You Can't See Me (Forbidden Iceland) by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

 

You Can't See Me (Forbidden Iceland) by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir.

Translated by Victoria Cribb.

Published 6th July 2023 by Orenda Books.

From the cover of the book:

The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland's remote Snæfellsnes peninsula.

Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Ageing carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he's the boyfriend of Petra's aunt, but he's struggling to avoid alcohol because he knows what happens when he drinks … Humble hotel employee, Irma, is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters … perhaps too close…

As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark.

But is the real danger inside … within the family itself?

Masterfully cranking up the suspense, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir draws us into an isolated, frozen setting, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted, as the dark secrets and painful pasts of the Snæberg family are uncovered … and the shocking truth revealed.

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The rich and powerful Snæberg family are gathering for a reunion at a brand new, ultra-modern hotel set amongst the stark beauty of the lava fields on the Snæfellsnes peninsula. It has been many years since they were all together, and this event has stirred up a lot of attention in the media, and among their gossip hungry fans on social media.

The weekend promises to be difficult for more than one member of the Snæberg clan, and as the alcohol begins to flow their forced intimacy causes the cracks in the apparently perfect family facade to start to show.

As the weather outside begins to worsen, one of the guests goes missing. Danger lurks in this remote location, but does it come from someone outside who wants what they have, or from within?

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is rapidly making her name as the Icelandic Agatha Christie, and in this deliciously wrought prequel to her knockout Forbidden Iceland series it is easy to see why. The story is told with a compelling multi-person narrative through the eyes of successful interior designer Petra Snæberg, struggling with career, marriage, and motherhood; her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social media presence feeds the wrong kind of attention; outsider Tryggvi, the boyfriend of Pertra's aunt, who is considered to be from the wrong side of the tracks; and hotel employee Irma, who is rather more interested in the goings on within this family than is healthy. Their separate voices carry you through the tension-filled weekend, moving back and forth between the events of the weekend at the avant-garde hotel, interspersed by a police investigation into the inevitable tragedy that results, led by familiar faces from the Forbidden Iceland series Detectives Sævar and Hörður.

Like Christie, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir keeps her intentions very close to the chest, keeping secret the identity of the victim until well into the story. The threads contort as the characters gradually reveal a complex web of secrets that lie beneath their carefully fashioned glossy lives, providing fertile ground for a veritable feast of red herrings to keep you guessing in style. The suspense builds beautifully, and the reveals drop with perfect timing, carrying the plot forward to the glorious moment when the twist and twist again ending plays out in a cracking bit of storytelling on the blizzard-lashed lava field.

There is theme upon fabulous theme running through this first-class mystery tale, and Eva Björg Ægisdóttir uses her characters to explore them superbly. The darker emotions of jealousy, desire, guilt and revenge are here in abundance, motivating the characters to resort to the kind of desperate acts that drive the best crime stories. But she also touches on so much more around the ideas of image, expectation, and exposure; mental health and the toll of unresolved trauma; the influence of social media; technology and innovation; and notions of 'them' and 'us'. A word here in praise of the translator Victoria Cribb for clearly preserving every gripping moment of action, every nuance of the narrative, and the impact of the overall story in the way the author intended. Sterling work!

And if you are in search of a writer who knows how to use location and weather, and sinister echoes of folklore and ghost stories, to enhance scenes and plot twists then I bring you Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, who does this splendidly throughout this highly entertaining novel.

I devoured this book from cover to cover. If Nordic noir is your bag, then you are in for a treat!

You Can't See Me is available to buy now in multiple formats. You can support the best in indie publishing by buying direct from Orenda Books HERE.

Thank you to Orenda Books for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review, and to Random Things Tours for inviting me to be part of this blog tour.

About the author:

Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland to write her first novel. Combining writing with work as a stewardess and caring for her children, 

Eva finished her debut thriller The Creak on the Stairs, which was published in 2018. It became a bestseller in Iceland, going on to win the Blackbird Award. Published in English by Orenda Books in 2020, it became a digital number-one betseller in three countries, was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Awards in two categories and won the CWA John Creasey Dagger in 2021. Girls Who Lie, the second book in the Forbidden Iceland series was shortlisted for the Petrona Award and the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger, and Night Shadows followed suit.

With over 200,000 copies sold in English alone, Eva has become one of Iceland’s – and crime-fiction’s – most highly regarded authors. She lives in Reyjavik with her husband and three children.