The Day Is Dark

December 17, 2012
Icily compelling, Sigurdardóttir’s fourth Thóra Gudmundsdóttir thriller (after 2012’s Ashes to Dust) explores one of Earth’s least hospitable regions, Greenland’s east coast, where workers at a remote molybdenum mining site have disappeared. Thóra, a lawyer bored by her routine case work, flies to Kulusuk to investigate, accompanied by her lover, Matthew Reich; her secretary, Bella; and a team of six specialists, each with his or her own peculiarities. On their arrival, they face isolation, ferocious cold and wind, and the possibility of lethal disease. Eerie natives warn Thóra and the other “outsiders” to leave immediately, but she soldiers through to a complicated solution involving an improbable psychiatric-disorder subplot. The wry humor of the author’s earlier novels is largely absent as Thóra confronts homophobia and global warming—and conveys deep sympathy for the “gloomy and hostile” Inuit, who eke out a minimal living, beset by superstition, poverty, alcoholism, and environmental toxins.

March 1, 2013

In a remote northeastern part of Greenland, several members of a team of engineers and computer scientists deployed by an Icelandic technology company have disappeared, died, or deserted the compound, refusing to return. Legal investigator Thora Gudmundsdottir is hired by the bank invested in the exploration; but what is she investigating? Upon landing in Greenland, Thora uncovers superstitious tribal customs, engineers' violent bullying tactics, malfunctioning electronics and weather equipment, bizarre videotapes, and histrionic former employees. As she sifts through the clues, false leads, and strange artifacts, her hope for a speedy end to her stay in Greenland begins to evaporate. VERDICT The fourth novel in Sigurdardottir's series (after Ashes to Dust) following lawyer-cum-detective Thora Gudmundsdottir and her usually rural and always ominous adventures is full of outrageous characters and mysterious leads, building into a potentially supernatural thrill ride. As its pages accumulate, however, the suspense dissipates, the thrills dissolve, and the novel becomes a bit of a drag. Recommended for fans and followers of international mystery novels, particularly those with a yen for Scandinavian lit who haven't encountered many Icelandic mysteries.--Jennifer Rogers, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib., Richmond, VA

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