When entrepreneur Flosi arrives home for dinner one night, he discovers that his house has been ransacked, and his wife Gudrun missing. A letter on the kitchen table confirms that she has been kidnapped. If Flosi doesn’t agree to pay an enormous ransom, Gudrun will be killed.
Forbidden from contacting the police, he gets in touch with Áróra, who specialises in finding hidden assets, and she, alongside her detective friend Daniel, try to get to the bottom of the case without anyone catching on.
Meanwhile, Áróra and Daniel continue the puzzling, devastating search for Áróra’s sister Ísafold, who disappeared without trace. As fog descends, in a cold and rainy Icelandic autumn, the investigation becomes increasingly dangerous, and confusing.
Chilling, twisty and unbearably tense, Red as Blood is the second instalment in the riveting, addictive An Áróra Investigation series, and everything is at stake…
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Red As Blood by Lilja Sigurðardóttir is the second in the Áróra Investigations series and was published in paperback by Orenda Books on 13 September. It was translated from the Icelandic by Quentin Bates. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review as part of this Blog Tour
Back in October last year I read and reviewed Cold As Hell, the first in this series, and said at the time that it was probably my favourite book from this author.
Here we have Red As Blood, number two in the Áróra Investigates series and it's another wonderful read, I love this series, I hope it goes on for years and years and years!
Despite her initial reluctance to return to Iceland to search for her missing sister, Áróra is still in the country, in fact she's bought a flat there and whilst she's loathe to tell her mother this, she is determined that she will stay until the mystery of where Isafold disappeared to is solved. Áróra's job as a financial investigator means that she can work from anywhere, she has many contacts and she can be very useful to local authorities too.
Áróra is contacted by local businessman Flosi. He's returned to his home to find that his wife Gudrún is missing. There's a note demanding two million Euros and strict instructions not to call the police. Flosi does have access to money, but will need Áróra's help and expertise to get it into Iceland. Whilst it's clear that the people who have Gudrún want no police involvement, Áróra knows that Daniel, the local detective who worked on Isafold's disappearance can help, and so an overt and undercover mission begins.
Whilst I have never been to Iceland, I really feel as though I know it very well and that's down to the sublime writing of this very talented author. Her descriptive prose, of the people and the places, the customs and the cultures are so so well done and give such a feeling of authenticity to the story.
It's a complex case with many layers and things are never quite what they seem in Flosi's life. As Áróra, Daniel and the rest of the team start to investigate, they uncover things that Flosi would have preferred to keep quiet. I had my suspicions about the why and the who but these changed constantly as the author threw another twist into the mix.
I have loved getting to know more about the characters too, we get such an insight into their private lives which goes a long way to explain how they carry out their professional work too. A varied, eclectic and interesting bunch of folk who work so well together on the page.
As always, translated wonderfully by Quentin Bates, this is just brilliant. I loved every page and was utterly glued to it throughout. I cannot wait for the next instalment.
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An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in a new series and Lilja's English debut shortlisting for the CWA International Dagger and hitting bestseller lists worldwide.
Lilja's standalone Betrayal, was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel.
In 2021, Cold as Hell, the first in the An Áróra Investigation series was published, with Red as Blood to follow in 2022.
The film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California.
Lilja is also an award-winning screenwriter in her native Iceland.
She lives in Reykjavík with her partner.
For a variety of reasons, the gap year stretched to become a gap decade, during which time he went native in the north of Iceland, acquiring a new language a new profession as a seaman and a family, before decamping en masse for England.
He worked as a truck driver, teacher, netmaker and trawlerman at various times before falling into journalism, largely by accident.
He is the author of a series of crime novels set in present-day Iceland (Frozen Out, Cold Steal, Chilled to the Bone, Winterlude, Cold Comfort and Thin Ice which have been published worldwide.
He has translated all of Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series.
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