Sandbox

Red as Blood by Lilja Sigurdardottir and Quentin Bates (translator)
Buy Sandbox at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Thrillers
Reviewer: Ruth Ng
Summary: Loaded with characters in lots of short chapters, this is a quick and intriguing police procedural Icelandic crime story!
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 276	Date: October 2022
Publisher: Orenda Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 9781914585326
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When Flosi’s wife goes missing, all the evidence seems to point towards her having been kidnapped. The ransom note tells him not to have any contact with the police, so instead he enlists the help of Arora, a financial investigator. She manages to persuade Flosi that they will need the help of the police, and she calls her detective friend, Daniel, whom she met when he was investigating her sister’s disappearance. Together, they start to secretly investigate Gudrun’s disappearance, trying not to arouse the suspicion of anyone, since they have no idea who the kidnappers might be, yet the more they uncover, the more confusing things become.

This is the second book about Arora, but although I haven’t read the first one, I settled fairly easily into the story. The only thing I found initially confusing was how much the book seemed to be about multiple other people than Arora, especially Daniel who I just assumed initially, being the police detective, was going to be the central character. Actually, as you read, there doesn’t feel like just one central character and the story moves around from one to another. Once I got used to that, I felt it added to the web and weave of the plot, moving things along quickly and creating a real sense of intrigue. The short chapters also keep the book going at quite a pace, and they are a terrible temptation to read just one more, and then just one more again! It isn’t a difficult read, and I think the translation must be well done as it seemed to flow, and didn’t feel awkward as I read.

The range of characters is broad, including a lesbian police detective, and I enjoyed the police procedural aspect, especially when the police were having to work hard to stay completely undercover, so that no one would suspect Flosi had called them in to help find his wife. I wasn’t always sure I liked Arora as I read, nor did I really understand her purpose in the story, but I think she grew on me as the book went along and as the financial questions loom larger, her role seemed more important. There are twists and turns as you read, and although I’d had a small suspicion of what might be going on, I did get a surprise at one point, and I enjoyed the growing tensions in the story.

I hadn’t read any Icelandic fiction before, and it was an interesting style to read. I suppose it sits with the Scandi/Nordic Noir genre, though it didn’t feel quite as bleak to me as that sometimes can be. The book did leave me slightly unsettled however, and with things still up in the air. The bulk of the case is solved at least, but Arora still hasn’t found her missing sister, so I imagine there will be another book in this series, if not more. It was a good, engaging read, and the quick chapters make it perfect as a pick-up and put-down story for the beach.

You might also enjoy another Icelandic writer I Remember You by Yrsa Sigurdardottir or this Nordic Noir book Bitter Flowers by Gunnar Staalesen.

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