Orentober - Trap by Lilja Sigurðardóttir (translated by Quentin Bates)

Today for Orentober I'm highlighting another Orenda Books release. Following on from my review of Snare on Wednesday, and in advance of my blog tour stop for Cage on Tuesday, I'm delighted to share my review of the middle book in Lilja Sigarðardóttir's trilogy, Trap. And it's another corker.

The Blurb:

Happily settled in Florida, Sonja believes she's finally escaped the trap set by unscrupulous drug lords. But when her son Tomas is taken, she's back to square one...and Iceland. Her lover, Agla, is awaiting sentencing for financial misconduct after the banking crash, and Sonja refuses to see her. And that's not all...Agla owes money to some extremely powerful men, and they'll stop at nothing to get it back. Set in a Reykjavík still covered in the dust of the Eyjafjallajökull volcanic eruption, and with a dark, fast-paced and chilling plot and intriguing characters, Trap is an outstandingly original and sexy Nordic crime thriller, from one of the most exciting new names in crime fiction.

'A tense thriller with a highly unusual plot and interesting characters' - Marcel Berlins, Times.
'Tense, edgy and delivering more than a few unexpected twists and turns' -The Times Crime Club .

Trap was published by Orenda Books on 18th October 2018. You can purchase it from the publisher, Waterstones, Amazon UK, Amazon US and other good bookshops.

I carried Lilja's bag when she took part in the Brookmyre Cup putting competition at Bute Noir 2019 

My Review:

Following on from the events in Snare, the first book in Lilja Sigurðardóttir's Reykjavik Noir, this can be read as a standalone, but I would suggest it is best enjoyed if you've read Snare first.

Trap opens not in Iceland but in Florida where Sonja and her son Tómas are living in a trailer park and enjoying a more relaxed way of life. Then Tómas is snatched and Sonja is forced to return to Iceland and to her life as a criminal. I'm Snare, everything she did was so Tómas could live with her full time, rather than with his father. Her motivation here is exactly the same, but she has to put together a while new plan. Especially after Adam makes it even more difficult for her to see her son.

Meanwhile her lover Agla hasn't heard from Sonja since she fled to America and misses her terribly, but has her own problems to focus on. She is still being investigated for financial irregularities by Mária from the special prosecutor's office, whilst having to do some shady deals to keep herself and other banking colleagues out of more trouble.

Given Sonja's involvement in the drugs trade, she's not a character I should really feel sympathetic towards. But she is so beautifully written, I couldn't be anything else. Her relationship with Tómas is so precious, and their love for each other shines through the writing. I was rooting for her from the opening pages through every uncomfortable, difficult encounter she had, and there were plenty of those.

Ex husband Adam is such a well written character. I have nothing but contempt for him. We learned something awful about him at the end of the first book, and in Trap he just shows again and again how nasty he is.

It was a joy to see customs officer Bragi back. Like Sonja, he's a good person forced (as far as he sees it) into doing something he really doesn't want to do. He's possibly my favourite character, and where my favourite line in the book came from, which was not about drugs, customs, banks or crime, but love.

'...he felt with this sweater on, he had Valdís's arms around him and there was more than just warmth to such an embrace.' Just beautiful.

The vile Mr José is back, but we also meet his wife Nati. Initially, I thought she was going to be a meek character, terrified of her husband, but my opinion soon changed - she's brilliantly written.

I struggled a little bit to keep up with the intricacies of the  banking side of the story, but that was probably just me. I enjoyed the development of Agla though, as she seemed to gain confidence before my eyes, both professionally (although with her own skewed ethics) and personally. And her dealings with investigator María give us more of an insight into both women.

Trap does not glamorise or sensationalise crime, far from it. Sigarðardóttir clearly shows the desperation that forces many of her characters into acting illegally. As much as this is a crime story, it is also a tale of control, fear, vulnerability,  loyalty and love. It's beautifully written, and I didn't feel anything had been lost in the excellent translation by Quentin Bates. A fabulous book, and I can't wait to read the next one.


The Author:

Bute Noir, Rothesay, Isle of Bute, August 2019

Icelandic crime-writer Lilja Sigurðardóttir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in the Reykjavik Noir series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. Trap was published in 2018, and a Book of the Year in Guardian. The film rights for the series have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja lives in Reykjavík with her partner. Follow Lilja on Twitter @lilja1972 and on her website liljawriter.com