White as Snow by Lilja Sigurðadóttir (translated by Quentin Bates)

Having already visited Finland and Norway this month, I'm off to Iceland today for my stop on the blog tour for White as Snow, the third book in the An Árora Investigation series, by Lilja Sigurðardóttir and translated into English by Quentin Bates. I loved the first two in this series so was delighted to have the chance to review this one. My thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for the invitation and to the publisher for my review copy.

The Blurb

The atmospheric, twisty, breathtakingly tense An Áróra Investigation series continues, as crimes committed far beyond Iceland’s shores come home…

On a snowy winter morning, an abandoned shipping container is discovered near Reykjavík. Inside are the bodies of five young women – one of them barely alive.

As Icelandic Police detective Daníel struggles to investigate the most brutal crime of his career, Áróra looks into the background of a suspicious man, who turns out to be engaged to Daníel's former wife, and the connections don’t stop there…

Daníel and Áróra’s cases pit them both against ruthless criminals with horrifying agendas, while Áróra persists with her search for her missing sister, Ísafold, whose devastating disappearance continues to haunt her.

As the temperature drops and the 24-hour darkness and freezing snow hamper their efforts, their investigations become increasingly dangerous … for everyone.

White as Snow is published by Orenda Books and came out last Thursday.

 

My Review

This is the third book in the An Árora Investigation series, following Cold as Hell and Red as Blood. Having initially come to Iceland reluctantly, Árora is now much more settled, has bought a flat and has income from the financial fraud cases she takes on. And her search for Ísafold continues. Here she takes a case for policeman Daníel's ex wife where she comes across a face from the past and she also finds connections with the truly awful case that Danel is working on. An abandoned shipping container containing four read women and a fifth who is barely alive has been discovered.  And Árora and Daníel continue to dance around their feelings. 

I really like Árora. She's confident and forthright, except around Daníel, and dogged in her determination to find her sister but also to do a thorough job in her financial investigations. Elín is madly in love with a younger man who wants to marry her but she just isn't sure she can trust him, which is where Árora comes in. I really felt for Elín. She so wants to believe everything will be alright, that her doubts about her lover will prove unfoumded. Her emotions were all over the place, understandably, and I just wanted to give her a big hug! I'm not going to say too much about Bisi except that she had been through the emotional wringer and she put me through one too. There is an exquisitely written scene in the mortuary which is both touching and heartbreaking. 

And Daníel. Poor Daníel. He is haunted by the sight of the inside of the shipping container and we see him struggling with his emotions around it whilst working on the case. And juggling childcare as the kids are with him for a visit. To be fair most of the childcare is handled by his neighbour and tenant, drag queen Lady Gúgúlú. I absolutely adore her. She's kind, colourful, loving and ever so slightly bonkers. I'm sure she must be a lot of fun to write. 

The story is told from several viewpoints as the police case and Árora's investigation come together amid mounting tension, and fear some cases. The storyline is awful, horrifying and desperately sad but I know that similar happens in the real world. That makes this even more poignant. 

White is Snow is a well written tale of trafficking, deceit and betrayal, but there are also moments of acceptance, friendship and love amongst the horror. Beautifully developed characters and a real sense of injustice and anger go towards making this a cracking read. Looking forward to the next instalment already! 

The Author

Bestselling 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 ten crime novels, including Snare, Trap and Cage, making up the Reykjavík Noir trilogy, and her standalone thriller Betrayal, all of which have hit bestseller lists worldwide and been long- and shortlisted for multiple awards. The film rights for the Reykjavík Noir trilogy have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Cold as Hell, the first book in the An Áróra Investigation series, was published in the UK in 2021 and reprinted twice, and was followed by Red as Blood, a number-one digital bestseller. Lilja lives outside of Reykjavík with her partner and a brood of chickens.