Best for:
Those who enjoy crime novels of the Icelandic variety. Those who appreciate when the main character is both a) not a man and b) not straight.

In a nutshell:
Sonja thinks she’s out but gets pulled back into the drug running world of Iceland, post financial crash.

Worth quoting:
N/A

Why I chose it:
Icelandic crime. Love it.

Review:
As I hoped, in this book we do get a bit more flesh on the bones of the characters. The style remains true to the first book in the series - many very short chapters, alternating perspective among Sonja, her girlfriend (maybe) Agla, Sonja’s son Tómas, and customs officer Bragi.

Spoilers for book one in the series:
At the end of Snare, Sonja takes Tómas to Florida. At the start of Trap, Adam, Sonja’s ex (and, as we learned at the end of book one, the higher-up in the drug system that she’s been trapped in) tracks them down and brings them back. Sonja now can’t see her son but is forced to continue running drugs.

Some characters from the first book make appearances and have bigger roles, so that’s fun. And it has an interesting resolution, where I’d probably be fairly happy if there weren’t a book three, but there is still enough out there to think ‘oh, I can see where she’s going, there are some loose ends that could be a problem.’

Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Donate it ( )

Brilliant again - Can't wait for the final installment

and again great work by translator Quentin Bates
( )

Trap – The Reykjavik Noir Series is getting better

Trap is the second in the Reykjavik series and picks up where Snare, the first in the series, leaves off. Lilja Sigurðardottir has once again written an exciting and pulsating thriller with something happening on every page. The book has been excellently translated by Quentin Bates.

Sonya has managed to stay hidden in Florida with Tomas, keeping her head down and getting to be with her son, alone in the sun. Along way from the snow and cold of Iceland, but at the same time taking nothing for granted. It is when her ex-husband, Adam, snatches Tomas back and they are both back in Reykjavik.

Back in to the life of having to mule drugs from Europe, and keeping her friendly customs officer on side, for Sonja there seems to be no escape. But things she finds out in London may just change her life, but whether its for the better is debatable.

Sonja’s lover is still up to her neck in a financial misconduct case over the Icelandic bank crash, and with powerful men after her, Agla seems to lose it. Well lose it everywhere except where money is concerned. She is still up to her neck in misconduct, but her mind is on Sonja.

Another great Icelandic thriller, that may be small, but it is ambitious, uncompromising but so satisfying thriller. Must be all those dark nights that enables the Icelandic people to produce so many excellent thriller writers. ( )