In Iceland forty years ago a woman and a baby went missing. They are later found frozen in the snow. The husband is the prime suspect to the townspeople. He fled to America with his nine year old son. After his death his granddaughter is contacted by a true crime podcaster to find the truth.

This book had me quickly turning the pages because I needed to know the truth. The writing was captivating. I had a really hard time putting it down. A fantastic twisty winter thriller.

Melissa Larsen has crafted a richly layered, suspenseful, atmospheric novel. I couldn't get enough of this. I look forward to reading more of her work in the future.

A popular true-crime podcaster—with secrets of her own—who focuses on unsolved crimes.

A confused, late-20s woman—recovering from a terrible accident, and grieving a pair of losses—whom the podcaster approaches about the latest story she wants to share with her eager subscribers.

An angry father, who doesn’t really understand his daughter—her choices, who she is—but is dead-set against her participation in the podcast, knowing what it will do to their family.

A grandfather—now dead—forced to leave his beloved hometown in Iceland some forty years ago and relocate to far-off California with his young son, following the tragic deaths of his wife and infant daughter.

And the small Icelandic town—Bifröst—where the tragedy still, somehow, feels fresh.

And... where another horrible event may even now be taking place.

The stage is set for Melissa Larsen’s latest mystery/suspense, The Lost House.
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When a little boy found the bodies of local schoolteacher Marie and her baby girl, Agnes, buried in the snow four decades ago, the townsfolk of tiny Bifröst were quick to blame the husband/father, Einar Pálsson.

Why? Because everyone knew Einar and his beautiful, younger, Danish wife weren’t the picture of marital bliss, and Einar, well... he’d always had a short fuse.

So, despite the lack of enough evidence to convict him, Einar had chosen to leave his home and take his remaining child, Magnús, far away from the angry glares and open hostility.

Agnes Glin—named for the infant who would’ve been her aunt—has heard that story many times. Not from her grandfather or father—who both refused point-blank to speak of it—but from articles, books, and even social media, when the perpetual and lurid fascination with one of Iceland’s most-famous unsolved crimes is again piqued.

“The Frozen Madonna and Child”... that’s how people refer to it, her family’s personal tragedy.

But Agnes has never believed her grandfather did it.

When podcaster Nora Carver reaches out to her—offering an expenses-paid trip to Iceland—Agnes, still reeling from her grandfather’s recent death and very much needing a change of scenery, agrees to go and be interviewed. She has a score to settle with the people of Bifröst... for the sake of her grandfather’s memory.

But when she arrives, in a land so completely different from the California beaches she grew up around, she begins to wonder if her decision was entirely wise.

There is snow—so much snow—and the air has a sort of biting cold she’s never experienced. Making matters worse, her brain can’t seem to get acclimated to the brevity of daylight hours, followed by endlessly-long, dark nights.

Even though Nora is as friendly and enthusiastic as a puppy, none of the locals are too pleased with Agnes’ presence... in part, because her appearance—so much like Marie’s—is a constant reminder of the tragedy which still stains the town.

There’s also the fact that another young woman—similar in looks to both Marie and her granddaughter Agnes—has just gone missing... in this unforgiving landscape of frigid Bifröst snowstorms.

Agnes worries her own unwanted arrival may’ve caused a copycat event... or that she’s triggered the real murderer into repeating their original killings.

Either way, there’s a young woman—alive, dead, or soon-to-be-dead—out there, all alone, in the cold... and no one seems willing to give up any of the town’s secrets, to try and save her.

But maybe Agnes can... or at least she’ll probably die, trying.
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Some books are very straight-forward... wham-bam, you’re in—and out—of the plot, didn’t have to do much work, and just went along for the ride.

In others, there’s a boatload of baggage to unpack... so much that you start to feel like perhaps you need therapy.

The Lost House falls in the latter category.

Agnes—much like her father and grandfather—has STUFF to work through. Family stuff. History stuff. Interpersonal stuff. Relationship stuff. Guilt, blame, hard feelings, misunderstandings, physical pain—you name it, she’s a hot mess.

And, just like in real life, some of that stuff is pertinent to the action at hand... and some isn’t, but it’s not readily obvious to Agnes which is which. That conundrum ramps up the psychological tension in palpable ways.

The author also shows a good feel for the sort of insular community often found in small, remote towns... an “everyone-knows-everything-about-everyone-else (but-would-never-dream-of-making-an-outsider-privy-to-any-of-it)” mindset.

With The Lost House, Larsen delivers a chilling mystery-suspense in a place we haven’t seen a dozen or more times, already... populated by characters who, fittingly, also feel more like freshly-driven snow than the same-old, same-old. And that makes for a book you want to dive into.

Whether you live where it snows or not, The Lost House is a fine choice for some cozy-indoors-winter-reading.
~GlamKitty

[My sincere thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are, as always, entirely my own.]

The book was so atmospheric and really that was the very best thing about it. Some of the story arcs were a bit vague but this seemed to be on purpose due to the main character’s unreliability and drug addiction.

I kept expecting more twists and was a little surprised when the ending was fairly straightforward. However, the story was engaging and the mystery of who killed Agnes’ grandmother kept me interested.

“We are not only one thing. Monster or man." I completely lost myself in this book with the Iceland setting and the layers of personal and family trauma. We follow Agnes as she tries to uncover the truth of her family's famous but tragic history and it was both thrilling and heartbreaking.

It's one of those books that's going to sit with me for a while and I enjoyed every second of it. I look forward to reading more of Melissa's work!

Thank you to St. Martins Press and Minotaur Books for sending me an early eArc of this book!

This was just ok for me. I felt like at times Agnes could be unreliable because of her addiction. It made me wonder if at times was she remembering things correctly or was it foggy because of the drugs. I loved the setting being in Iceland, especially with it being winter currently where I live. I wasn't a big fan of the ending just based on the shock factor. I think if it would've been more of a twist my rating would've been higher.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an advanced copy of this book.

Unfortunately. this book fell flat for me. I'm not sure if it was the writing or the vernacular but I was uninterested. I picked it up and put it down a few times and then just decided to give up and move on to something else.

This book was very fitting and atmospheric winter thriller. I really enjoyed all the twists and turns. if you are looking for a winter thriller please check out this one from your local library or bookstore.

The story is set in Iceland, where a woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the snow forty years ago. The case was never solved, and the husband was suspected but never arrested. The granddaughter, Agnes, is determined to clear her grandfather's name and agrees to an interview on a true crime podcast. As she investigates in Iceland, a local girl goes missing, leading to the uncovering of old and new secrets that put Agnes's life at risk.

I am new to this author, and I found this book to be a suspenseful mystery. While the pacing was a bit slow for my liking, I was still engaged in the story. I had the opportunity to review both the eBook and the audiobook versions. I often say that if a book doesn't connect with you, trying the audiobook can be beneficial, as the narrator brings the story to life and enhances the overall experience.

The characters were well-developed over time, making them easy to follow throughout the story. The writing was strong, and I couldn't help but hope that the grandfather was innocent. I especially enjoyed the audiobook, as it helped me pronounce names and places.

If you appreciate a true crime element in your stories, enjoy mysteries that offer a chance to guess the outcome, and like the chilling atmosphere of the harsh landscape of Iceland, this book is for you. Give it a go and see if you can crack the case before the characters do!

Thank you, St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio for the digital ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The blurb for this one sounded so interesting and I loved the idea of an Icelandic setting, but the writing was just ok. The storyline was decent, but the wording was confusing at times and some smaller things got a bit repetitive. I don't even know how many times our MC said her mind wandered off to another topic and she wasn't listening to someone who was speaking to her. I wanted to shout at her to pay attention.

I was frustrated several times by our MC. She wasn't my favorite character. I felt she was kind of rude and made some bad decisions. I also felt that the Icelandic people were represented as kind of rude and boorish. I think this is the opposite of the reputation Iceland has and I was a bit put off by it.

Overall, it was an all right book, but I'm disappointed because I was expecting more and really thought I was going to love it. The concept was good, but the writing style wasn't a great fit for me.

In Melissa Larsen’s atmospheric Nordic noir, The Lost House, main character Agnes travels to a small village in Iceland to solve the 40-year-old murder of her grandmother and infant aunt. Did her grandfather do it, as the townspeople believe? Is the recent disappearance of a college student from her family’s abandoned house related?

This story was a slow burn, but kept me interested the whole time. While Agnes isn’t exactly an unreliable narrator, she’s not entirely reliable either, for reasons the reader discovers along the way. I felt deeply for her, even as I cringed at the mistakes and bad decisions. There is a lot of generational trauma and trigger warnings abound.

I did think the podcast element wasn’t used to its potential; that was one of the big draws for me from the blurb I read. Also, the pacing was a little uneven, dragging in a few places when the author got bogged down in too much description or got too deep in Agnes’ feelings.

Overall, though, I thought this was a decent mystery and I rated it 3.75 stars. It’s a good read for a cold winter’s day.

Unfortunately this one really wasn’t for me. I didn’t find myself connecting with the characters enough to really care about what was going on.

This book could have been a short story. Not much happens and it drags on and on and is very repetitive. I've been really enjoying Nordic literature of late, but this one just missed the mark for me. I pushed through because it was an ARC, but honestly I didn't really care about what happened to the characters. The main characters' past was a bit too vague for me. What was her injury really? And I only read it a few months ago and can't really remember that much about it. The atmosphere had the potential to be promising, but that was the most interesting part. Sorry, this one was just not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC of this release.

This was a very atmospheric book with a satisfying ending. I traveled to Iceland for the first time recently so the setting was really attractive to me. While I did predict the ending, there were lots of twists and turns that led to it and I did enjoy it

Melissa Larsen’s The Lost House is the perfect atmospheric Nordic Noir thriller for those who like their mysteries heavy on setting and suspense. Normally, I do not like the Nordic Noir sub-genre of mysteries as being too dark, too eerie. But Larsen was able to keep my pages turning with an absorbing story-line and full set of characters.

The main character, Agnes, was a bit over the top with her addiction and anxiety, but that type of character suspense did feed into the frigid, unforgiving landscape of Iceland. Agnes is the granddaughter of an alleged murderer of his wife and baby over 40 years ago in a small village in Iceland. Agnes travels from California, popping pills to deal with pain from an accident, and arrives in a blizzard – of snow and secrets. She is ostensibly in Iceland to help produce a pod cast on the history of the murder (and prove her grandfather innocent once and for all), but upon her arrival another young woman goes missing from the same small town and the old secrets start coming out as the podcaster, Nora, delves into both the murder and the missing person case.

Such a fun winter read! Blizzards, freezing temps, frozen bodies! The plot was easily figured out as to who was the murderer/abductor. And Agnes’ addiction to the pain pills meant that she did some outrageous behavior – do people in California not know you need gloves? But somehow, I liked Agnes and cheered for her as she blundered around in the snow and cold. Even while she is screaming in pain, she finds the energy to start up a new relationship with a woman she meets during the investigation for the podcast. It is really no wonder that Nora gets frustrated with Agnes. The reader does, too. That frustration seems to fit in perfectly though with the chilly and dangerous setting.

My rating: 3.5 of 5

This ARC title was provided by Netgalley.com at no cost, and I am providing an unbiased review. The Lost House was published on Jan. 14, 2025.

The Lost House is a slow burn thriller/mystery set in Iceland in the dead of winter.



The synopsis hooked me, a young woman returning to her ancestral home in Iceland to meet with a podcaster who is covering the gruesome murder in her family and hopefully find out once and for all if her grandfather is a murderer or not. Consider me, sold!



I enjoyed the story, especially the setting, interesting set of characters and the true crime aspect. Taking place in the dead of winter in Iceland with a lack of sunlight, daily, talk about eerie.



Unfortunately, it was too slow paced for my preference, repetitive at times and felt like there was so much information included that didn't really contribute to the story the combination unfortunately made the story drag a bit too much.



Thank you to Netgalley, St.Martin's Press and Minotaur Books for this ARC.

The Lost House - Melissa Larsen
Pub date: January 14th 2025
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐.25

Thanks to @stmartinspress & @netgalley for this ARC copy!

The plot of this book looked very interesting and I was excited to read it.

The first 80% was just meh for me. It didn't have the action I was looking for. I really enjoyed the last 20% as it was packed with action.

I don't know if it was the writing I didn't like but something was not gelling with my reading style.

#thelosthouse #melissalarsen #readsof2025 #arccopy #netgalley #stmartinspress #books #bookstagrammer #bookstagram

This was a bit of a slow burn, but I love Nordic Noir thrillers and found it to be atmospheric and enjoyable! I liked that we had two mysteries to follow. Did Agnes' grandfather really kill his wife and daughter 40 years ago, and what happened to Asa? I do wish the podcast element had played a little bigger of a part and that Agnes' leg injury had not been mentioned so prominently. The twists and turns were good and had me wanting to keep turning the pages!

Thank you, @netgalley, @stmartinspress, and @minotaur_books for the #gifted e-arc!

In this Nordic Noir Thriller, Nora goes to Iceland in search of answers to her family’s very dark and complicated past. Agreeing to interviews by Agnes, a podcaster and astute amateur investigator, the past and the present begin to intertwine, leading Nora, a deeply flawed and damaged protagonist down rabbit holes she may never escape.

Larsen has a unique style of writing which at first felt disjointed due to many partial thoughts and incomplete sentences. Much more than usual. But then I fell into the rhythm of how this author wields language, and the rhythm of her writing revealed dimensions of her characters while also telling me the story.

The characterization is robust, the writing while dense doesn’t go off on tangents - everything is important to the story being told. The plot and development of story, is thorough, well-thought out, and moves at a moderate pace. The past is morbid and tricky, the present is fraught with danger, and slippery.

The Icelandic setting is beautifully rendered, icing the reader’s bones.

I felt very satisfied by this read.

4/5 stars

Melissa Larsen had me chilled to the bone as I read this thriller set during a bone chilling winter in Iceland. I cringed with every step Agnes took throughout this read. Agnes has traveled to Iceland to help her determine the truth about her grandfather’s suspected involvement in a murder before she was born. Her love for her grandfather was so touching and the family dynamics were fascinating.
While there Agnes struggled with her injury to her leg, her conflicted feelings about her grandfather, her attraction to someone new and her interest in a missing student. Larsen keeps the reader turning the pages as fast as they can as the pacing gathers speed and relates unbelievable pain while traveling towards the unexpected conclusion. Agnes was one determined women for sure.
Melissa Larsen shared that she also had a second injury to her knee after slipping on ice while doing research in Iceland. Her descriptions of the pain Agnes felt made me shiver many times…job well done.
I totally enjoyed this read and are looking forward to future reads.
Many many thanks to Melissa Larsen, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this just published read. Don’t miss out on this read.