Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Aske (2009)

Denne islandske spændingsroman er den tredje i serien om Thóra Gudmundsdóttir.

En prolog bruges somme tider til at sløre, at der ikke sker så meget i de første kapitler, men i Aske lægger forfatteren ud med et voldsomt mord. I kapitel et er der yderligere spænding plus en regulær cliff-hanger, og i kapitel to ruller hovederne for alvor. Læseren bliver fanget fra første side, men til trods for alvoren er der en dejlig, ironisk tone over sagføreren Thóra Gudmundsdóttir og hendes undersøgelse af den usædvanlige sag.

En kort præsentation af det spegede plot: Thóra repræsenterer Markús, en klient som insisterer på at få adgang til sit barndomshjem i Vestmanna, før arkæologer giver sig til at kortlægge ´Nordens Pompei´ efter vulkanudbruddet i 1973. Han får lov at fjerne en kasse fra kælderen, men da Thóra, Markús og arkæologen omsider står i huset, opstår en uventet komplikation: ud over det menneskehoved, Markús havde håbet på at smugle ud, ligger der ligene af tre mænd. Så nu er hans eneste chance, at barndomsveninden Alda vil bekræfte, at hun bad ham om at opbevare kassen, da alle indbyggerne måtte flygte fra Vestmanna.

Denne roman på fire hundrede sider føles meget kortere, fordi Thóra som sædvanlig flyver af sted i højt gear, travlt optaget af sin sag og sit komplicerede privatliv med børn, svigerdatter og barnebarn. Der er ikke meget tid til hendes langdistancekæreste Matthew denne gang, men da han overvejer at flytte til Island, hører vi måske mere til ham i fremtiden. Til gengæld træder advokatkontorets umulige sekretær, Bella, mere i karakter denne gang som en person, der har andet end tværhed og sit kiksede udseende at byde på.

Jeg kunne lide forfatterens debut, jeg var begejstret for tooeren, og treeren er ikke bare hæsblæsende spændende - den giver også et fascinerende indblik i følgerne af vulkanudbruddet i 1973, en naturkatastrofe som på fornemste vis væves sammen med et kompliceret krimiplot. Fem-stjernet spænding, lånt på biblioteket.

Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Ashes to Dust (2010).
This Icelandic thriller is the third story about the lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdottir.

Sometimes a prologue is used to hide the fact that nothing much happens in the first chapters, but here the author serves up a violent murder, followed by escalating excitement in the first chapter, and in the second chapter heads begin to roll quite literally. The reader is captured from page one, but despite the serious and unusual case, there is a fine, ironic tone and not nearly as much gore as one might fear.

A short introduction to the intricate plot: Thóra is hired by Markús, a client who insists on getting access to his childhood home in Vestmanna before the archaeologists begin to map the Nordic Pompeii after the volcano eruption in 1973. He is allowed to remove a box from the basement, but when Thóra, Markús and the archaeologist can finally enter the house, an unexpected complication arises. Apart from the human head Markús had hoped to smuggle out, he finds the bodies of three men on the floor. Now his only hope is that his childhood friend Alda will confirm that she asked him to store the box for him when everybody had to escape from Vestmanna in the middle of the night.

This novel of four hundred pages felt considerably shorter because Thóra darts off at maximum speed, busy with her case and her complicated private menagerie with children, daughter-in-law and grandchild. There is not much time left for her long-distance relationship with the German Matthew in this volume, but as he is considering moving to Iceland, we may hear more of him in the future. Thóra´s hopeless secretary, Bella, plays a more central role this time, however, and we begin to see her as more than just a snarky failure.

I liked Yrsa Sigurdardottir´s debut, I enjoyed the second very much, and the third one is not only a fast-paced thriller - it also offers a fascinating insight into the consequences of the volcano eruption. Five-star excitement!

I borrowed the book in the local library.
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Yrsa Sigurdardottir, My Soul to Take (2008)

This is the second novel in the Icelandic Thóra Gudmundsdottir series. I read it in English because my generous friend Maxine offered to send it to me.

Sometimes a writer comes up with a fine or promising debut, but cannot really live up to the readers´ expectation with the sequel. This one is different. The debut was really promising, but My Soul to Take is absolutely unputdownable! Five stars, nothing less will do. I won´t even try to write the review it deserves, just give you five reasons to read it.

First of all the English translation by Bernard Scudder and Anna Yates is of very hig standard. One sentence I really enjoyed was when Thóra ran into a tiresome man at war with the postal services. Afterwards her colleagues says: “This man phoned while the letterboxers were with you.”

Second, though the prologue is terrifying [bait # 71], it is also an excellent hook. Besides it makes a difference to me that these atrocities to a little child go back more than sixty ears.

Third, the environment, a remote part of Iceland with a modern (well, newly-built at least) health resort, a few farms and an old church was immensely appealing.

Fourth, the main characters were all credible and nuanced, especially the lawyer Thóra who is doing her best to keep her client Jónas, owner of the healt resort, out of prison when the police suspect him of having killed his bitchy architect. Jonas is just as credible, but also annoying, as he does his best to incriminate himself in his naive belief that his lawyer will save him no matter how silly he behaves.

An impression of the characters, the local beliefs and the sense of humour:

“Thóra interrupted him [Jónas]. ´Can you describe this “haunting” for me, please?´
´There´s just a horrible atmosphere in the house. Also, things go missing, strange noises are heard in the middle of the night, and people have seen a child appear out of nowhere.´
´So?´ Thóra asked. That was nothing special. In her household, things always went missing, particularly the car keys, there were noises day and night, and children appeared out of nowhere all the time.”

Fifth, the plot is of very high standard. The modern murder story is fine, but for me the most intriguing thread was the old story about the little girl who disappeared without a trace in 1945. And did I guess who did it? Nope. It was not even one of my two candidates.

Yrsa Sigurdardottier, Den der gravede en grav (2007)
Bogen er den anden i den islandske serie om Thóra Gudmundsdottir. Jeg læste den på engelsk, fordi min gavmilde ven Maxine sendte den til mig.

Af og til skriver en forfatter en flot eller lovende debut, men kan ikke rigtigt leve op til læserens forventninger i efterfølgende bog. Her er det modsat. Debuten var lovende, men Den der gravede en grav, kan man slet ikke lægge fra sig. Mindre end fem stjerner kan absolut ikke gøre det. Jeg vil ikke engang prøve at skrive den anmeldelse, bogen fortjener, bare give fem gode grunde til at læse den.

For det første er den engelske oversættelse ved Bernard Scudder og Anna Yates fremragende. Et underholdende eksempel er da Thóra render ind i en trættekær mand som slås med postvæsenet om placeringen af sin brevsprække. Bagefter siger hendes kollega: “This man phoned while the letterboxers were with you.”

For det andet: selv om prologen er skræmmende, er det også en fremragende madding. Desuden gør det en forskel for mig, at den nævnte grusomhed mod et lille barn går mere end tres år tilbage.

For det tredje appellerede miljøet stærkt til mig, et øde område i Island med et moderne (eller i hvert fald nyopført) helsehotel, nogle få gårde og en gammel kirke.

For det fjerde var hovedpersonerne alle troværdige og nuancerede, især advokaten Thóra, som gør sit bedste for at holde klienten Jónas, ejer af helsehotellet, ude af fængslet, da politiet mistænker ham for at have myrdet sin stride arkitekt. Jónas er lige så troværdig, men også irriterende, mens han fjumrer rundt og gør sig mistænkelig i sin naive tro på, at hans advokat kan holde ham ude af fængslet, uanset hvor tåbeligt, han opfører sig.

Et lille indblik i personerne, den lokale overtro og den humoristiske tone:

“Thóra afbrød ham [Jónas]. ´Kan du beskrive den ´spøgen´ for mig?´
´Der er bare en frygtelig atmosfære i huset. Og så forsvinder ting, der er sære lyde midt om natten, og folk har set et barn dukke op ud af den blå luft.´
´Og hvad så?´ spurgte Thóra. Det var da ikke noget særligt. I hendes hjem forsvandt ting hele tiden, især bilnøglerne, der var sære lyde dag og nat, og børn dukkede op ud af den blå luft hele tiden.”

For det femte er plottet af høj standard. Den moderne morderhistorie er fin, men for mig var den mest interessante tråd den gamle historie om den lille pige, som forsvandt sporløst i 1945. Og kunne jeg gætte, hvem der gjorde det? Nix. Det var ikke engang en af mine to mulige kandidater.

Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Det tredje tegn (2006)

Islandsk debut (Jeg læste bogen på svensk og beklager, hvis der er unøjagtigheder i forhold til den danske oversættelse.)

Et mishandlet lig dumper bogstavelig talt ned i hovedet på en stakkels underviser, som åbner døren til printerrummet på universitetet i Reykjavik. En ung tysker er blevet myrdet, liget er skændet på forskellig vis, og tre dage efter pågriber politiet morderen, en lokal narkohandler.

Thora Gudmundsdottir, advokat og enlig mor til to, bliver bedt om at gennemgå sagen af den myrdedes mor, som tvivler på, politiet har fundet den rette person. Thora er lidt forbeholden, men kvinden tilbyder et salær og en bonus, en enlig mor umuligt kan sige nej til.
Hun arbejder tæt sammen med familiens tyske advokat, Matthew Reichs, og i starten er samarbejdet noget belastet af, at de er så vidt forskellige personligheder. Hen ad vejen finder hun dog ud af at tackle sin samarbejdspartner (eller er det omvendt?)

Sigurdardottir har skrevet en spændende og lovende debut, hvor hovedpersonernes interesse for heksebrændinger og trolddomskunst spiller en stor, og interessant rolle. Romanen kan derfor på nogle måder sammenlignes med Boltons debut, Sacrifice, men efter min mening uden at være på helt samme niveau. Sigurdardottirs personer er levende og vedkommende, især Thora selv, men samspillet mellem dem virker ikke altid psykologisk troværdigt, og der er også lovlig mange personer, som på stående fod kan levere rene forelæsninger om heksekunst i middelalderen.

Trods disse begynderfejl glæder jeg mig til at læse mere islandsk krimi, blandt andet for miljøskildringernes skyld.

Har du læst andre nyere krimier, hvor hekse og trolde udgør et væsentligt tema?

Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Last Rituals (2007)
Debut from Iceland.

A maltreated body tumbles down on the head of a poor professor who opens the door to the printer room of the university of Reykjavik. A young German student has been murdered, his body has been violated in various ways, and three days later the police apprehend the murderer, a local drug dealer.

Thora Gudmundsdottir, lawyer and single mother of two children, is hired to go over the case by the mother of the victim who doubts that the police have caught the right person. Thora has certain reservations, but the woman offers her a fee and a bonus a single mother cannot refuse. She has to cooperate with the German lawyer of the family, Matthew Reichs, and in the beginning their collaboration is somewhat strained by their very different personalities. As they go along, she learns to tackle her companion, however (or is it the other way round?)

Sigurdardottir has written an exciting and promising debut in which the main characters´ interest in witch burnings and sorcery play a large and interesting role. Therefore the novel can be compared to Bolton´s debut, Sacrifice, in some ways, but without being on quite the same level. Sigurdardottir´s characters are credible, especially Thora herself, but the interplay is not always psychologically convincing, and there are too many people who are able to deliver off-hand lectures on witchcraft in the Middle Ages.

Other reviewers have commented on the language, but as I read this in Swedish I´d better refrain from that. All I can say is that it was fairly easy to read.

Despite these beginner´s errors I am looking forward to more Icelandic crime, for the environment and the excitement among other things.

Have you come across other modern crime novels in which witches and trolls play an important part?