Review of GIRLS WHO LIE by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

 4 Stars

Having read and been very impressed with The Creak on the Stairs, the first in the Forbidden Iceland series, I was anxious to read the second installment, Girls Who Lie.  It did not disappoint.

Seven months after her disappearance, the body of Maríanna is found.  A troubled single mother, she was thought to have committed suicide, leaving behind her 15-year-old daughter Hekla who seems to have settled happily into her foster home.  It soon becomes clear, however, that Maríanna did not abandon her daughter but was brutally murdered.  Elma, along with Sævar and Hörður, her CID colleagues in Akranes, investigates, and the number of suspects grows, especially because, as the title suggests, people are not always honest.

Interspersed periodically in the present-time case investigation are diary-like confessional entries written by an unknown woman.  These first-person passages cover a number of years, beginning fifteen years earlier when she is suffering with post-partum depression.  As her daughter grows up, the single mother has difficulty bonding with her child who behaves differently than other children.  These sections are heartbreaking and disturbing at the same time.  For me, much of the interest in the book lay in trying to find the connection between these events in the past and Maríanna’s death. 

I appreciated seeing some growth in Elma.  Her intelligence and determination are again evident but so is the fact that she is gradually recovering from the trauma that brought her back to Akranes.  She is happy in her job, has become accustomed to the smallness of her old hometown, and has developed comfortable working relationships and friendships with colleagues. 

The novel touches on a number of difficult issues such as psychological manipulation, childhood neglect, suicide, teenage pregnancy, post-partum depression, sexual orientation, and bullying.  All are covered sensitively.  Certainly some of these traumatic events explain the behaviour of characters. 

The narrative is very cleverly plotted.  One bit of misdirection left me stunned; I made assumptions which I was intended to make but should not have.  I didn’t always question inconsistencies and that is my failing as a reader because the author does not cheat.  Though there are ample red herrings, all the clues are also there, so that the case’s resolution is satisfying.

As does the first book in the series, this one establishes a real sense of place.  Anyone who has visited Iceland will recognize the descriptions of setting.  I know little about the Icelandic justice system, so enjoyed learning about the country’s treatment of minors.

I highly recommend this police procedural.  With its intricate plotting and engaging protagonist, this is an accomplished novel that maintains the reader’s interest throughout.