Snare
"This dark, tension-packed debut novel is a sure fire hit."
Synopsis:
After a messy divorce, attractive young mother Sonja is struggling to provide for herself and win full custody of her son. With her back to the wall, she resorts to smuggling cocaine into Iceland, and finds herself caught up in a ruthless criminal world. As she desperately looks for a way out of trouble, she must pit her wits against her nemesis, Bragi, a customs officer whose years of experience frustrate her new and evermore daring strategies.
Things are even more complicated by the fact that Sonja is in a relationship with a woman, Agla. Once a high-level bank executive, Agla is currently being prosecuted in the aftermath of the Icelandic financial crash.
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Review:
'Snare' is the first part of the Reykjavik Noir Trilogy and if parts two and three are anything like part one then this has the hallmarks are being one of the best crime writing trilogies of all time. Sigurðardóttir has created a wonderful trio of characters in Sonja, Agla and Bragi. All are richly drawn, spectacularly flawed and although they come into conflict with each other, we want them all to succeed. The level of detail and research that has gone into 'Snare' shows what a class act Sigurðardóttir is. This almost reads like a true life story as we can the minutiae of illegal drug shipments but it's wrapped up in thrilling entertainment. She can write in one paragraph what most writers need a whole page to say. 'Snare' is a delight to read. At one point I thought I knew how it was going to end and was happy with my guesswork but Lilja pulled the rug out from under me with a delightful twist I did not see coming and delivered an even more dramatic ending than I hoped for. This dark, tension-packed debut novel is a sure fire hit. Take a bow Lilja.