3.5 Stars
This psychological suspense novel is set in Iceland.
In 2018 Unnur is a single mother to seven-year-old Lilja. She lives a quiet life in Reykjavík, but she is haunted by what happened when she was eleven years old and living in the remote Dark Valley. There she befriended Freyja who mysteriously vanished one night. Unnur has only fragments of memories of what happened that night so she worries that she might have been somehow responsible for Freyja’s disappearance.
When Unnur’s ex-husband returns to Iceland, he is accompanied by a new girlfriend Lóa who seems to know a lot about Unnur’s past. Lóa is a detective who opens a cold case investigation into Freyja’s disappearance so Unnur is desperate to recover her memories of what happened almost three decades earlier. If she is implicated in Freyja’s presumed death, Lilja would be taken from her.
The chapters alternate between the past (1990-1991) set in southern Iceland and the present (2028) set in both Reykjavík and Dark Valley. Unnur is the narrator, but, as she admits, she is an unreliable one because of her broken memories. Also there is much she did not understand when she was a pre-teen.
Unnur’s love for Lilja is her outstanding trait; she will do anything to keep her daughter safe. There are times, however, where her behaviour is rather strange. She commits a crime to take back a possession that means a great deal to her. Considering the nature of the crime, it’s impossible that her guilt will not be discovered. And if this item means so much to her, why didn’t she get it earlier? She had ample time and could easily have acquired it without committing a crime. (And how did the thief who stole this item know about its importance to Unnur?) Why doesn’t Unnur tell Geir the truth when he’s so open to hearing her story? Instead she confides in Pétur, a man she’s just met? She leaves her key in her car and doesn’t shut the door?
The behaviour of the villain is far-fetched. I’ve heard about playing the long game, but the amount of patience and strategic planning required are unbelievable. Naming a child after a hated person makes no sense. And Nói’s obliviousness seems extreme.
The plot relies too much on coincidence. A novel based on Freyja’s story has just been published, a journalist becomes interested in the case, and Lóa returns to Iceland, all at virtually the same time. Then there’s the timing of the meeting between Elias and Palli. The revelations are timed just too perfectly. Unnur strokes the image on a photo and her memories return?
The novel examines memory and how unreliable it can be. Certainly memories of traumatic events can be buried so Unnur’s fragmented memories make sense. However, her having no memory whatsoever of one person seems strange, especially because she does remember a visit to the church in Dark Valley.
I fell in love with Iceland when I visited a few years ago, so I loved the descriptions of the setting. Of course, when I read about the black sand beach of Dark Valley, I pictured Reynisfjara with its cave, basalt columns, sea stacks, and the dangerous sneaker waves.
This book has some typical weaknesses of a debut novel, but it is entertaining nonetheless. I will be on the lookout for the author’s next offering.
Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.
