With rights sold in 14 countries, Cold as Hell is the first in the riveting, atmospheric and beautifully plotted five-book series An Áróra Investigation, from one of Iceland’s bestselling crime writers.
Estranged sisters Áróra and Ísafold live in different countries, and are not on speaking terms. When their mother loses contact with Ísafold, Áróra reluctantly returns to Iceland to look for her. But she soon realizes that her sister isn’t avoiding her … she has disappeared, without a trace.
As she confronts Ísafold’s abusive, drug-dealing boyfriend Björn, and begins to probe her sister ’s reclusive neighbours – who have their own reasons for staying out of sight – Áróra is drawn into an ever-darker web of intrigue and manipulation.
Baffled by the conflicting details of her sister ’s life, and blinded by the shiveringly bright midnight sun of the Icelandic summer, Áróra enlists the help of police officer Daníel, to help her track her sister ’s movements, and tail Björn. But she isn’t the only one watching…
My Review
Thanks to Anne for organising this tour and to Karen at Orenda for sending me a physical copy. They’re always very accommodating with my e-book reading problems at Orenda.
Isafold is a brat who bullies her little sister as a child and doesn’t listen or thank her for all the times Arora has saved her from something horrible, and the is a total bitch when Arora refuses to go running to help. And their mum doesn’t help, refusing to believe Isafold ever does anything wrong or that Arora might have a good reason for being reluctant to help.
When Isafold is out of contact for three weeks, her mum gets worried and rings Arora. Reluctantly, Arora agrees to leave Edinburgh, where she has a successful business as a financial investigator, to go to Reykjavik and find her sister. She fully expects to find her at her brother-in-law’s, or a hospital, a neighbour, or a refuge, hiding from her abusive fiancé, Bjorn.
Except she doesn’t. The ex-husband of her father’s sister is a Detective. He volunteers to help. There’s a spark between Arora and Daniel, and they’re both really glad he’s not a blood relative (except it’s Iceland, so he probably is way back).
While she’s investigating her sister’s disappearance, she meets a man in a bar, Hakon. He’s hot and they both fall into bed after a few drinks. Arora regrets it in the morning when she realises he’s the hotel’s owner and a big financial criminal. Except, Arora smells a job and goes digging. The pay day will be worth it…
Meanwhile, Isafold’s former neighbours have their own troubles. One is hiding an asylum seeker who is wanted for deportation, and the other has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, is desperately in love with Isafold and hates Bjorn.
Oh my! I loved it! No, really, this book is amazing. I spent most of it thinking one person was the murderer, until I realised what had happened and then it was confirmed. I’m feeling very clever.
I enjoyed the characterisation of Arora, and the slow development of the plot. Her emotional changes over the novel, the relationships she forms and her reactions to the search for her sister are gripping. I really felt for her as she sew-sawed between anger and grief, as she slowly came to accept the inevitable. The final few paragraphs made me cry.
All the named characters are fabulous, actually. Their motives are never obvious, and the maternal relationship between Olga and Omar is particularly sweet. Grimur is an odd bod, but utterly fascinating. His perspective chapters were confusing at first, because I couldn’t work out how he related to everything, but then it started to make sense. He was a very cunning, but utterly caring, character. The misdirection about him was very good.
Overall, I thought this was an excellent novel, gripping and entertaining. My Saturday afternoon reading, totally worth not going to the allotment for.
ABOUT LILJA SIGURÐARDÓTTIR
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, her English debut shortlisting for the CWA International Dagger and hitting bestseller lists
worldwide. Trap soon followed suit, with the third in the trilogy Cage winning the Best Icelandic Crime Novel of the Year, and was a Guardian Book of the Year. Lilja’s standalone Betrayal, was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel. The film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja is also an award-winning screenwriter in her native Iceland. She lives in Reykjavík with her partner
Everything Is Better With Dragons 
Thanks for the blog tour support x