The Island

A Thriller

By: Ragnar Jónasson

Narrated by: Amanda Redman

"Narrator Amanda Redman gives an adept performance as she takes on the various characters in this Icelandic thriller." — AudioFile Magazine

The newest superstar on the Icelandic crime fiction scene has arrived with a superb followup to The Darkness.

Shortlisted for the Crime Novel of the Year Award in Iceland
Third Place, Novel of the Year Award 2016 in Iceland, selected by booksellers
One of the bestselling novels in Iceland in 2016

Autumn of 1987 takes a young couple on a romantic trip in the Westfjords holiday—a trip that gets an unexpected ending and has catastrophic consequences.

Ten years later a small group of friends go for a weekend in an old hunting lodge in Elliðaey. A place completely cut off from the outside world, to reconnect. But one of them isn't going to make it out alive. And Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is determined to find the truth in the darkness.

Ragnar Jónasson burst onto the American scene with Snowblind and Nightblind, the first two novels in the Ari Thor thriller series, and the praise was overwhelming. With The Darkness, he launched a new series featuring a completely new sleuth, Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir of the Reykjavik Police department. The Island is the second audiobook in this series.

Confused

I concur with Tara’s review: why was the protagonist killed in the first book of the series, only to be well and alive in the second? I found the first book to be confusing and disappointing — the second even more so. The author shows promise, but not really good, yet.

Meh.

Not much there, there. Both slow-paced and lacking in detail, somehow. Characters make choices that don’t seem to align with their character. Plot holes galore. Lots of build up for very little payoff. I liked listening to a story set in Iceland, but the rest was very mediocre. I doubt I’ll bother with the other two books.

HATED IT!

I bought in in hopes of learning SOMETHING about the ending of the first book. NOPE. Learned about how she solved a 20 y/o case. probably not a good idea to kill off the main character in the first book of the series. Sorry about the spoiler but don't want another avid reader to be sucked in and end up totally frustrated.

Outstanding

This is one of the best, most uniquely well written mysteries I’ve ever read.
Each and every character is so well developed it’s as if you can see them standing in front of you.
Only Ragnar Jónasson has perfected the art of combining atmospheric mystery/police procedural/hints of the paranormal in this clever and brutal way.
This trilogy is utterly perfect.
The writing is further enhanced by the incredible Amanda Redman, who manages to portray a twenty something Icelandic girl, or a seventy something southern American man with equal precision.
This is a wonderful, creepy, interesting, and beautifully written book.
Best series in my library, hands down…

Beautiful setting

Way too many plot-holes. It's a wonderful place to stage a mystery though, and I gave it as much room as I could. The narrator does a good job.