Release Date: 06/05/14
Publisher: Corvus
SYNOPSIS:
"Oli and Magnus Jonson have spent years trying to escape from the shadows of their past. Raised by their grandparents in Bjarnarhofn, a remote farmstead in Iceland, both brothers had to endure brutal violence at the hands of their grandfather. Now, two decades later, the past has returned to haunt them both. When Constable Pall Gylfason gets a dispatch call to investigate a suspected homicide in a remote farmstead, he is surprised to find that Detective Magnus Jonson is already at the scene. Magnus identifies the dead man as his estranged grandfather. As Pall begins to review the crime scene it becomes apparent that forensic evidence has been tampered with and that Magnus' version of events doesn't add up. Before long, Magnus is arrested for the murder of his grandfather. When it emerges that his younger brother, Oli, is in Iceland after two decades in America, Pall begins to think that Magnus may not be the only family member in the frame for murder...Can Magnus prove his innocence without implicating his brother? And can both men get to the heart of the twisted secrets that blighted their childhoods? What unfolds is a tale of familial ties and bloodthirsty vengeance, of isolated communities scarred by the tragedies of the past - and of a final, painful reckoning."
REVIEW:
The latest Magnus Jonson title and this time our detective hero is the key suspect in the murder investigation of his grandfather. Its definitely a book that will glue the reader as we glimpse the investigation from the other side of the case and when added to some cracking sleight of hand, top notch twists and solid police work, the reader is really in for a special treat.
Back this up with great prose, wonderful pace and of course that delightfully bleak landscape all round generates a story that is nigh impossible to put down. Cracking.
Release Date: 10/06/13
Publisher: Head of Zeus
SYNOPSIS:
Conrad de Lancey has seen enough of evil: the shadow of fear on the faces of innocents; the roar of tanks through empty streets; the sudden lull before the slaughter begins. Franco's bloody insurrection taught this Englishman all about hell. Arriving in his mother's country, the now Nazi Germany, Conrad is sick at heart. Even Berlin - infamous haven of decadence and vice - salutes fascism. Himmler's black-shirted troops rule the city, and every German arm bears a Swastika. But does every German heart belong to Hitler? When Conrad is arrested by the Gestapo on suspicion of spying, he is rescued by Theo, an old friend from university, now a lieutenant of the Wehrmacht. Together they are drawn into a world of danger and deceit, of plots, paranoia and intrigue where the brave few are united by a single ambition: to free the fatherland from the Fuhrer.
REVIEW:
To be honest having loved Michael’s Icelandic crime titles, I wasn’t really sure that moving backwards in time to a Germany in crisis was going to be the right move, after all, whilst Crime has a certain amount of similarities with Thrillers, getting the details for a foreign country correct alongside keeping in line with history is going to be something incredibly tricky.
What Michael does present is a story that has plausibility, populated with characters that the reader can readily associate with and when added to some top notch prose accompanied by a reasonable pace all round presents a tale that will keep you reading until the final page at the end. Whilst this book is solid it does take a little while to get into and as such I didn’t enjoy this as much as I have Michael’s previous work but if this time period more than interests you Michael’s writing will definitely give you something that has some cracking research.
Release Date: 01/06/12
SYNOPSIS:
Operation Meltwater: FreeFlow, a group of internet activists committed to the freedom of information have video evidence of a military atrocity in the Middle East and have chosen Iceland as their HQ while they prepare to unleash their greatest coup on the world's media. On the glacial rim of erupting volcano Eyjafjallajokull, they christen their endeavour Operation Meltwater. Minutes later, in the steam and mist, one of them is murdered. The list of people Freeflow has antagonized is long - the Chinese government, Israeli military, a German Bank, Italian politicians, even American College Fraternities. Magnus Jonson has a long list of suspects but he's getting precious little help from FreeFlow - for an organization dedicated to the transparency of information, they're a secretive bunch. But they are not the only ones with secrets. Asta, a newly qualified priest, has contacted FreeFlow with information about a scandal in the church. Her involvement with FreeFlow will cost her dear. And with the return of Magnus's brother Ollie to Iceland, the feud that has haunted their family for three generations is about to reignite.
REVIEW:
Having fallen for Michaels writing style with his first outing, I really couldn’t wait to return to Iceland and see what fate had in store for Magnus in the next outing. As with the other books he’s thrust into a murder investigation but fate and time have a habit of repeating and returning to bring old wounds back to life as he seeks to find answers to the past alongside his current case.
As with the others its wonderfully written, the landscape haunting and befit such a series that brings the old and new together in such a way that its almost cinematic. Back that up with solid prose, great concepts and of course an underlying thread that make waiting for the next instalment harder than that damnable itch that you can’t scratch. All in solid writing although I would say that if you’re to start the series go back to the beginning in order to get the full flavour. Magical. Thank you Michael for a great read.
Here at Falcata Times, we love it when one of our author friends takes time out to write a special guest piece for ourselves. Here Michael Ridpath, author of the Fire and Ice Series writes about the special are he visited on his last trip that he brings to life for the readers within his second book, 66 Degrees North.
Enjoy...
Well, he was very happy with the plot, which revolves around a disparate group of Icelanders who are angry at the credit crunch and want to take revenge on the people they feel are responsible. But he wanted a bit more myth, a bit more history, a bit more atmosphere. That was what he had liked about Shadows, which featured an ancient saga that had inspired Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and he wanted more.Now, I am quite capable of standing up to editors when I disagree with them: but it’s a lot harder when secretly you know they are right. My problem was that a bunch of Icelanders upset at their modern bankers did not lead itself to much history or myth. I mulled this over for a few days and realised that there was a sub plot concerning Magnus’s childhood and dark goings on in his own family that might provide me with the opportunity I was looking for. I needed somewhere atmospheric and full of myth and history for Magnus to be brought up.I read through my notes and reread Magnus Magnusson’s book Iceland Saga. The Snaefells Peninsula looked like a good candidate. This is about 200km from Reykjavík as the car drives. At one end is an old volcano under an icecap, the Snaefellsjökull, which was Jules Verne’s entry point for his Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
I booked a flight to Keflavík, and a hired car for two days, and read The Saga of the People of Eyri on the plane. This recounts the adventures of the Viking settlers who arrived in the Snaefells Peninsula at the end of the ninth century. There was a particular story that intrigued me.There were two brothers, Vermundur the Lean and Styr whose farms were separated by a frozen torrent of lava. Vermundur went “raiding and trading” as Vikings did in those days, and returned home with two Swedish berserker servants. Berserkers were powerful warriors who could whip themselves into a frenzy in combat whereupon they were almost invincible. Vermundur couldn’t cope with his new employees and passed them across the lava field to his brother Styr. Styr has trouble with them too, especially when one of them wanted to marry his daughter. He was frightened of the berserker, but said that he would allow the marriage if the berserkers cut a path through the lava field to his brother’s farm.This they did, after working themselves into a frenzy. They returned exhausted to Styr’s sauna. He turned the heat up, and when they rushed out, he ran them both through with a spear. Then he buried them in the middle of the lava field.
A nice story I thought. So when I landed at Keflavík, I drove north through magnificent countryside to the Snaefells Peninsula. I crossed the Kerlingin Pass through the mountains that form the backbone of the peninsula and pulled over. In front of me was a view that took my breath away. In the background was Breidafjördur, “Broad Fjord” and the mountains of the West Fjords in the distance. To the right was the tiny Helgafell or “Holy Mountain”, and in the foreground was a tumult of stone, grey waves lapping around conical mountains of black and orange, a motionless torrent gushing about ten miles down to the sea. On the edge of the fjord on either side of the lava field were two white farms, Bjarnarhöfn and Hraun, the places where Vermundur and Styr lived. Over to the east were other farms that I recognized from the saga, where Snorri Godi and other warriors farmed, plotted and squabbled.I drove down to the Berserkjahraun, or “Berserkers’ Lava Field”. I parked the car where the frozen lava tumbled into a small bay, right by the farm of Hraun. There was a little path, only about nine inches wide, but a couple of feet deep, cut into the stone. I walked along it until I came to a squat cairn, big enough to hold two bodies. I sat down on the moss covered rock, and surveyed the twisted silhouettes of lava around me. A couple of yards away were the bones of those men who had cut the path beside me a thousand years ago. It was completely quiet, save for the wind rustling the bilberry leaves and the odd cry of an eider duck.I flew back to England the following afternoon, my mind teeming with ideas for Magnus’s childhood. Problem solved. Michael Ridpath
Release Date: 12/05/11
SYNOPSIS:
Iceland 1934: Two boys playing in the lava fields that surround their isolated farmsteads see something they shouldn't have. The consequences will haunt them and their families for generations.
Iceland 2009: the credit crunch bites. The currency has been devalued, banks nationalized, savings annihilated, lives ruined. Grassroots revolution is in the air, as is the feeling that someone ought to pay... ought to pay the blood price. And in a country with a population of just 300,000 souls, in a country where everyone knows everybody, it isn’t hard to draw up a list of exactly who is responsible. And then, one-by-one, to cross them off.
REVIEW:
Having read Michael’s original release I fell in love with Iceland, not that I’ve ever visited but the descriptions of not only the landscape but the peoples really struck a chord with me as they’re not just a snapshot but a fully rounded gathering of a culture that is not only fascinating but reminiscent of a time long gone in the UK where everyone knew who was who locally.
It’s beautifully written, the prose sharp with an overall arc that keeps the story moving at a wonderful pace as well as allowing the reader the chance to gather their thoughts as each clue pops up. Add to this a friendly as well as authoritative writing style and it’s a title that I really couldn’t put down. The only thing that could have been better I suspect would be to have read this book in the land to which it walks through the lava fields and visiting the rich heritage of the saga’s. Wonderful.
BOOK BLURB:
Amid Iceland's wild, volcanic landscape, rumours swirl of an ancient manuscript containing a long-lost saga about a ring of terrible power. The manuscript, which is believed to have inspired Tolkein's Lord of the Rings, exists...but why is it worth killing for? Untangling murder from myth is Iceland-born, Boston-raised homicide detective Magnus Jonson. Seconded to the Icelandic Police Force for his own protection after he runs afoul of a drug cartel back in Boston, Magnus also has his own reasons for returning to the country of his birth for the first time in nearly two decades - to investigate the unsolved murder of his father. Binding Iceland's landscape and history, secrets and superstitions in a strikingly original plot that will span several volumes, Where the Shadows Lie is a thrilling new series from an established master.
REVIEW:
As a reader who is prepared to give most titles a go I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what to expect from this author yet as a huge fan of crime with a touch of myth then I was more than happy to give it a spin.
What unfurls within is an offering that will probably do for the Iceland what Craig Russell has done for Germany. The characters are realistic, the mythos of fantasy interwoven seamlessly with ancient saga’s and even adds a touch of the unspoilt majestic scenery to the readers imagination. Its got great dialogue, some wonderful descriptive sequences but perhaps most of all a mystery that the reader will enthuse about to others long after the final page is turned. I would seriously love to have read this tale whilst visiting the county but above all else it’s a story that will turn many a crime reader onto this author. I really can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.
