Synopsis/blurb….
Snowed in with a couple of
psychopaths for the winter...
When two small-time crooks rob
Reykjavik's premier drugs dealer, hoping for a quick escape to the sun, their
plans start to unravel after their getaway driver fails to show. Tensions mount
between the pair and the two women they have grabbed as hostages when they find
themselves holed upcountry in an isolated hotel that has been mothballed for
the season.
Back in the capital, Gunnhildur,
Eiríkur and Helgi find themselves at a dead end investigating what appear to be
the unrelated disappearance of a mother, her daughter and their car during a
day's shopping, and the death of a thief in a house fire.
Gunna and her team are faced with a
set of riddles but as more people are quizzed it begins to emerge that all
these unrelated incidents are in fact linked. And at the same time, two
increasingly desperate lowlifes have no choice but to make some big decisions
on how to get rid of their accidental hostages...
A bit of
Scandinavian crime from Quentin Bates.
Thin Ice is the 5th full length novel featuring Officer
Gunnhilder, but my first time reading this author and series character.
A couple of
small-time lowlifes decide to rip-off the Icelandic capital’s biggest drug
dealer. All goes to plan, until it doesn’t! The
proverbial brown stuff hitting the fan about 2 minutes after stealing the cash!
No getaway driver.
Ossur and
Magni, our two hapless crims hijack a car with a mother and her adult daughter
and take off. Fleeing the capital they
take refuge at an isolated hotel out in the countryside.
Back in
Reykjavik, Alli the Cornershop has quickly tracked down the errant driver and
he’s been tortured and BBQ’d while our Sergeant Gunnhildur and her team start
probing the disappearance of the two women and soon after the murder of the hapless
crispy critter.
I really
liked large portions of the book, especially the tensions and friction between
the two crims and the two hostages, between one crim and another and between
mother and daughter. Within a short period of time Tinna our younger hostage is
getting down and dirty with Magni, the more gentlemanly and likeable of our
crooks. Is it still Stockholm syndrome if it takes place in Iceland?
Interesting to see how this affects the dynamics of the group and ultimately
how the whole story pans out. Magni was open, decent, likeable but a bit out of
his depth. Ossur was nasty, vicious and paranoid. Tinna was …hmm friendly and
feckless and a lot more. Mum was just annoying!
I kind of
felt the detective/policing element took a back seat to the hostage situation,
but it wasn’t something that disappointed me. I’d rather be reading about the
bad guys than the forces of light – they’re usually just a bit more
interesting.
We spend a
bit of time in the company of Gunnhildur and her family and have some inkling
of their history and old strife and tensions, some unresolved. I was kind of
confused at first, but I think it was the Icelandic names that were causing me
difficulties.
Gunnhildur
and her team persist in the investigation; catching a couple of breaks, another
corpse and close in on our pair of bandits; in addition to building a
case against Alli for the murder of the absent driver.
Interesting
twist at the end which I kind of saw coming.
Great
setting, great characters, great story – why haven’t I read this guy before?
4.5 from 5
Quentin Bates has his website here.
He's on Twitter - @graskeggur
Quentin was kind enough to appear on the blog a couple of months back when Thin Ice was fresh out and only just in my sweaty palms.
The Thin Ice Blog Tour post is here.
Thanks to Linda MacFadyen for hooking us up with Quentin and his book.
Read in March, 2016
Yeah, pretty much my take on it. The police procedural stuff is fine but the crooks and the kidnapping story is fantastic. I loved those characters - loved the ending too.
ReplyDeleteNice to see we're in agreement on this one. I'm tempted to try another book by Quentin, - I reckon I have something, but kind of wonder if this one was a bit of a departure and the rest are standard "PP" fare. I wouldn't mind seeing a Manni and Tinna reunion!
DeleteOk, I've heard of this author without reading him, or even being that bothered. A few more reviews like this and he might get on the list.
ReplyDeleteFair enough Moira. There was a lot you might like here, I reckon.
DeleteIt's certainly time for me to read a book or two by Quentin Bates. Like the storyline of THIN ICE.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed it Prashant, check him out.
DeleteI definitely plan to read more in this series. Have books 2 and 3 to read.
ReplyDeleteI have one more I think, but title and series number escapes me for now. I'll be interested to see if its a more traditional police procedural or a bit off-beat like this one, focusing a lot on the criminal elements.
Delete