarnaq is fresh from serving 12 years in prison for murdering her family as a 14 year old. Her story is explained over the course of the novel.

The Girl Without Skin is a good read which I have no hesitation in recommending (even if the title is too deep for me to work out).

Thank you NetGalley and Text Publishing for the eARC.
I was excited about reading a book set in Greenland, but was turned off by the extremely graphic content. The vivid feel of the landscape, weather and population is excellent and so is the characterization of the people. However, the flaying and disembowlment of people and animals, plus the rape and medical experimentation of young girls, turned my stomach
and made me very uncomfortable.
The book has great reviews, so I'm in the minority - the story is good, but the subject matter too stark and the details just too painful to read about for me.