You don't a more satisfying Scandinavian writer than Ragnar Jonasson. Interesting characters and well plotted story line. I wouldn't miss any of his books.

I have ambivalent feelings about this book but it kept my interest enough to finish with an unanticipated ending. Plus Mr. Jonasson is one of my favorite authors.

This is not a particularly gratifying read and the atmospheric prevalence of a dark, dreary end of the world feel will invade your soul. You will either find yourself wanting to run away or stand up to whatever comes your way, plus being an outside in a community of ten people will give you pause to reconsider your life. But a spunky main character and enough mystery will keep you reading on and you won't be sorry.

Oh, did I mention the ghost? Yes, even the supernatural makes an appearance....or does it?

Enjoy!

Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb, Icelandic Noir by Ragnar Jonasson.

TEACHER WANTED AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD

The honesty of the advertisement was appealing to Una, who was looking for a change of scenery.
And, the contact was for just one year. Two girls, aged 7 and 9, in a coastal fishing town of ten.
Room and Board is included, but a warm welcome from the residents is not.

What the job posting also didn’t say was that it was an Attic room, rumored to be haunted by a little girl who died there, years prior. One who sings a lullaby and loved to play the piano.

The many dark hours, and frequent fog, add to Una’s unease.

And, since this is set in the 1980’s Una is really isolated from her friends and family back home with no cell phones or internet, no TV in the house she is residing in, and just a landline downstairs. The Co-Op doesn’t even always get the newspapers because of the town’s remote location. At least it stocks wine.

A second narrative clues the reader in to another secret, as the past threatens to disrupt the peace that the residents are so fiercely protecting in this slow burn, atmospheric mystery.

The plot jumps around a bit, perhaps because of the translation but the misdirection of “the girl who died” had me thinking one thing when it was quite another!

This won’t appeal to readers who like lots of action and multiple twists, but I enjoyed reading something “different” in a market saturated with a lot of the “same”.

I still feel chilled!

Thank you to Minotaur books for my gifted copy, provided through NetGalley!
It was my pleasure to provide a candid review!

Available May 4, 2021

Una is dissatisfied with her life. Her father is dead, her mother remarried, her apartment drab and dull, and her one friend seems to be too busy to spend time with Una. She decides to leave Reykjavik and accept a job teaching in the remote village of Skalar. Her idea of remote doesn't begin to describe this fishing village, populated by only ten people, two of them the children she will instruct.
Una is given a room in a haunted house, the villagers are surly and not interested in friendship, and soon the relentless darkness has Una questioning her sanity. There is one person, Thor, who might become a friend, but he sends mixed messages, and everyone seems to have a secret, or twelve. The setting is beautifully described, it is eerie, empty, and desolate, but at times, the wind and the sea are bracing and beautiful. When tragedy strikes, Una must figure out what is hidden in the shadows if she hopes to survive.
Even though I disagreed with most of the decisions Una made, I am not sure what I would have done in the same situation. Oh I know, leave, but then there would not have been this creepy book! Una carries some heavy baggage from her past, and there is little doubt that it has shaped her perception of others and controls her life. I was in furious page flipping mode, trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together. It was an enjoyable way to leave quarantine without leaving my house.

I was expecting Icelandic Noir – you know bleak and gritty crime fiction. Instead, I got Icelandic Modern Gothic. Now, this may not have been a thing, but it certainly is now and it works!

Okay, someone may @ me to tell me how this isn’t Gothic, but it totally is. Young woman takes a job in a desolate location teaching two mysterious children. The town is sparsely populated and full of grim people who seems somehow mysteriously wrong. There’s a haunted, dark-haired man who seems to have his own secrets. And, oh, there’s a ghost story attached to the place where she’s staying.

Yep. Totally Gothic.

To be fair, there is a crime, but it’s not the focus of most of the novel.

I loved the book. It was extremely mysterious and chilling. The town is perfectly bleak and there’s something inherently dangerous that seems to seep into every page.

Not noir, but a wonderful story.

*ARC via Net Galley

Ragnar Jónasson’s newest book, The Girl Who Died, will be published May 4, 2021. I am so grateful to Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and the author for the opportunity to review this advanced readers copy.

Ragnar Jónasson is an up and coming author I’ve been hearing about for months now, and when I read the description for his newest book, The Girl Who Died, I knew it was time to finally give the Icelandic author a try. This story takes place in a secluded fishing village on the Langanes Peninsula in Iceland, or, as described in the advert that drew in the main character, at the edge of the world.

I was particularly drawn in by the secrets of Skálar, the village in which we spend most of the story. On the surface, Skálar is a small country town of only 10 residents, most of whom rely on the sea to make their living. Una, the central character, is enticed by the opportunity to spend a season working as a teacher in the remote village, giving her a much needed respite from her life in the bustling city of Reykjavík. Just like Una, the odd little village in the middle of nowhere appealed to me. How could a town of only 10 people survive? What were the people who chose to live on the edge of the world like? In a community this small, with roots as old and strong as the sea itself, I knew it would inevitably house secrets. I was hooked from chapter one.

Isolated by both the location and community, Una turns to stories and wine to fill her days. After learning of a terrible tragedy that left a local girl dead half a century earlier, she becomes obsessed with finding out more. Una ruffles the feathers of the locals, who are wary of outsiders and devoted to preserving the community. After all, they needed each other to survive the unforgiving landscape riddled by harsh sea winds, endless darkness during the winter, and little access to the larger towns inland. If one found themselves without the community to rely on, surely they’d succumb to the physical and mental strain of living so far removed…

Jónasson’s writing is captivating, and I found myself flying through this book, needing to find out what happened next. Una is a beautifully crafted, complex character who I not only wanted to understand better, but wanted to succeed. I wanted Una to overcome her doubts and trust herself. I wanted Una to defy the odds stacked against her as an outsider.

My only critique is that there were several plot lines that were left unaccounted for. Instead of weaving all these threads together to produce a neat, complete ending, I found that the conclusion of the book left several questions lingering. Jónasson did such a wonderful job creating layered characters that this story could have easily been twice as long- and I wish it had been. I’d love to get more insight into Una’s father, Salka’s aunt and grandmother, and the relationships amongst the villagers. This story featured so many of my favorite elements- ghost stories, a spooky coastal setting, a complex female lead- that I only wish Jónasson provided more of the story to devour.

This was my first taste of Jónasson’s work, and I am hungry for more. I’m hopeful that some of his longer works, including his multi-book stories, will satiate me.

I am a sucker for an Icelandic mystery, especially one written by Ragnar Jonasson. The setting is the real star of this book for me, an isolated village of ten inhabitants. I love learning about how people cope in these remote settings, and I like how the isolation really brings the reader’s focus to the inhabitants of this town. The story was compelling because I cared about the main character and was interested to see how the parallel story of two murder victims would play into the narrative. I will say the last page was a bit of a disappointment; it was a little,too maudlin for my taste. However, the mystery was satisfying and indulged my fantasy of living in a little pocket of Iceland.

Another chilling read by Ragnar Jonasson.A small town a young woman comes to teach for a year .As as the story unfolds I was drawn more and more into the town the characters and a touch of the paranormal,The story kept me turning the pages faster and faster.Will be recommending.#netgalley #st.martins books

4.5 stars. I wish to extend my sincere thanks to NetGalley and St.Martins Press for this eerie, atmospheric stand-alone thriller by Ragnar Jonasson. I was delighted to receive this ARC by my favourite Nordic (Icelandic) Noir writer. I have read and enjoyed all books in both his series.

His writing evokes a claustrophobic feeling to the isolation and remoteness of small settlements in Iceland's northern parts. The nearby ocean, long hours of winter darkness, and bleak weather makes one feel the chill and the loneliness. Ragnar's previous books have been police procedurals. The setting here is too remote to have any police presence or a hospital. The story takes place in the 1980s without our present-day technology. Serious crime is unknown in this tiny settlement.

30-year-old Una is a teacher from Reykjavik. She has never recovered from her father's tragic suicide near both her birthday and Christmas time. She fears she may have inherited a predisposition for suicide and drinks too much to calm her nerves. She answers an advertisement for a teacher in the tiny settlement of Skalar on the stormy north-east coast of Iceland with its population of 10 inhabitants and only two students, and she feels this would be an opportunity to escape city life.

On arrival, she finds that the villagers do not accept newcomers kindly. She is met by suspicion, rejection and hostility. Her landlady has provided her with a creaky attic apartment in an old home. She has a delightful young daughter who will be one of Una's pupils. The other student is an introverted, sullen girl, and Una finds it difficult to relate to her. While boarding in the home, Una is disturbed by a creepy, ominous feeling. She starts to be disturbed by a piano's sound in a room below and a child singing a lullaby. She believes this is the ghost of a child who died mysteriously in the house almost 60 years earlier. Does she think she has even seen the apparition of the young girl or was her imagination running wild? When she attempts to discuss the possible haunting with anyone, they dismiss the vision and the music due to Una consuming too much wine. The ghost story is well-known folklore in the community.

This element of the supernatural gives the story a menacing, macabre atmosphere. I am not a fan of paranormal is stories, but the author had me believing that ghosts may exist. After being disturbed and frightened, Una has become convinced that the ghost is the result of her imagination and caused by drinking.
There is a sudden, inexplicable, shocking death just before Christmas.


Una is attracted to a pleasant bearded man employed at a farm by an unfriendly, dour older woman. He informs her that a romantic relationship is impossible. She suspects that he may be more than just an employee to the farm owner. A strange man appears at the house, looking for directions to the farm and its female owner. This opens up a criminal subplot that doesn't seem relevant to the story, but it has a major effect on Una and her intent always to follow the correct legal and moral path. Una learns something about the visitor that prompts her to call the city police. Her landlady dismisses the policeman, saying Una's information is a mistake and probably the result of her drinking. Who was the mysterious stranger, and why was he so intent on visiting the remote farm in mid-winter?

Una realizes the villagers harbour deep secrets and have banded together to keep any crimes to themselves. They hold these secrets and keep the awareness of crimes and scandals from unwelcome outsiders and police. This makes the community seem free from any wrongdoings and unpleasantness. Una wants to do the right thing and is increasingly unwelcome and rejected by the villagers. She is distraught and wants to return home and never see Skalar again or its unwelcoming inhabitants. The more she learns, she is caught in a moral dilemma. She begins to feel part of the community and must keep their secrets. And what about the ghost in the house? There are now two of them. How will Una react?

Recommended to anyone who enjoys Nordic Noir containing a mixture of crime and supernatural.

A slow burning thriller that gradually evolves into fast paced. Atmospheric with developed realistic characters, I highly recommend this one.