On my blog today, I’m sharing my thoughts on the new novel in the Forbidden Iceland series, Boys Who Hurt by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir. With thanks to Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me to take part.
BLURB
Fresh from maternity leave, Detective Elma finds herself confronted with a complex case, when a man is found murdered in a holiday cottage in the depths of the Icelandic countryside – the victim of a frenzied knife attack, with a shocking message scrawled on the wall above him.
At home with their baby daughter, Sævar is finding it hard to let go of work, until the chance discovery in a discarded box provides him with a distraction. Could the diary of a young boy, detailing the events of a long-ago summer have a bearing on Elma’s case?
Once again, the team at West Iceland CID have to contend with local secrets in the small town of Akranes, where someone has a vested interest in preventing the truth from coming to light. And Sævar has secrets of his own that threaten to destroy his and Elma’s newfound happiness.
MY THOUGHTS
Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is back with her latest book Boys Who Hurt and it is another fantastic addition in the brilliant Forbidden Iceland series which has definitely become one of my favourites in crime fiction. Detective Elma is returning to work after her maternity leave and as she is welcomed back by her team, the body of a man named Thorgeir is discovered, and this proves to be quite a complex case, especially as Thorgeir has been killed in such a brutal and shocking way. As Elma and her team investigate, it becomes clear that what has happened has links to events that happened in the Thorgeir’s past, but who would want him dead?
I really liked how Eva told part of the novel from the days leading up to the Thorgeir’s death. It adds a real sense of tension, as we know how his story is going to end, but I wanted to find out what was going on in his life beforehand, and Eva does an excellent job of delving into what his state of mind was like in the days leading up to his death. It was really fascinating and intriguing seeing the build-up, and Eva begins to paint a picture of what he was like as a person and there are certainly a few people who have strong opinions of him. As the police investigation also continues, we begin to find out just what sort of a man Thorgeir was, and there are some chilling revelations along the way, particularly in relation to events that took place at a Christian camp in the 1990s.
The book is really pacy and it grips you from the first page. I loved the short chapters as this, for me, really helped to add to the tension and it kept me turning the pages. I loved the scenes featuring Elma and her team as they try to advance the investigation, and seeing the scenes showing Elma as a new parent with her partner Sævar, but I also liked the scenes when Eva takes us back in time. I wanted to understand more about what had happened in the past at the camp and this creates a chilling atmosphere.
The characters in this book are so compelling and I read this book really fast. Eva does a brilliant job of making us want to find out more about her characters. Boys Who Hurt is a dark, and an utterly gripping read. I love this series and I can’t wait to see what Eva has in store for us next.
Publisher: Orenda Books
Publication date: 20th June 2024
Print length: 393 pages
Boys Who Hurt is available to buy:
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