I have just finished reading The Girl Who Died by Author Ragnar Jónasson.

This is the first book that I have read by this Author, whom I have heard good things about.

I found the book entertaining, and the Author set great atmosphere, and visuals for the Icelandic setting in a small rural area.

I did find the storyline interesting, however it was a bit on the slow side for my taste, however an overall good read!

Thank You to NetGalley, Author Ragnar Jónasson and St. Martin's Press for my advanced copy to read and review.

#TheGirlWhoDied #NetGalley

Una is a devoted teacher living in Reykjavik trying to make financial ends meet. Her friend brings her attention to an advert that states, "Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the World."

Una secures a job at the remote village of Skálar - a town of only 10 people. She is tasked with teaching only 2 students. As she navigates the somewhat quirky and strange inhabitants of town she becomes more and more convinced that her flat is haunted. As the winter holidays draw near, Una is more and more anxious. A tragedy strikes that threatens to unlock more than one secret kept in this tiny town.

A great short Icelandic ghost story. As always, there are familal twists provided by Ragnar jonasson. The interactions between the adults are guarded and hard to read which adds to the mystery. Recommend.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Teaching in a tiny village with nothing bigger close by it is also like a locked room mystery. But there might be a ghost and the village and its residents all seem to have a lot of secrets. A little slow, it did have some twists and turns.

"The Girl Who Died" is my first read by author Ragnar Jonasson but will not be my last. This thriller intrigued me from the beginning. The main character, Una, heads to Skalar to each two students in the isolated community of only 10 inhabitants. This remote community in northern Iceland becomes a characer of the novel as well with it's biting winds off the sea.
Relegated to live in attic rooms at the home of one of her only two pupils she experiences nightmares-- or does she see the ghost of a girl who died in the island decades earlier? The pace of this novel is slow but so is life in Skalar. Between the dark Icelandic winter and the numerous bottles of wine Una consumes, I was left wondering what great mystery this community had at its core.

I was bored by this book, but not to the point of DNF. A young woman answers an ad for a teacher in the middle of nowhere Iceland, a community of only 10 residents. From the beginning she does not feel welcomed, and does not always feel she is being told the truth. The story seemed to be long and drawn out, but the author does an outstanding job of describing the landscape and the cold. It had lots of potential to be a good crime novel, but the crime was not revealed until nearly the end of the book. I received an arc of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own.

Unfortunately this book didn't quite do it for me. While the descriptions of the country, the villages, etc. make you feel that you are there, I never truly invested in the characters. When this happens, I never know if it is actually the book, or just the time in my life that I chose to read the book. This was my first book by this author but not of this style of writing. I enjoy the noir atmospheric type book that this one obviously is. Thank you #NetGalley for allowing me to give my voluntary and honest review of #TheGirlWhoDied.

This was a slow read, but it eventually picked the pace up. I had a very hard time getting into this

This book was very eerie and ghostly. It was a very atmospheric read with a lot of secrecy. I didn’t see the ending coming. I was half expecting human sacrificing or something! I enjoyed it but i also kind of wanted a little more. more of a climax or spookiness, more ghostly or creepiness. It’s definitely a slow burn but it didn’t really have that take off i wanted. Overall, i did enjoy it and it was a good story. The secrets were well executed when they were delivered. I’d probably say it was 3.5 stars.

Except for the odd sounding names that I had a hard time keeping straight, I really enjoyed the Icelandic backdrop to this story. It made me want to visit and simultaneously stay away forever. Such a creepy setting for a creepy book. I really enjoyed this thriller and would recommend. 3.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 Stars to The Girl Who Died, written by my favorite Icelandic writer, Ragnar Jonasson. I have read books from his other two series and I was eager to read this stand alone mystery!

A newspaper advert for "A Teacher wanted at the edge of the world" entices Una, who is currently unemployed in Reykjavik and fairly friendless. She reckons that a year at this job could help her pay off debts, and be a bit of an adventure at the same time! Besides, who is there to miss her? Not her one friend who now has a husband and child, or her mother who has remarried. The tiny village Skalar, in the far north of Iceland, consists of only ten people and they are looking for a teacher for the two children that live in the village. Una decides to go for it and departs with some trepidation, but mostly optimism. That feeling is soon quelled when she finds herself in a town that looks like time forgot. She is rooming in the home of one of her pupils, and her friendly landlady shows her to an attic apartment that has all the comforts of home. So why does Una feel so uncomfortable here and why is sleep hard to come by and disturbed by dreams of a young girl standing by her bed?

Her landlady is the only friendly face in the village. The rest of the handful of residents are not very welcoming. The town is claustrophobic in it's size, and with only one small store, everyone knows your business, including the fact that Una likes red wine with dinner every night, and maybe some after that too. The author expertly plants us in this foreboding, featureless village and we feel Una's discomfiture. Several times I just wanted to say to Una, "Get out of there!" This feeling of isolation is further intensified because the story is set in the 1980s, before cell phones and internet, so a shared land line phone is Una's only connection with her past in Reykjavik.

This is definitely a slow burner. Not a lot of twists and turns; the brooding gothic atmosphere is a big part of the story. And then there's the ghost, a young girl who used to live in the attic and appears to Una sometimes at night. This is part ghost story, part real life murder, although that part of the story is a small segment of the book. I devoured this book in one sitting and really enjoyed it. If you are a fan of the Nordic noir genre, love creepy or gothic settings, and enjoy a little supernatural in your stories then I think you will enjoy this book. I wasn't sure about the ending at first, but then I realized that one only had to look at Una's life and backstory to figure out how the ending comes to be.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for allowing me to read this ARC.

I enjoyed this imaginative story of psychological suspense set against a remote Icelandic backdrop. Una is a young woman who unwisely accepts a teaching post in a tiny village miles from anywhere. Yet, once she realizes her mistake, she musters up some gumption and decides to stay, even though not all the villagers welcome her. As the story progresses, their actions become mysterious and Una sets out to discover why.

Overall, I found it an absorbing read and kept my interest throughout, up to the unexpected ending. Una does feel sorry for herself a lot, which becomes repetitive, and there are a few loose ends. If not for those reasons, it would be a four-star read for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced reader copy.

Ragnar Jonasson is a talented and popular author, so I'm certain that his newest novel will be a great success. I have not read any of his earlier novels, and perhaps for that reason, I didn't enjoy The Girl Who Died. On the plus side, the writing was tremendously atmospheric. The setting is "the edge of the world" in Iceland, and I felt the extreme cold, the shuddering wind, and the barrenness of the entire environment. The lead character is a teacher, Una, who takes a job in a village of ten to teach two young girls. She is very well developed, and the reader will feel for all she is experiencing.

That said, the story just didn't gel for me. I felt as though there were two plotlines, written separately and then tossed together at the very, very end of the book. Many reviewers describe it as "slow burning," but I find that to be a massive understatement. For me, it dragged along with very little happening of any interest. Even at the end, when "the big reveal" happens, I was yawning.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Without telling the background or parts of the story, I want to say this is the type of mystery I love. It is set in an unusual setting with a bit of history of the town included in the story, which I always enjoy history and background in the plot of any book. Mr. Johnasson really knows how to create intricate, unusual, mysteries. I really recommend this book!

I'm returning this book the following reasons, if a book doesn't capture my interest from the first few paragraphs or pages it generally turns out to be a book that I don't wish to continue reading. It was a combination of the characters, location, and story. I'm giving an honest review up until I stopped reading. It was six chapter's and my decision was made. Thank you for the opportunity.

Loving this cover 🔥! I love thrillers that take place in a remote place where you feel trapped and helpless. Generally, I favor fast-paced thrillers that keep hitting you with plot points/twist/turns and “oh-shit” moments but this was a very slowwww burn. Una was uninteresting/bland and kept saying she should go home. At one point I said out-loud “then go home already!” 😂🤦🏽‍♀️. It was just too slow for me and the characters were dull. The supernatural element added creepiness to the whole atmosphere. The mysteries were strong enough to hold their own but I appreciated the extra spookiness. I will say if you are a thriller/mystery fan looking for a bit of ghost story mixed in - you should try this book.

We have Una,a yoing women dissatisfied with her life and struggling to get by. She applies for a teaching job in a strange small town that is very isolated. Whole town only has 10 residents. She is hired to teach two students against the better judgement of the majority of the town.
Very different and mysterious. I never expected the ending.

This book was not for me. I found it really slow and terribly boring. Nothing really happens for almost two thirds of the book. The writing was okay and very atmospheric, I really enjoyed that about the book.

I really loved the premise of the novel but the execution was a let down. I don't know if something got lost in translation but by the time the book got interesting I really didn't care any longer about Una or the girl who died.

This was a good story, the author certainly captured the essence of living in a remote area of Iceland, only 10 other souls to keep you company. Una has accepted a teaching position in this remote town of Skalar, where the main industry is fishing. Her students are two girls, 7 & 9, though teaching only keeps her busy for so many hours a day. Alcohol becomes a way to get through the spare time, especially the evenings. She meets Thor, a man she has an attraction to, but one who either doesn't share her attraction or is with his female landlord. During the Christmas concert while the two girls are sings carols, one collapses and is rushed to the near town where she dies. Una is distraught and tries to talk to the other villagers about the situation. During this, she also encounters visions of another girl in the house she's staying in (her landlord is the mother of the girl that died) and learns that a young girl had died in the house many years ago. The villagers rebuff her attempts to talk to them and she feels isolated and alone. This story moved slowly at times, much of the time is spent with Una's thoughts on her past and her current situation and how to resolve it. The conclusion was satisfying and tied together nicely the loose ends, overall I would recommend. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Creepy and intriguing. The location of the smallll town leant a real feeling of isolation and loneliness. A ghost story entwined into the classic story of a town and their unwillingness to trust newcomers and the inherent need to stick together no matter what. The Girl Who Died was a slow burn of a novel but I think that's what it needed to build up the emotions until you truly felt haunted. Awesome.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.
I am a fan of Ragnar Jonasson, having read all his previous books.
I thought this book was not up to his usual excellent writing. One always wonders with translations if something got lost in translation but I suspect not.
The story revolves around a young woman of 30 years who moves to the tip of a far-away peninsula of Iceland to teach two students. As usually happens in any small community, she is not accepted and that only adds to her unease. There might be a ghost or ghosts. There might be more scary events of the past that are haunting the community.
My problem with the book is one I have often when men are writing from a woman's point of view and include a lot of what is going on inside the woman's head. This book in no way rang true for me. A young woman with this bad self-esteem would probably not have moved so far away. Fear would have prevented her. From the moment she decided to move, her reasoning for making decisions just made me want to kick the author and tell him this thinking and the following actions just don't connect.
Some of the reviews talk about the land/Iceland as a character. I did agree with that. The moody, bare, and generally uninviting atmosphere, added to the strangeness and spookiness of the book's evolving mystery.

I hope his next book goes back to his excellent story-telling.
I would certainly give him another and probably two more chances. Mr. Jonasson is an excellent writer