FICTION

Snowblind

Minotaur: St. Martin's. Jan. 2017. 320p. tr. from Icelandic by Quentin Bates. ISBN 9781250096074. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9781250096081. MYS
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[DEBUT]Ari Thór Arason, fresh out of the police academy, leaves behind his life and girlfriend in Reykjavik to take a posting in Siglufjörður, a quiet, economically depressed fishing village in northern Iceland. Already uncomfortable as an outsider in this close-knit community, Ari Thór begins to feel claustrophobic when the only tunnel into and out of town is blocked after a snowstorm. Just as the newly minted cop starts to question his decision to move to this remote place, a notable author and community luminary dies under suspicious circumstances at the local theater. The death is quickly ruled an accident, but Ari Thór can't seem to let it go. When a woman with ties to the theater is found fatally stabbed in her backyard, the police are forced to consider that their small town may have a murderer on the loose. As Ari Thór digs deeper into the town's past, it becomes apparent that Siglufjörður has more than its fair share of secrets and few of its residents are as they appear.
VERDICT In this debut novel, Jonasson has taken the locked-room mystery and transformed it into a dark tale of isolation and intrigue that will keep readers guessing until the final page. [See Prepub Alert, 7/16/16.]
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