I am loving Icelandic crime novels, and Ragnar Jonasson is right at the top! A smart and compelling ystery, it kept me glued ot my seat. A few twists and turns thrown in for good measure and a fantastic ending! Love love loved it

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. All of the characters were blurring for me and I just had trouble following along. I also didn’t like the different time periods as it just made it more confusing to me.

I was also bored as not much was happening.

I hope others love this one but it wasn’t for me.

Death and the Sanitorium is a chilling and atmospheric mystery that grips you from the very first page. Set in the isolated and eerie backdrop of a remote sanatorium, Jónasson expertly weaves suspense, dark secrets, and unexpected twists. The writing is immersive, and the setting adds an extra layer of tension to the unfolding drama. With complex characters and a plot that keeps you guessing, this novel is perfect for fans of Nordic noir. Jónasson’s mastery of tension and atmosphere makes Death and the Sanitorium a must-read for thriller enthusiasts.

I did not realize I received this from NetGalley. until today when I saw it on my list. Thank you. I always love stories of Iceland and have visited the country several times.

Another great who done it from Ragnar Jonasson. He never disappoints in style, plot, and twists. Look forward to the next book and hope a sequel is in the works.

Set in Iceland, the novel travels between 1983 and 2012. In 1983, there were 2 murders at a TB sanatorium. In 2012, a young police officer returns to Reykjavik after studying criminology in Britain. He thesis is an investigation of the murders almost 30 years ago. Helgi is hired by the Police Department in Reykjavik and is looking into the death of a former nurse from the sanatorium. Are the crimes connected. A good police procedural.

Death at the Sanatorium is a very well written procedural mystery thriller by Ragnar Jonasson and a promising series starter (or else!). Released 10th Sept 2024 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 320 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperback due out in early Sept. 2025 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

Told in three parallel timelines, the story is written around a framework of events which took place at a tuberculosis sanatorium, in the 50s, the 90s (when it had been closed and the hospital buildings used for administrative purposes) and 2012. The author has undeniable skill with characterization and setting, there's a brooding menace throughout much of the story that will leave readers dreading a jump scare.

Readers who hate cliffhangers should be aware going in that although the main mystery in this book is resolved in this volume, it ends on a fade-to-black cliffhanger that will have readers growling in frustration.

Originally published in Icelandic in 2019, the translation work on the English edition (presumably, but not explicitly stated, by the author himself) is seamless. It flows very well in English translation, and in fact the author's afterword talks a bit about his earlier experiences translating classic crime fiction of the Golden Age (Christie, Ngaio Marsh, etc) into Icelandic provide some added nuance to the read.

Aside from the solid mystery, the main character, Helgi, is a huge crime fiction fan and the book's peppered with lots and lots of titles and background for avid readers to check out.

The unabridged audiobook has a run time of 6 hours 42 minutes and is very capably read by Sam Woolf. He has a cultured and well modulated tenor voice and does a good job with the disparate accents including a credible Icelandic accent. Sound and production quality are high throughout the read.

Four stars. Annoyance at the cliffhanger fade-to-black ending shouldn't dissuade readers from enjoying a good procedural with bleak and well described isolated settings, lots of three dimensional characters, and a (mostly) good and subtle resolution and denouement. Content warnings for fairly graphic domestic violence.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

My very first time reading Nordic noir and it started off with a bang. I am a thriller mystery gal and sheeshh this was good. Very very atmospheric, I felt I was in Iceland myself watching the story unfold! I am definitely checking the other book The Darkness because I guess this one is linked? Highly recommend if you’re a thriller junkie!

This was a good thriller. I really enjoyed Ragnar Jonasson's other series featuring Hulda and it's one of my favorite thriller series. I love that she makes an appearance in this one but I think the overall thriller was a bit lacking. I was able to predict some of the twists but overall the writing was solid and the mystery itself did keep me engaged throughout the book. I definitely look forward to reading more Ragnar Jonasson in the future. He's definitely a thriller comfort read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishing Company for this Advanced Readers Copy of Death at the Sanatorium by Ragnar Jonasson!

Many thanks to the author and publisher for providing me with an arc of this new mystery via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. I appreciated the perspective from someone in another country being inspired by translated detective mysteries. I also enjoyed the author’s background info and his love for classics such as Agatha Christie. The setting in Iceland is so foreign from my life in anew York that it’s refreshing to read about. This is an intricately plotted book with interesting characters and excellent pacing.

One of my favorite things about Ragnar Jónasson's books, apart from the mystery, is how they are all connected, and each book gives you a different glimpse into the lives of many of the characters. Granted, you definitely don't have to read many of them in any particular order (aside from those in a dedicated series), so you can enjoy each book on its own, but the little connections just make all of his books so much more fun!

Death at the Sanatorium is no exception, and the mystery we follow in this book is just as engaging as all his other books. The reveal at the end is one we don't necessarily see coming, which makes it so great! Overall, this is a fantastic mystery, and one that will keep you hooked til the end!

This was another great read by Ragnar Jónasson! It was a bit of a wild ride and I couldn't put it down. Ragnar is on my always-read list and I can't wait to see what he puts out next! I really enjoy learning about other cultures via my fiction reading and this did not disappoint.

A captivating mystery that cleverly combines the essence of classic whodunits with Nordic noir. The writing is atmospheric with vivid descriptions of the setting in Iceland. There is suspense throughout with the tension building as the story goes along. A very good read.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I enjoyed this Agatha Christie feel novel. The setting of the sanatorium always a win for me. And all the great suspects. Yes, I figured it out, but I enjoyed the hunt for the killer anyway! Quick, good mystery!

Synopsis:
1983 At a former sanatorium in the north of Iceland, now a hospital ward, an old nurse, Yrsa, is found murdered. Detective Hulda Hermannsdottir and her boss, Sverrir, are sent to investigate her death. There, they discover five the chief physician, two junior nurses, a young doctor, and the caretaker, who is arrested following false testimony from one of the nurses, but subsequently released. Less than a week after the murder, the chief physician, is also found dead, having apparently fallen from a balcony. Sverrir, rules his death as suicide and assumes that he was guilty of the murder as well. The case is closed.

Thoughts:
The synopsis alone had me intrigued and to see how it ends. It didn’t disappoint! The mystery left me guessing!

Rating: 4.5/5
I received an eARC for my honest opinion.

This book takes place in 1983 in a former TB sanatorium in northern Iceland, it starts off with a nurse who always comes in early to work to find that the head nurse Yrsa has been killed. A week later the administrator is pushed or fell over the balcony to his death and their body was found by the same nurse Tina. Even though the police at the time had closed the case of the mysterious deaths at the sanatorium you will be transported forward to 2012 when a police officer named Helgi is finishing up his criminology dissertation and picks the crimes at the Sanatorium to write about, however during his research and talking to those who worked there in 1980’s he starts to see some alarming and suspicion activities.

I enjoyed this book a lot, I loved that you would find mystery/thriller, crime, great characters, interesting plot, and it being from Iceland and that this book is a spinoff of The Darkness. I liked that in this book you will get to see the first crime that happened back in 1983, then you will jump through 2 more timelines throughout the book. The years are the following: 1951, 1983 and 2012. I didn’t have a hard time understanding what era the author was talking about at all. I liked that it was told with different eras, mostly from 1983 to 2012, but for me it added a new layer to the mystery, foreboding, and even a little nail biting.

I liked the fact that the author made this book feel like it was written back in time but with all the modern touches. I loved that it was originally written in Icelandic and translated, I didn’t have any issues with understanding what the author was trying to bring forth. I liked that with this atmospheric setting you will find it to be cold, isolation of Iceland, and a feeling of unease will just add to make this a great spooky, mystery book. This book isn’t fast-paced or has a lot of action in it, but the way that Jonasson writes you will see how he found the perfect way for all the details to slowly come out and keep the readers interested throughout the book. I enjoyed getting to know the characters throughout the book, but it was really more about Helgi and finishing up schooling, starting his new position at the police station and doing everything that he has to put up with in his home life. With his home life, I found it to be so sad, and I wanted to reach into the book a few times and tell him that everything would be okay and would work out.

I liked that you would see a man that is flawed and knows it, he knows his at home life isn’t great, but you will see that he does put so much effort into his at home life that he is strong, determined to see things through and willing to work on things to better his life. I like that even though weird things kept popping up throughout the book he was still determined to see it through and find out if the cases were really closed or if the killer is still out there, waiting. I enjoyed how the author was able to wrap up the cases and still leave us wanting more from Helgi. I know I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin Press for the opportunity to review this book.

I'm such a huge fan of Ragnar Jonasson, overall I would say he is my favourite 'Scandi Crime' author and what I loved the most about this book was that it merged lots of elements from his other books into one brilliant novel. There was the classic Icelandic Noir atmosphere with just the right amount of spookiness, a historical angle and a few unexpected twists along the way. I loved everything about the setting, the story, the characters and in particular, the main protagonist, police officer Helgi Reykdal who is the ultimate detective for crime fiction fans as he is also a crime fiction fan! I would love to read a follow up to this story and would be really interested to see how it develops.

I have become a serious fan of Icelandic mystery writers, and this one did nothing to make me change my mind.

In 2012, a 30-year-old cold case is being researched by a Master’s candidate in criminology whose hometown was the scene of the murders. Helgi Reykdal would rather be in London than Reykjavik, but as the story advances it becomes clear there are a lot of things he would rather be doing but is too shy of conflict to challenge his status quo. So, in a way, his final solution to the mystery of who murdered the workers at the asylum in Akureyi seems more like serendipity than investigation.

If you’ve met Mr. Jönasson, you’ll have also met his seminal character Hulda Hermannsdottir, who puts in a cameo appearance just before Helgi takes over her job. Whether we’ll be seeing more of her replacement remains to be seen; but like Hulda he is so very human one tends to hope so to see what effect his new job, not yet undertaken as the book closes, has on his passive-aggressive escape-into-a-classic-mystery personality.

“He loved the intellectual puzzles the books contained, the tidiness of the mysteries, and their solutions in contrast to the messiness of real life.”

As is the case with most mysteries from Iceland, this one is as much about how a crime affects the lives of those involved, and how different people react both at the time it occurs and, as in this case, long after most have forgotten it happened. From the moment the mutilated body of Yrsa, head nurse of the sanatorium, is discovered, suspicion falls on handyman Broddi not because he had ever shown any propensity to violence but because it was:

“…more reassuring if she could endow the invisible menace with a face, and her choice had fallen on the caretaker. The look in his eyes, which she had previously interpreted as friendly, now seemed sinister to her; his affable greetings in the corridors of the hospital struck her as cold and devoid of feeling.”

So, one lie of omission leads to others, and one man’s life is ruined not because he committed a crime, because he was acquitted of all charges, but simply because “I didn’t like him so it was easy to believe he was a murderer”.

If you’re tired of mysteries where you’ve figured out whodunit before you’re halfway done reading, this one’s for you. Likewise if you’re like me and enjoy fiction where those involved in the crime all seem to have little to recommend them. It’s that kind of reality that makes this book as entertaining as all that came before it.

This book was perfect for this time of year. It had a few spooky vibes and lots of intriguing twists and turns. And like most of Jonasson’s books, it was around 300 pages, so it didn't drag on. Unlike the previous two books on this list, the story was interesting and the plot engaging. Most of the characters were unlikable. But Jonasson has a way of making you want to know what happened to them that turned them the way they are. And the twist at the end was not completely shocking, but I think it was well done. If you've read any books by the author before, this one lives up to its expectations. It's atmospheric and entertaining, yet the author manages to wrap it up quickly while still surprising you at the end. So far, it's been my favorite book of the month, if I had to choose. Although I still only gave it three stars.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book, especially the detail of the severed fingers in the first murder. Plus, the setting seemed appropriately creepy - a cold case of two murders that happened at a TB sanatorium? Fascinating! T

Unfortunately, the only character that I ended up rooting for was Hulda, which was a bit of a letdown. I also felt that the resolution of this mystery was a bit...odd, and I'm not sure it worked for me. I did enjoy the switches between character perspectives, as I liked seeing how the same events were interpreted differently.

Overall, I would say this fell a bit flat for me, but I enjoyed it and would be willing to give another one of Ragnar Jonasson's books a chance, as this was the first of his that I've read.