Why a Booktrail?
Early 2000s: The northern most town in Iceland, one where the snow cuts off from the outside world, one where a rookie cop is about to find there are a lot of secrets buried under that snow…
Snowblind
What you need to know before your trail
Siglufjörður, Northern Iceland, where no one locks their doors. It’s a small and quiet little place made to look even prettier when the snow falls and the landscape becomes one of still beauty.
But the mountain tunnel which connects it to reality is often blocked off by landslides. And when that tunnel is blocked, no one can get in or out.
And when a body is found in the snow, and a man is found dead at a local theatre, there may be those who want to escape…..justice.
The rookie cop from Reykjavik is overcome with the 24 hour darkness, the tightly knit community is darker still. Curtains twitch and the trees bristle in the wind but silence ensues..
Silence which needs to be broken. But wait,what are those screams?
Travel Guide
“The red stain was like a scream in the silence.”
“The snow covered ground was so white that it had almost banished the winter night’s darkness elemental in its purity”
Welcome to Siglufjörður, a quiet fishing village in the northern most part of Iceland where snow is as much a character as everyone else. Where a comforting light ay illuminate the immediate space but where the gloom envelops and smothers before the scream has even been formed from the depths of your throat. Closer to the Arctic Circle than Reykjavik, this is a chillingly desolate landscape.
This is a community closed off in many ways – and not just because of the tunnel which connects it to civilization. The people here are secretive and they have lived here for centuries, entire families have their roots here and a fierce level of protection surrounds them.
“The ring of mountains protecting the town was almost entirely white that night and the highest peaks could just be glimpsed.”
Ari Thór Arason: a rookie policeman is on his first posting, far from his girlfriend in Reykjavik. A woman’s body is found by a child who sees a ‘snow angel’ but there is no child innocence and honesty found elsewhere – secrets and lies are deeper than any snowfall or avalanche.
Those who live here talk about you behind your back, a small local amateur dramatics group are blurring the line between what goes on the stage and what happens behind the scenes..
Ari is the only outsider, well Ugla is from Patreksfsfjordur but it’s as if Siglufjörður is a mask over her mouth.
Silence and snow reign and woe betide anyone who tries to fight the snowblind.
Trail Gallery
Booktrailer Review
Susan:
Dark Iceland? This man not only invented it, he rules it. This is one of the most exciting places I’ve read about – a real place whilst also being a real setting of intrigue with snowy landscapes, a town cut off by the elements, the isolation of hight mountains and a community cut off in every which way they can be.
From the opening page, the tension and chilling horror is there. The idyllic snow angel image is no longer full of childhood innocence and the snow blind of the title covers your eyes with white flurries and clouds of mis which shrouds the mystery and intrigue
God I felt cold reading this, wondering like Ari just who the hell I could believe. And that drama group was not even innocent here! Characters were well formed and you got the sense of isolation, history and dark secrets from the past.
Weaving in and out of secrets from one person to another, from one place to another it was a dark and twisty tale which made me doubt everyone I came across. the rookie policeman was the ideal insight into such a hidden community.
A brilliant debut from an author with Icelandic piercing eyes. Can not wait to go back there. But I might need to hold someone’s hand when I do…
Booktrail Boarding Pass Information:
Twitter: @ragnarjo
Web: ragnarjonasson.com
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