Someone to Watch Over Me

December 1, 2014
In Sigurdardóttir’s absorbing if unevenly paced fifth Thóra Gudmondsdóttir mystery (after 2013’s The Day Is Dark), the Reykjavík attorney takes on a client named Jósteinn Karlsson, who claims that he wants his friend Jakob, who has Down’s syndrome, cleared of charges that he set fire to a residential care facility where, 18 months earlier, five people died. Mysterious text messages guide Thóra to evidence of rape, financial irregularities, legal ethics violations, and other abuses, suggesting new suspects and motives for the crime, but key witnesses are less than forthcoming. As she seeks to exonerate Jakob, the manipulative, cunning Jósteinn insinuates himself into the investigation for reasons she can’t identify. Sigurdardóttir adeptly weaves in the stark fallout from Iceland’s recent financial collapse, while poignantly showing the despair permeating working-class families and the devastating impacts on society’s most vulnerable members. A convoluted plot requires too much explanation, but readers fond of happy endings will feel gratified.

January 15, 2015
A suspicious fire in a home for the severely disabled leads to an investigation of the Icelandic social safety net in Thora Gudmundsdottir's fifth outing (The Day Is Dark, 2013, etc.).The arson has supposedly been solved, and one of the house's residents, Jakob Porbjarnardottir, who has Down syndrome, has been convicted and sentenced to a psychiatric facility. However, one of Jakob's fellow prisoners, a sex offender and all-around creep named Josteinn Karlsson, hires Thora under the pretense that Jakob's previous lawyer missed compelling evidence that would have pointed to the true fire-starter. What Karlsson really wants, however, is to play a complex game of cat and mouse with our heroine, using her to avenge what he perceives as past wrongs. Sigurdardottir's thriller moves slowly at first but picks up speed as Thora speaks to more people involved with the burned-down facility-the families of the other residents, the therapists and other staff who worked there, and the beleaguered former director, who is certainly hiding something (as is Jakob's first, barely competent lawyer). When she discovers that a comatose patient had been pregnant at the time of her death in the fire, the mystery deepens, and Thora's tenacity becomes more compelling and poignant. The backdrop of the novel is, of course, the collapse of the Icelandic economy, with rocketing unemployment and everyone feeling squeezed (literally, in Thora's case; her household is composed of her; her out-of-work boyfriend; her two children; one grandchild; and her financially imprudent parents). Yet there are also the moving stories Thora uncovers of families with disabled children, their sacrifices and their attempts to make the lives of society's most vulnerable members a little better. Unusual material for a mystery, but Sigurdardottir handles it deftly through Thora, who is as compassionate as she is intelligent and dogged.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

December 15, 2014
The fifth mystery featuring Icelandic lawyer Thra Gudmundsdttir opens with a supernatural atmosphere reminiscent of Sigurdardttir's stand-alone I Remember You (2014). A teenage babysitter, killed by a hit-and-run driver, appears to be haunting the four-year-old she was on her way to care for. As is typical in crime fiction, this story eventually links with the main theme. Here Thra reopens the case of Jakob, a young man with Down syndrome who was convicted of starting a fire in his care home in which four other disabled residents and a night watchman died. Despite being retained by a thoroughly distasteful sociopath who is institutionalized with Jakob and has recently inherited money, Thra pursues the case, particularly after finding a possible motive in the autopsy report, which shows that the comatose woman who died in the fire was several months pregnant. Because one of the other victims is the severely autistic son of a high-level ministry of justice official, Thra is offered assistance in her investigation, until she finds that the young man was obsessed with fire. An involving, dark tale set in an enlightened Nordic social structure.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2015

When Icelandic lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir is hired to prove the innocence of an inmate at a secure psychiatric facility, those originally involved with the case assure her that the police did their due diligence. She quickly begins to question whether her new client, a young man with Down syndrome, had the ability to plan and execute the fire at his assisted-living facility that killed five people. As Thora investigates further into the case, she uncovers the many secrets that were conveniently covered up by the fire. Less clear is what connection it might have to a family haunted by the ghost of a young girl killed in a hit-and-run accident. By the end of the book, Thora has unraveled the mysteries and brought more than one person to justice. VERDICT While her plot follows a fairly predictable line, Sigurdardottir excels in the intricacies of the storytelling and in writing engaging and realistic characters. A solid bet for fans of Scandinavian mysteries or those who enjoy their suspense with a hint of the supernatural. [See Prepub Alert, 8/11/14; named Crime Novel of the Year by the London Sunday Times.]--Portia Kapraun, Monticello-Union Township P.L., IN

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2014

An assisted living facility at a secure psychiatric unit has gone up in flames, and Jakob, a young man with Down syndrome who lived at the facility, has been accused of the crime. Thora Gudmundsdottir is hired to prove that Jakob didn't do it--and to find out who did. This fifth in a series was named Crime Novel of the Year by the London Sunday Times.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.