Publishers Weekly
03/07/2022
In this disappointing standalone from Jónasson (The Girl Who Died), Daníel, a struggling actor living in London, travels to Reykjavík to join three friends for a reunion: Helena, an engineer; Ármann, an entrepreneurial tour guide; and Gunnlaugur, a lawyer. Ármann has organized a hunting weekend, but things go massively wrong on the moors. A blizzard forces the group, with minimal gear, to shelter in a disused hunting hut, where they encounter something genuinely shocking (Daníel “had never been so afraid in his life”). The payoff for this early fright is a long time coming as the novel focuses on the foursome’s backstories, which illuminate the motive for the expedition. It’s a dandy premise, and Jónasson does a good job of connecting the dots, but the plot is built on a rickety foundation. Would an experienced and successful guide like Ármann be so ill prepared? He creates a decent amount of suspense and horror and is great at conveying the menace of an Icelandic winter, but some readers will find what happens too hard to swallow. Hopefully, Jónasson will return to form next time. Agent: David Headley, DHH Literary (U.K.).
From the Publisher
Praise for Outside:
"Jonasson and translator Victoria Cribb do a fine job of setting the scene, developing the characters and keeping readers in suspense with a tight, clean noir style, prose style. 'Somebody,' Helena says prophetically, 'is going to end up dead before this trip is over.''" —Bruce DeSilva, The Chicago Tribune
"An intense standalone...There is so much to like here: the complexity of the quartet’s relationships, Jónasson’s powerful, streamlined writing, and the parallels between an unforgiving setting and the characters' seething grudges. Readers will be drawn into Jónasson’s forbidding Iceland landscape, where it’s anyone’s guess who will make it out alive." —Booklist (starred review)
“… a classic ... I believe he has penned the Icelandic version of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs.” —Book Reporter
"[An] excruciatingly slow-motion avalanche in which it’s obvious from the beginning that “something’s got to die before we finish this trip”; the only questions are who, how many, under what circumstances, and at whose hands....A shivery delight." —Kirkus Reviews
"Jonasson plays his hand perfectly. A stellar story . . . Classic, classy whodunit."—The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
"This book has a quality and cleverly constructed plot...it’s entertaining, suspenseful and twisty." —Mystery Tribune
"One of the best crime writers on the planet." —Mike Lupica, New York Times bestselling author
“Brilliantly entertaining, captivating the reader from page one. Impossible to put down.” —Frettabladid newspaper (Iceland)
“Ragnar Jónasson is the Nordic author of the moment.” —Vogue (Scandinavia)
Praise for Ragnar Jónasson:
Ragnar Jónasson hailed as one of "the heirs to the Agatha Christie crown" by The Daily Telegraph (UK).
"In Jónasson’s books, the harsh and unforgiving Icelandic winter might as well be its own character...a perfect storm of danger and intrigue." —New York Post on The Girl Who Died
"Is this the best crime writer in the world today? If you're looking for a mystery to get lost in during lockdown..." —The Times, UK on The Girl Who Died
“A world-class crime writer...one of the most astonishing plots in modern crime fiction...The Mist is a triumphant conclusion to the trilogy and makes Iceland’s pre-eminence in the crime genre even more marked....Jónasson is up there with the best.” —The Sunday Times, UK
“Jónasson is an automatic must-read for me ... possibly the best Scandi writer working today.” —Lee Child, internationally bestselling author of the Jack Reacher thrillers
"Jónasson is a unique voice in this genre" —The Times Literary Supplement, UK
"Few writers at work today conjure atmosphere with such power" —A.J. Finn
"Ragnar does claustrophobia beautifully" —Ann Cleeves
"Ragnar Jónasson is the Stephen King of Icelandic thrillers." —She Reads
Library Journal
★ 05/01/2022
Jónasson (The Girl Who Died) is no stranger to Icelandic crime fiction fans, and this strong thriller stand-alone shines with the violent atmosphere of the country's brutal winters. Daniel, Armann, Gunnlaugur, and Helena, friends since college, gather for a reunion weekend to hike and hunt ptarmigan birds and to reconnect. They set off into the highlands only to encounter a violent winter storm that forces them into one of the emergency shelters that dot the haunting landscape. Unfortunately, the shelter that they find holds a gruesome discovery. Now they are faced with a horrible choice: either remain in the lodge with the horror or venture back out into the storm facing possible death. Jónasson marvelously ramps up the tension in this multiple viewpoint story and drops several excellent twists along the way. As the long night evolves, readers learn that the characters have several dark secrets and that their friendships might not be as solid as they seem. Someone wants revenge and will have that revenge at a deadly cost. VERDICT Perfect for readers who love winter-themed thrillers in the vein of Allie Reynolds's Shiver and Ruth Ware's One by One.—Bill Anderson
Kirkus Reviews
2022-01-26
The ptarmigan hunt four old friends have planned for a winter weekend in the wilds of eastern Iceland goes south when the weather turns on them and they turn on each other.
Three of the four—actor Daníel, attorney Gunnlaugur, and Helena, an engineer for a tech startup—would have no business traipsing around in the snow under any circumstances if it weren’t for the fourth, Ármann, a travel guide with a checkered past as a drug user–turned-dealer whose underworld connections in Denmark might well have killed him if Helena hadn’t ridden to the rescue. Once an unexpected snowstorm sends them searching desperately for a hut they can shelter in, it’s gradually revealed that the others all have secrets of their own. Daníel can’t stop lying about the fact that his career in London has never taken off. Helena’s still mourning Víkingur, the ex who died under suspicious circumstances five years ago. And Gunnlaugur is an alcoholic rapist whose two years on the wagon come to an end inside the hut, where the refuge they’ve sought swiftly turns nightmarish with the discovery of an armed stranger inside. No matter what they do, the man won’t move, won’t talk, and won’t put down his gun even when the group falls asleep. Soft-pedaling the supernatural trappings of The Girl Who Died (2021), Jónasson presents the weekend getaway as an excruciatingly slow-motion avalanche in which it’s obvious from the beginning, as Helene says, that “something’s got to die before we finish this trip”; the only questions are who, how many, under what circumstances, and at whose hands.
A shivery delight. It’s nice that the Icelandic Tourist Board hasn’t paid Jónasson to quit publishing.
