The Mist (Hulda Series #3)

by Ragnar Jónasson

Overview

The final nail-biting installment in Ragnar Jonasson's critically-acclaimed Hidden Iceland series, The Mist, from the newest superstar on the Icelandic crime fiction scene.

1987. An isolated farm house in the east of Iceland.

The snowstorm should have shut everybody out. But it didn't.

The couple should never have let him in. But they did.

An unexpected guest, a liar, a killer. Not all will survive the night. And Detective Hulda will be haunted forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250768117
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	06/23/2020
Series:	Hulda Hermannsdóttir Series , #3
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,071,688
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

RAGNAR JONASSON is an international number one bestselling author who has sold over three million books in thirty-six countries worldwide. His books include the Dark Iceland series and the Hulda series. Jonasson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he also works as an investment banker and teaches copyright law at Reykjavik University. He has previously worked on radio and television, including as a TV news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, and, since the age of seventeen, has translated fourteen of Agatha Christie's novels. Ragnar is the co-founder of the Reykjavik international crime writing festival Iceland Noir. His critically acclaimed international bestseller The Darkness is soon to be a major TV series, and Outside is soon to be a feature film. Jonasson lives in Reykjavik with his wife and two daughters.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/13/2020

Isolation and despair undo the characters in Jónasson’s exceptional third and final novel featuring Reykjavík Det. Insp. Hulda Hermannsdóttir (after 2019’s The Island). In February 1988, Hulda, who has returned to work after time off to deal with an unidentified personal issue, is still struggling to get through the day and perform any meaningful work. She’s forced into action by her boss when multiple corpses are found on a farm, with indications that the bodies have been there since around Christmas. Flash back to a snowy day in December 1987. Einar and Erla Einarsson, who live on a remote farm, answer a knock on the door to an unexpected visitor, who introduces himself as Leó. The couple offer Leó shelter for the night, but Erla becomes suspicious of their guest’s account of how he arrived at their home. Jónasson ratchets up the nail-biting tension gradually, alternating the developments at the farm along with the events in Hulda’s life that led to her traumatic stupor. Fans of dark crime fiction that doesn’t pull punches will be amply rewarded. Agent: David Headley, DHH Literary (U.K.). (June)

Publishers Weekly

"One of the author's best plots, layered with that dour Scandinavian atmosphere we love." —New York Times Book Review on The Island

"Ragnar Jonasson is the Stephen King of Icelandic thrillers." —She Reads

"Masterly...Jónasson delivers a mind-bending look into human darkness that earns its twists." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on The Island

From the Publisher

★ 05/01/2020

The third in Jónasson's "Hidden Iceland" series (following The Island) features Reykjavík detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir, who is called in to investigate a double murder on a farm deep in the Icelandic countryside while she is still dealing with undisclosed problems with her husband and daughter. Though uncertain that she is ready for such an assignment, Hulda accepts, knowing that if she doesn't, her abilities as a female detective will forever be in question. At the same time, she is haunted by the yet unsolved disappearance of a young woman who set out to explore the country and hasn't been heard from since. The narrative alternates between Christmas 1987, when Hulda's slowly revealed family problems first began and the murders occurred, and February 1988, when the murders are discovered and investigated. VERDICT No one is who they seem to be in this fast-paced, character-rich thriller about murder and isolation during the brutal Icelandic winter. A series novel that works as a stand-alone, it will appeal to fans of Stieg Larsson, Deborah Crombie, and Michelle Sacks. [See Prepub Alert, 11/18/19.]—George Lichman, Rocky River, OH

Library Journal

★ 2020-03-29
A trio of interlinked horrors unfold in the days leading up to Iceland’s celebration of Christmas 1987.

Maybe the following February is too soon for Detective Hulda Hermannsdóttir to have returned to work at Reykjavík CID. Assigned to reopen the case of Unnur, a girl from Gardabaet who vanished last autumn during the tour of Iceland she undertook on foot before enrolling in college, Hulda thinks it’s the worst possible investigation she could have been handed because she’s still reeling from the darkly hinted domestic catastrophe that began with the withdrawn behavior of Dimma, her own teenager, and alienated her from her husband, Jón, over the holidays. As Hulda, who’s not “kidding herself that there would be any happy ending,” soldiers on in search of the missing Unnur, Jónasson counterpoints her inquiries with excruciatingly paced stages of a flashback to the days before Christmas, when family farmer Einar Einarsson’s wife, Erla, opens the door of their house to Leó, a lost stranger who claims to have gotten separated from other members of his hunting party. A wintry storm prevents Leó from leaving, and with every hour that passes, Erla uncovers more discrepancies in his story. Who is he really, why has he come to their isolated home, and what unspeakable plans does he have in mind?

Jónasson weaves his suspenseful tales together with remorseless logic up to a climax more nightmarish than the buildup.

Kirkus Reviews