The tone of Siguroardottir's series so far is one of Bridget Jones meets Harry Hole. Not surprisingly, it doesn't work all that well. Thora is the kind of flighty personality that would be right at home in the chicklit genre. I appreciate that she isn't a dark, damaged character - in fact, after going through series like Wallander and Harry Hole, I welcomed that kind of change - but I think the author wants us to read these books as being more 'serious' than they actually are. Siguroardottir certainly has made the effort over the course of the series to incorporate the usual suspects: ritualistic murders, serial killers with odd signature devices (pins in the soles of the victim's feet, in this particular book), a sometimes moody atmosphere, that sort of thing. But Thora just doesn't fit into that atmosphere. Her casualness and sometimes downright silliness prevents the reader from getting into any sort of headspace that would treat the overall mystery with any sort of seriousness. It's not that Thora is a 'bad' character or poorly written. I think she's kind of a hoot, to be honest, but I can't get over the fact that, as a character, she just sticks out like a sore thumb in these books. I have no idea why she takes on these investigative roles - she's not a detective, nor is she even a criminal lawyer. I can see becoming involved in something unexpectedly but she deliberately puts her nose into the case. And while I don't expect the author to slavishly adhere to actual police procedure or techniques (I mean, I'm more than willing to allow some measure of handwaving and artistic license, much like I do when watching these sorts of things on TV), Thora often does things that just have you shaking your head, like searching the victim's room in this book before the police even get there. She had no reason at all to insert herself into what happened, much less take an action that could have serious repercussions on the integrity of the police investigation, and yet she does it. Her erstwhile boyfriend, Matthew, himself a former detective, seems more than willing to let these sorts of things go with hardly a word, as long as he's able to find somewhere to eat (honestly, he's basically in the romcom's 'best friend' role here. I kept waiting for him to start complaining about feeling bloated and the lack of anywhere to get a decent cappuccino).At least in this book the author has made more of an effort to create some element of suspense by having scenes where some of her cast of characters seem to have a connection to the events and history of the area, and she also parcels out scenes where Thora gets information from some source (a book, a box of photographs, some other person). Previously Thora - and by extension the reader - would be moved through through the story by long expositions between characters about what was going on. At least this time Siguroadottir breaks those sorts of scenes into smaller chunks but I still thought there was an awful lot of dialog and not a lot of effort on the part of Thora when she's trying to find out what's going on. Siguroardottir's series wobbles between a few genres: it's a generous helping of the cozy and chicklit, with a sprinkle of dark murder mystery to ground it all. For me, the books are neither good nor bad - certainly her writing is solid, if not particularly creative or inventive - but they're just not very interesting to me. I think if she committed to the lighter side of things I'd be more on board. As it is now, it's too much 'trying to have it all' and it's just not working for me. It seems that Thóra is able to get quite a lot of things done in a single day! For half the book I actually couldn't believe that she'd be able to squeeze even half of everything. Second, while I do understand that Matthew represents a benign love interest that makes a good sidekick, the description of his character does not match his actions. Third, perhaps I was raised with parents who cared too much but I feel bad for Thóra's kids... neither parent is ever there or listening to them. Finally, do people in Iceland always make long rambling speeches, given all the specific details possible, to some random lawyer when she accuses them? Brenda's little speech at the end there, I had trouble swallowing it.
What do You think about Ladrão De Almas (2006)?
I do like this author. She gives a good sense of place in describing Iceland and it's people.
—AlanTsai
Interesting and engaging characters. Interesting read about life in Iceland.
—varsha
Very good. Couldn't figure the villian until the very end
—cvihfv
nicely thorough, smoothly written...and a bit creepy!
—Marouane
a little slow but enjoyed reading it
—vassinaelena
