Tuesday 24 January 2017

Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson - Blog Tour Review


I'm super excited today to be a part of the blog tour for Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson. For my stop I have my review of what I thought about this wonderful book. 

Rupture

1955. Two young couples move to the uninhabited, isolated fjord of Hedinsfjörður. Their stay ends abruptly when one of the women meets her death in mysterious circumstances. The case is never solved. Fifty years later an old photograph comes to light, and it becomes clear that the couples may not have been alone on the fjord after all…
In nearby Siglufjörður, young policeman Ari Thór tries to piece together what really happened that fateful night, in a town where no one wants to know, where secrets are a way of life. He’s assisted by Ísrún, a news reporter in Reykjavik, who is investigating an increasingly chilling case of her own. Things take a sinister turn when a child goes missing in broad daylight. With a stalker on the loose, and the town of Siglufjörður in quarantine, the past might just come back to haunt them. 

My Review

Rupture is my first Ragnar Jonasson book and I realise I've been missing out! Rupture is the fourth book in the Dark Iceland series but can definitely be read as a stand alone like I did, however I do now need to go back and read them all! 

First things first, the cover is absolutely stunning and really reflects the isolation and cold from the book. Also I am eternally grateful for the pronunciation guide in the front of the book as it immediately helped me immerse myself in the story without spending time sounding out words and names that were unfamiliar to me. 

The story is a slow burn and weaves beautifully between two storylines. As you get further into the book, the pace builds up and leads to a crescendo for both cases which both took a direction that I had not expected at all. The story telling is clear and really well thought out and everything worked out really well. 

I really enjoyed the character Ari Thór and I liked how he went about investigating the cold case and his interaction with people in the community. I also think the friendship/partnership that was developed between him and Ísrún was really good as it was built on mutual need and respect. Ísrún was also a really interesting character and I think there will be a lot more to her story going forward.

The location itself feels like a character in its own right, you can feel the oppressive isolation, especially during the threat of a contagious and killer disease and I certainly kept myself wrapped in my blanket as I felt the cold. 

Overall an absolutely wonderful book and I have discovered a new favourite author. 

I gave Rupture 5 stars. 

About The Author


Ragnar Jonasson is author of the international bestselling Dark Iceland series.

His debut Snowblind, first in the Dark Iceland series, went to number one in the Amazon Kindle charts shortly after publication. The book was also a no. 1 Amazon Kindle bestseller in Australia.

Snowblind was selected by The Independent as one of the best crime novels of 2015 in the UK.

Books in the Dark Iceland series have been published in the UK, Germany, Poland and Iceland, and rights have also been sold to the USA, France and Italy.

Ragnar was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he works as a writer and a lawyer. He also teaches copyright law at Reykjavik University and has previously worked on radio and television, including as a TV-news reporter for the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.

Ragnar is a member of the UK Crime Writers' Association (CWA) and recently set up the first overseas chapter of the CWA, in Reykjavik.

He is also the co-founder of the Reykjavik international crime writing festival Iceland Noir.

From the age of 17, Ragnar translated 14 Agatha Christie novels into Icelandic.

Ragnar has also had short stories published internationally, including in the distinguished Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in the US, the first stories by an Icelandic author in that magazine.

He has appeared on festival panels worldwide, and lives in Reykjavik with his wife and young daughters.

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