I’m delighted to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for superb and compelling thriller Girls Who Lie by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir. Thank you to Anne Cater and Orenda Books for giving me the opportunity to read and review this excellent book.
About the book:
At once a startling, tense psychological thriller, and a sophisticated and twisty police procedural from a rising star in Icelandic literature.
When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, it is assumed that she’s taken her own life – until her body is found on the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected fifteen-year-old daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?
Fifteen years earlier, a desperate new mother lies in a maternity ward, unable to look at her own child, the start of an odd and broken relationship that leads to tragedy.
Police officer Elma and her colleagues take on the case, which becomes increasingly complex, as the list of suspects grows ever longer and new light is shed on Maríanna’s past – and the childhood of a girl who never was like the others…
Fresh, richly atmospheric, and with quietly compelling and sophisticated writing reminiscent of Ruth Rendell, Girls Who Lie was an Icelandic #1 bestseller. It further establishes Eva Björg Ægisdóttir as one of the most exciting young crime writers in Iceland.
About the author:
Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in Globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland and deciding to write a novel – something she had wanted to do since she won a short-story competition at the age of fifteen. After nine months combining her writing with work as a stewardess and caring for her children, Eva finished The Creak on the Stairs. It was published in 2018, and became a bestseller in Iceland. It also went on to win the Blackbird Award, a prize set up by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson to encourage new Icelandic crime writers.
It was published in English by Orenda Books in 2020.
Eva lives in Reykjavík with her husband and three children and is currently working on the third book in the Forbidden Iceland series.
Follow her on @evaaegisdottir
Girls Who Lie is translated by Victoria Cribb.
My Review:
Girls Who Lie is the second book in Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s Forbidden Iceland series. Icelandic Noir at its very best, it’s a beautifully written and atmospheric thriller that is perhaps even better than The Creak On The Stairs, the book that first introduced police officer Elma and her colleagues. It is a well plotted and addictive thriller that moves along at a cracking pace, drawing on the chilling landscape of its small town Icelandic setting to keep the reader engaged throughout. And although Girls Who Lie can easily be read as a standalone, I would recommend reading book one in the series first as it adds even more depth to what is already a superb and highly entertaining read.
When single mother Marianna disappears from her home it is assumed she has taken her own life. But then her body is found in the Icelandic Grabrok lava fields, where it soon becomes clear that she is a victim of murder. Her daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is there more to her perfect new life than at first meets the eye?
Now settled back into her home town of Akranes, Chief Investigating Officer Elma and her colleagues Sævar and Hörður begin to investigate the chilling murder. But as the case becomes increasingly complex and the list of suspects grows longer, new information from Marianna’s past comes to light that changes everything. As more discoveries are made, the investigation team find themselves increasingly under pressure as they work towards finding out exactly what happened to the young mother.
Skilfully translated by Victoria Cribb, Girls Who Lie is a compelling Icelandic Noir thriller that is filled to the brim with intrigue and suspense. With a fascinating cast of characters and an intricately plotted storyline that will keep you guessing throughout, this is a dark and disturbing read that I enjoyed immensely. Eva Björg Ægisdóttir’s writing is exquisite as she deftly brings the threads of the story together, leading to a denouement that is as shocking as it is satisfying. With twists and turns to keep you on your toes, Girls Who Lie is a superb psychological thriller that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.
This second book in the Forbidden Iceland series is a gripping, dark and atmospheric read that builds the tension slowly, the pace intensifying as we move forward towards a final, thrilling conclusion. Building on what has gone before, this is a series that is going from strength to strength and I can’t wait to see where Eva Björg Ægisdóttir will take Elma and her team next.
Girls Who Lie is Icelandic Noir at its very finest!
Highly recommended.
Girls Who Lie by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is available to purchase now.
Check out what these other fabulous bloggers have to say about this book:
Cal Turner Reviews 
Thanks for the blog tour support x
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