Asi reza la carta que, escrita con la propia sangre de su hijo Harald, recibe en Alemania Amelia Gotlieb, dias despues de que la policia islandesa encontrara el cadaver del muchacho en la Facultad de Historia de Reykjavik: un cadaver al que, ademas, le han sacado los ojos y lleva marcados en su cuerpo extranos signos que dejan a los forenses entre el estupor y el espanto. Descontentos con el trabajo de la policia, y deseosos de que la verdad se descubra de la forma mas discreta posible, los padres del difunto contratan entonces los servicios de pora, una letrada islandesa a la que ayudara Matthew, el abogado aleman que envia la familia. pora y Matthew inician una investigacion que les llevara desde la moderna Reykjavik al extremo noroeste de la isla, una zona inhospita y salvaje donde, como en tantos otros lugares de Europa, se llevaron a cabo ejecuciones de decenas de personas acusadas de brujeria.

Very bloody but good characters and interesting setting. ( )

Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir is the first book in her mystery series that features an Icelandic lawyer, Thora Gudmundsdottir. In this first book, Thora is hired to help investigate the murder and mutilation of Harald Guntlief, a German student who was obsessed by witchcraft.

A local drug dealer has been arrested and charged, but the murdered boy’s family is unconvinced that they have the right culprit. They have sent German, ex-policeman Matthew Reich to conduct his own investigation with Thora along to assist. The book moves slowly as Thora and Matthew painstakingly follow through by interviewing the people around Matthew and work through various suspicions until the pieces fall into place and reveal what actually happened.

While I enjoyed the main character and learning of her life and family complications, this mystery, unique as it was, didn’t particularly pull me in. The beginning and the end of the book was good but the middle dragged and seemed unnecessarily dull. As this is the first in the series, I do intend to read on and hopefully the next book will be more to my taste. ( )

parts of this were surprisingly funny for the dark topic of the main story (torture/witchcraft/sorcery/black magic). i didn't like this direction the story took, so wasn't super interested in reading the history bits, but i admit that this was an inventive and unusual crime, in a place i don't read much about (iceland). i liked this as i was reading, even as there were a lot of mistakes, missteps, or things that didn't ring true. here or there a word was off, there were a few perspective shifts that were issues of editing, and some writing hiccups that could have been the translator or could have been the author. because of the other issues with the book along the way, i went from thinking it was the translation to thinking it was the author. i would still read another of hers, as this was her first book for adults, but probably wouldn't go further if these problems were in the next book. that said, i did like the main character, thora, and still do like this book in general, in spite of the very real issues with it. ( )

Relaxing in a bloody sort of way. Reminded me a bit of the Cadfael books the way the main characters ambled around the countryside - perhaps also the medieval references although a few hundred years later, brought the Cadfael murders to mind. Unlike many of the modern icelandic murder books leaves you thinking Iceland might be a cheerful place to visit rather than the normal gloom and doom. ( )