Having read the first book in this series, I was looking forward to reading this sequel, however I was disappointed.

The story was told in parallel narratives, and did explain some of what had previously happened, but overall it was not a satisfying read. The plot was over complicated, there was little character development, and it did feel so cold when reading it.

I love Nordbo's writing and this is no exception. That said it has a lot of violence that may be hard for some readers. Child abuse, incest, domestic violence. It's all there. Good plot and while this is the 2nd in a series, this can easily stand on its own. Would recommend.

I really enjoyed THE GIRL WITHOUT SKIN, so was looking forward to reading its follow-up novel set again in the atmospheric landscape of Greenland. However, blame 2020 for making me emotionally fragile, but the graphic violence, abuse and unrelentingly grim storyline got to me after a while and I did not find the same pleasure reading this one as I had reading Nordbo's previous novel. As the body count mounted in unimaginably gruesome ways, I had to abandon the book for the sake of my own mental health. I may have to give this series a miss, it's a bit over the top brutal for my liking.

My thanks to the Author publishers and NetGalley for providing me with a Kindle version of this book to read and honestly review.
This is the second book in this quality series but can be read as a standalone story, mainly because unusually the Author does not just give slight references to what went before, but repeats chunks so you are up to speed. Though my advice read both terrific books in order. This is a clever superbly descriptive imaginative read from start to finish, set in inhospitable Greenland split between 1990 and 2014, with our investigative journalist on the case of mysterious drug experiments carried out by America involving his father, and the disappearance of his sister, with the help of the enigmatic mysterious violent Greenland tattooed lady. Atmospheric gritty tense with plenty of action and plot twists, some I guessed some I didn't, and be warned some gruesome violence.
More please SOON.
Totally utterly recommended.

I didn't realize when I first received this book that it was a 2nd in the series; however, I was able to read it without too many problems. There is a continuation of characters from the first book but easy to figure out. I would like to read the first book "The Girl Without Skin" to see what I missed out on but not sure I can endure the tragic events that occur in this book in another book. Matthew is a journalist who hasn't seen his father is over 20 years. Suddenly he receives a note from Tom one day that makes Matthew begin to investigate if his father is a killer or not. Tom Cave was in the military and stationed in Greenland in the 90's and was involved in an experiment that went wrong and several people died. No one but the people there know exactly what happened and Matthew has not seen his father for some time. Matthew's half sister, Arnak who is 15, goes missing with some friends while on a camping trip and Matthew begins to investigate what exactly happened. On top of his father and half-sister investigations, his friend, Tupaarnaq (which I assume is from the first book) begins to make him question some things that have occurred lately.

This book is not a book I would probably normally pick up. It is set in Greenland and is dark, grim and full of a world I wouldn't normally read but enjoyed the plot twist and character building throughout this book. It is a little complex and was not a fast read. There are lots to twists, secrets and deception throughout the book. There are some issues in the book on child abuse, rape and death that are dark and not easy to read. The world building was really good and the writing was excellent. I think I gave it three stars because it's simply not a book I would normally read but it did intrigue me. I also thought it had too many grimy details that were not needed to add to this dark side of the world.

I did receive this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

It all started with secret military research and a promise culminating with an innocent man blamed for the deaths of two participants. Matthew is a journalist and Arnaq is the sister he has only seen a few times. Tupaarnaq has spent many years in prison charged with the violent murder of her father. Everyone is affected by the past. Are they ready for the greed and lies that are revealed?
I considered this a great book full of suspense, atmosphere and having strong characters. It is the second in the Matthew Cave thriller series to be translated into English. Although I was not affected some readers may be disturbed by some of the content which is quite graphic. This is the same content which contributes to making Nordic fiction so addictive and leaving me not wanting to leave.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read a free digital copy of this book in return for an honest review.

In the second Matthew Cave novel, Nordbo has Cave receiving news that his long-dead father may still be alive. His father is being pursued by the US military over the deaths of two officers involved in a mysterious experiment decades before. A horrific set of murders and the disappearance of Cave's recently-found sister mean that Matthew needs to find his father very quickly, and work out what he might have had to do with these crimes.

Matthew is again helped out by Tupaarnaq, an inscrutable local girl with some very serious grudges of her own to resolve.

This novel has a good plot line and some interesting threads left open at the end for the series to pursue. However I cannot get past the fact that this feels like <i>The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo</i>, only set in Greenland. If Nordbo had simply resisted whatever urge he had to make Tupaarnaq a tattooed woman, his stories would seem much more like his original ideas, and less derivative. It's a shame, and he really can't dig himself out of the hole that he's dug himself into by doing this.

The same caution as I gave in my review of the first mystery in this Series, THE GIRL WITHOUT SKIN, still applies: there's a high gore level, lots of violence including domestic and against women, also against men. The author doesn't scruple to peel back the thin veneer covering ugly Societal truths, about domestic violence and incest and rape. The revelations consequently are horrifying, and it is difficult not to rejoice when justice is applied in the form of Vengeance rather than by Law.


High praise to author Mads Peder Nordbo and to gifted translator Charlotte Barslund for efficiently communicating the mindset, emotions, and nonlife within the physical shell, experienced for a lifetime by sufferers of rape, child sexual abuse, domestic abuse, and other forms of abuse of children (of both genders) and women. Their suffering is exquisitely defined.

Another tense thriller by the author of the Girl With No.Skin which should be read first.This is a well written dark tense at times gruesome thriller.A book once you pick it up you can’t put down till you’ve read to the end.#netgalley#textpublishing.

Cannot say whether the translation is accurate or not, but the thriller is okay and readable. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC.

Nordbo certainly effectively evokes the grimness of the Arctic landscape and possibly also state of mind. He brings the threat of population decline and inhabitants’ struggle to survive in a challenging environment to the forefront. In order for the country to have a future, younger people need to develop special skills to survive and create a future for themselves in Greenland. Unfortunately, the population is declining and according to some, the government isn’t taking care of its people. Add low incomes, unemployment and consequential social issues such as alcoholism and domestic violence and Greenland has more than its fair share of problems.

At times Cold Fear reads more like a horror-thriller than your run-of-the-mill crime fiction novel. It contains graphic, gratuitous violence, incest, rape and all the sordid ingredients of very dark crime fiction. Subsequently it sits solidly on the far spectrum of Nordic Noir – it’s violent, moody and there’s not much light at the end of the tunnel for Greenlanders. Cold Fear is an action-filled crime thriller with an interesting premise set in mostly unexplored geographic territory – from a literary perspective at least.

The full review is available on my site at https://wanderingwestswords.wordpress.com/2019/12/10/cold-fear-mads-peter-nordbo/

This is the second book in this series by Mads Peder Nordbo and it's as good as the first, if not better. It's very atmospheric and certain parts are downright creepy. I love the character Tupaarnaq, as far as I'm concerned, she's one of the best female characters I've read. But in this book she doesn't feature as much as this book is more about Matthew and his past. Overall a brilliant read and a series which I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone who love a cold dark thriller. And a big thank you to NetGalley and Text Publishing for giving me this ARC in exchange of my honest review.

This is a tricky book to love. On the surface, it has all the elements of a compelling Scandi crime thriller. We’re saturated in an unfamiliar culture, given revealing glimpses of the Greenlandic people and the harsh life they endure. Clinging to existence in small communities which hug the coastline, the Greenlanders apparently thrive in the natural environment in all its stark and occasionally bloody reality. The country itself is depicted with an intense, atmospheric sense of place, as an immense sprawling wilderness which can be oppressively claustrophobic.

Next up comes the historical conspiracy angle, of black ops experiments being run in secret on US air force bases three decades ago. The truth about this covert programme directly affects the private lives of the key characters.

Speaking of whom, Cold Fear hinges on a spiky, spunky female protagonist; an outsider who despises society and seeks revenge on the men who abused her. Even without the full-body tattoos it’s hard not to compare Tupaarnaq the Inuit to Lisbeth Salander and – even if she’s far from original – she could easily carry the story on her own. Sadly it all bogs down with her mainstream companion, Matthew, who is deeply uninspiring, a damp squib who makes Mikael Blomkvist look like a radical man of action.

The flashback sequences to that series of illicit drugs trials – experiments designed to help human survive in the bitter artic cold – hold a lot of promise. But the whole plot dithers and lumbers when it should slice and dice. It’s over-long, confused, and weighed down with way too much baggage from the first book in the series. We meet dozens of minor characters, all with weird names, who play no real part in this story and nor do they add any element of intrigue or atmosphere.

This book is touted as being a standalone but I suspect anyone who hasn’t read The Girl Without Skin would be baffled. Both episodes would have been better combined into one book – minus a lot of the pointless faffing.

6/10

A worthy successor to The Girl Without Skin, Cold Fear is the second in the Matthew Cave series by Mads Peder Nordbo. Set in the harsh territory of Greenland, this book sees Matthew getting a note from his father out of the blue, a man he hasn't seen or heard from in twenty four years.

Tom Cave is a man on the run, a US Marine stationed in Greenland in the early 90s, he was involved in a military experiment that went wrong, and people died. What really happened in the Thule base? Is Tom really responsible for the deaths? Then Matthew's half sister and her friends go missing on a camping trip and Matthew is drawn further into the Greenland underworld, a place where death, rape and political powerplay is the norm.

I did really enjoy this book, however, like the first, it's not for the fainthearted. Confronting scenes and tales of child abuse will not be every ones cup of tea. If you like gritty noir crime thrillers though I urge you to give this series a go. As it has ongoing storylines, it's best to read them in order. Recommended.

My thanks to NetGalley and Text Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When Matthew Cave received the letter from his father, it had been twenty-four years since he’d seen him. He’d been told Tom had died back when he was stationed in Greenland as a young US soldier and where the American military was conducting a secret experiment. But it all went wrong and three soldiers were buried. When Matthew was told Tom was alive and the authorities were trying to find him and convict him of murder, Matthew knew he needed to find his father first.

Matt’s half-sister, Arnaq, was kidnapped, and he was desperate to find her before Abelsen did. He knew he was behind her disappearance, and he couldn’t bear to lose the sister he’d only just found. His good friend, Tupaarnaq Siegstad arrived in Nuuk to help Matt search for Arnaq – but could they do it? There were evil forces out there, and so much more than Matt understood. Tupaarnaq was a hard woman to understand; she had an agenda of her own. But he also knew she was a good person to have on his side. Would Matt find Arnaq? And would he find Tom, only to lose him again to prison or worse?

Cold Fear is the 2nd in the Greenland series by Mads Peder Nordbo, following on from The Girl Without Skin. The vivid pictures the author paints had me feeling the bite of the cold air, seeing the pristine white of the snow, along with the more bloodthirsty and gruesome images (unfortunately) The characters are well crafted, the tale is well written, although brutal. Recommended.

With thanks to Text Publishing for my ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in the Greenland series by Mads Peder Nordbo. Both books are gritty, disturbing, violent and suspenseful. In the first book (The Girl Without Skin), we meet Matthew Cave, a Danish-American journalist who has escaped to a news job in Greenland after a personal tragedy. The stage is set and the cast of characters -- for both books -- is introduced.

The events in Cold Fear open just two months after those in The Girl Without Skin. The namesake character for the first book is Tupaarnaq, a young Innuit woman who was convicted of killing the rest of her family. Tupaarnaq is a compelling character, with full-body tattoos, a shaven head, and an ever-present rifle.

Both books highlight the beautiful, brutal Greenlandic landscape and the tension between the traditional Innuit customs with 21st-Century European culture. Both contain an unlikely number of savage, grisly murders (with some cannibalism thrown in this time), and both reference the ethnic, economic and political realities of Greenland's unique relationship with Denmark, the United States -- and now with Russia and China.

Although I loved the character Tupaarnaq in the first book, I was mildly troubled by her resemblance to Lisbeth Salander, from Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In Cold Fear, the likeness was even stronger, and I was disappointed that her persona wasn't developed more fully and uniquely.

Also, I think that people who stumble on this book without having read the first might be lost. Not recommended as a standalone.

Thanks to NetGalley for an advance readers copy.

Interesting - atmospheric - I could practically feel the cold seeping out from the pages. I really liked the Greenlandic setting. There was much too much blood, vomit and entrails for me though. There was even cannibalism. I skimmed nearly all the killing but there was so much that I felt I had only read half a book!

The story and the characters are good so, as long as you are not concerned by the author's inventive ways to hurt and kill people, you will enjoy this book.

Two months on from the events in The Girl Without Skin, Matthew Cave is slowly beginning to build a relationship with his half-sister Arnaq and is missing his new friend Tupaarnaq who has gone on an extended 'hunting' trip. When Arnaq's mother delivers an unsigned letter to Matthew, he immediately knows it is from his father, who supposedly died 24 years earlier in highly suspicious circumstances -- suspicious, and seemingly replicated in a recent multiple murder in a remote Greenland town. Matthew is meant to be reporting on this contemporary murder, so without examining his feelings about his father's death/disappearance too closely, he summons Tupaarnaq back so they can pay a call on the author of the letter.

This book contains many of the same elements that thrilled me about the first one - a bleakly beautiful and unfamiliar setting, a damaged protagonist and a high, gory bodycount. But some of the other 'sameness' started to wear thin for me; the rape culture in particular. Even though the crime/mystery here was quite different (pills and guns vs knives and revenge), behind it all there is still an island full of big, physical, violent men who see and use women as mere objects to satisfy their carnal needs. It may well be realistic for all I know, but that's enough for me.

The ambiguous ending sends a strong signal that there is another instalment on the way - one that may go in a very different direction. I'll probably read on in the series, but with caution.

Note that this is not really a stand-alone; you should read "The Girl Without Skin" first. I liked the first book very much, and the setting and characters are the same, so great in this book as well. The problem is the plot, which is too far out.

4.5★s
Cold Fear is the second book in the Greenland series by Danish author, Mads Peder Nordbo. It follows on directly from The Girl Without Skin and readers new to the series should note that the recap does contain numerous spoilers for that book.

In 1990, US Marine Sergeant Tom Cave, together with four others, was taking part in a radical medical experiment at Thule, in remote northern Greenland. The drug was meant to enhance the body’s tolerance of cold. The side effects, however, included increased levels of aggression, leading to an incident in which Cave shot and killed two participants before then killing himself. Or did he?

Journalist Matthew Cave has not seen nor heard from his father in twenty-four years, but recently became aware that, from 1990, Tom Cave had lived in Nuuk for ten years. A visit to the mother of Matthew’s sixteen-year-old step-sister, Arnaq, yields a short, unsigned note from Tom, summoning him to a remote town for the chance to explain. But any intention to do so is derailed when Arnaq goes missing from a camping trip with friends at Faeringehavn, the site of a recent ordeal for Matthew and his new-found friend, Tupaarnaq.

The search for Arnaq leads to encounters from some strangely-behaved Faroese along with a now-fugitive former politician and a Greenlandic Government official with ties to the US military, all of whom seem very interested in locating Matthew’s father. Before long, it all gets very blood-thirsty and the body count rises, and even if the reader is suspicious about certain characters, the twists and red herrings will keep most guessing until the final, dramatic climax.

Nordbo manages to wind into his story the politics of the independence campaign for this strategic island, religious cultism and military cover-ups, with the remoteness and isolation of these locations facilitating the credibility of some of the more bizarre incidents.

The setting does present the non-Scandi-speaking reader with a pronunciation challenge, as tongue-twister place names like Ittoqqortoormiit and Qeqertarsuatsiaat appear regularly in the story. Nordbo leaves plenty of scope for further books in the series because, while there’s no cliff-hanger ending, by no means are all the loose ends neatly tied. Once again flawlessly translated from the original Danish by Charlotte Barslund, this is excellent Scandi noir.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Text Publishing