Thora Gudmundsdottir Book 6 - The Silence of the Sea

I read Scandinavian mysteries because they are less violent and more cerebral than most American mysteries. This book was exceedingly dark and had an unusual ending that left me pretty flat. I won't be reading any more by this author. Very depressing.

If you like thrillers and mysteries then you'll probably enjoy this - I certainly didn't work out what happened and it was a surprise to the very last page.
When luxury yacht, The Lady K, sails into Reykjavik, there's a few people waiting. The grandparents of a tiny tot, whose son, wife and twin daughters are on board. A young man on crutches who should've been part of the crew till he was injured ...
But like the Marie Celeste, it's empty and no one can work out where the family and the 3 man crew have gone.
The grandparents hire Thora Gudmansdottir to find out the truth - are their family really dead?
A complex plot juxtaposes a narrative of the voyage with Thora's ongoing investigations and keeps up the cliffhangers - just as some horror dawns on the ship, the reader is brought back to everyday life in Iceland.
Having said that, I did feel it went on a tad and too much horror starts to desensitize you to it, so was glad to reach the end. And I couldnt quite believe in the twins - or get why Thora didnt sack her awful, if characterful, secretary Bella.

Sigurdardottir delivers another entry in her series 'starring' Thora Gudmundsdottir that maintains all the trademark elements. An atmospheric bleakness that couples with a main character burdened with emotional baggage that is sometimes as weighing as the case she finds herself taking.

These elements often show up in Nordic procedural novels. And pretty much the rest of procedural novels.

What sets her apart for me is her prose. Smooth flowing and engaging. Those very elements of atmosphere becomes a star in itself. Instead of weighing the story down the landscape pushes it; heightens it. Her character of Thora for all her occasional angst is also fun. Witty and nicely self-deprecating. She is neither a hand wringer who gets tiresome in self-absorbed emotional malaise as some protagonists in these type of series often seem to for me, but also she has a nice slightly dark wit in moments of self-deprecation. Making her interesting and even funny at times. A nice counterpoint here in this entry as the author delves into this novel's mystery with a slow but pleasing heightening of really creepy unease. Now unease might sound mild but I think what works here is she takes what is a simple element of unease and plays on carefully throughout and weaves it in with more blatant and sharp elements of horror as the case unfolds. Also while at times it can seem odd her penchant for blending in the slight but resounding mythic/mystical/supernatural elements somehow works. Just touching slightly on the idea of the unexplained in ways that add to the story and not come off as a cheap way of resolving matters or hand waving some kind of solution to the mystery.

I look forward to yet another entry and often I can't say that this many novels into a crime/mystery series.

An abandoned yacht arrives in perfect condition in an Icelandic harbor with a missing family and crew. There is no evidence of a crime and the disappearance of the seven people on board is unexplainable. The story alternates between the investigation in the present, and the yacht’s passengers and crew during the voyage from Lisbon to Iceland. If you’re looking for a haunting read, and don’t mind some odd twists and inclusions, this is a worthwhile atmospheric suspense. Curiosity to discover how the mystery would unravel with so little to begin an investigation with, and have the answer to the disappearance resolved, kept me turning the pages.

A great introduction to Icelandic mysteries. A luxury yacht crashes into a Reyjavik pier. The yacht is unmanned, yet when it set sail from Lisbon is had a full crew and a family as passengers. The investigation covers land and sea, as well as rumors that the vessel was cursed. Bit by bit the fates of all aboard are revealed and the mystery is solved. The novel is a masterpiece of thrilling and suspenseful writing.

This was my first exposure to Yrsa Sigurdardottir. She is an excellent writer. Since then I've bought three other books she has written. I can't wait to receive them and begin reading.

The problem with a novel translated from one language to another is that for it to be as good as the original, the translator must be as good or almost as good as the author.
I have no idea how this novel read in the original Icelandic, but I found the dialog in the English version stilted, unnatural, and filled with odd-sounding cliches to the point where I soon became convinced that whoever penned the text I was reading was not a native speaker of English, nor was he or she someone with full command of the language.
I also found a number of the plot "twists" contrived and some quite implausible, and if the protagonist were so clever, why hadn't she figured out some of the things as soon or before I did?
That said, I must admit that the slow-moving, convoluted story line had me guessing who exactly had dunnit until just before the crescendo ending.

think film noir.think hitchcock. this must be the most cinematic book from this series. unlike most of thora's,the main caracter, past books this one is not so heavily centered in iceland and the main focus is in the sea with this surreal situation of a yacht which arrives empty and 7 people just vanished after a voyage from portugal to iceland. about half the book is set in the sea, in this voyage which begins sunny and becomes darker and darker until .......
for those who don't know the series, thora is a normal icelandic woman, a lawyer with a soul of a detective, a mother and grandmother, with an distant ex, living with a german man which sometimes helps her, but what stands more is her " normalcy" in contrast with the strange situations in which she gets involved
as usual very competent writing by the author's

The premise was good, but there are some issues with translation. This is not why the book lost stars though. It was too long and I had trouble with the main female character. I could not get any sense of her other than a lawyer investigating a missing persons case. I also hated the ending. It made me regret reading the book. I have to say that there were moments of brilliance and the suspense had me on the edge of my seat. I will definitely read more books by this author.

I purchased this book while on vacation in Reykjavik, Iceland. I had never read a book written by Yrsa Sigurdardottir before, so I didn't know what to expect. I don't want to give anything away about the plot, but I would like to say that I definitely did not see where she was going, or know the ending at all. I was not expecting this book to end the way it did. This is a great book, and I will certainly be reading more of her books.

Thriller set in present day Reykjavik, Iceland and on the high seas. Lawyer investigates a repossessed "ghost yacht" and the fate of its passengers, crew and former owners. More horror than mystery genre, and very disturbing, with an unsatisfying, anticlimactic ending

I thought this book was just ok. Despite the fact that I found the "empty ship" mystery intriguing, the plot moved slowly. Not very uplifting, but I guess I should have expected that, it being about a ship that shows up minus it's entire crew & passengers. Glad I got it at the library.

When a repossessed luxury yacht crashes into the harbour it is meant to be mooring at, the waiting friends and family members are horrified to find the yacht devoid of any crew or passengers. The captain and his two crew members as well as the family of 4 that were helping out on the voyage home are nowhere to be seen. Thóra Gudmundsdóttir is hired by the parents of the missing father of the family to investigate life policies left behind in order to pay for the upkeep of the remaining grandchild. As Thóra delves deeper into the case, bodies of the missing crew begin to pop up, all having been killed in mysterious circumstances. The yacht is supposedly cursed and each clue brings them closer to an unbelievable truth. Was it plain and simple murder or are there supernatural forces at work?

The book has a great hook from the beginning and the author very cleverly writes one chapter in present time showing you what the people are trying to do to solve the mystery, and the next chapter from the people on the yacht's perspective explaining to you the events leading up to the yacht being found empty. Every now and then the writing is a little stiff-doubtless the result of second language English, but this by no means detracts from the story. As you are pulled along you absorb the clues offered and sway between believing in ghosts and simple human greed. The clues are fed at a tantalising speed so that when you finish a chapter you feel you have to read just one more!

Thóra's character is extremely likeable as you can relate to a hard working woman who is dealing with a partner, growing children and a grandchild. Bella (Thóra's PA) is a piece of work-a disgraceful attitude and lazy to boot. You feel the anguish of the characters on board the boat as strange things start to happen that they have no control over and you understand the despair of the grandparents as they face the possibility that the entire family is gone and all they have are a 2 year-old's questions.

I thoroughly enjoyed the thriller. The explanation had me pursing my lips a little, but at least there was an ending and it wasn't left to the reader to fill in the gaps. The final chapter in the book is like a bucket of ice thrown over you-absolute shivers. Fantastic idea with great execution.

This required one to pay attention as the ending unfolded rapidly to tie up all the loose ends. I like how she weaves hints of the paranormal throughout a story, only to bring a human aspect to it. Her best to date.

ploughing through dreadful prose, only to hear the protagonist "explain" the mystery, was a complete waste of time. even the poor translation doesn't excuse the cliched characters and boring drawn out flashbacks