Monday, June 27, 2022

Outside by Ragnar Jónasson

 
First Line: It was mind-numbingly cold.
 
Four friends decide to spend a winter weekend together out on the remote moorlands of eastern Iceland to do some hunting. A sudden blizzard blows in, and the four are lucky to find shelter in a small, abandoned shack. 

The shack is in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no cell phone reception, and they find that they are not alone. As the darkness lengthens, the winds howl, and the snow piles up, an old tragedy thought long-buried resurfaces. A tragedy that changed the course of their friendship forever.

~

I have been a huge fan of Ragnar Jónasson ever since reading his excellent police procedural series set in northern Iceland featuring Ari Thór Arason and his superb Hulda Hermannsdóttir trilogy. However, I have to admit that the bloom is wearing off the rose a bit with this second standalone thriller.
 
Don't get me wrong. Outside is very well-plotted and extremely well-written. The narrative moves back and forth between the four friends so readers are able to get inside the characters' heads and formulate their own ideas about what exactly is going on. It doesn't take long at all to see that certain things just don't add up.
 
The set-up is good. The execution is fine. So... what exactly is my problem? This is the second standalone thriller Jónasson has written in which I haven't been able to rouse much enthusiasm for any of the characters. Wait. That's not entirely true. In Outside, I had enough enthusiasm to wish that all four friends would leave their shelter, go out into the raging storm, and turn into human popsicles. (It's fiction. I'm allowed, right?) I found all four of them to be extremely annoying and self-absorbed. So much so, that I think I kept on reading hoping that they would walk out into the snow and vanish-- never to be seen again.

Hopefully, you have more patience than I do.

Outside by Ragnar Jónasson
Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb.
eISBN: 9781250833464
Minotaur Books © 2022
eBook, 320 pages
 
Thriller, Standalone
Rating: B-
Source: Net Galley

14 comments:

  1. I know just what you mean, Cathy. If you don't take to any of the characters - or at least, find at least one of them interesting - it's very hard to stay invested in a book. I feel exactly the same way. And this one does sound like a good setup and context for the story, too. Well, at least you found some good things about it.

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    1. Yep-- at least one of the cast of characters has to be interesting. I've read books with great enjoyment because the bad guy was fabulous and I wanted to see what would happen to him.

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  2. I read the Hulda books and enjoyed them greatly. I've thought that I should probably try some of his other work but maybe I won't make it this one!

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    1. As I said in my review, I really liked his police procedural series set in northern Iceland where the author's family is from.

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  3. Yeah, no....I also have no patience for reading about unlikable characters. Especially when all the characters are unlikable. This one will be a skip for me. And back to my Sarah Stewart Taylor books that I'm zipping through right now. Have you read any of her Maggie D'Arcy series (3 so far)? I'm liking them.

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    1. I read the first one and wasn't all that impressed, so I haven't read the two that followed.

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  4. I'm posting this comment from Lark because it looks as though Google is displeased with her for some reason.

    Lark: "I'm sorry this one wasn't a little better! I'm currently reading Jonasson's first Ari Thor Arason book, Snowblind, and really enjoying it. :)"

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    1. I really enjoyed that series, Lark, except for the last one which Jónasson wasn't going to write until fans twisted his arm and demanded he do so. It was obvious (to me) from reading it and comparing it to the others that Jónasson's mind and heart had moved on.

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    2. Thanks, Cathy, for rescuing my comment!

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    3. You're welcome, Lark. I know just how frustrating these glitches can be!

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  5. I'm not big on the 'isolated in a blizzard ' trope to begin with, so I can easily skip this one in favor of the (many!) others on my TBR list.

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    1. I have to admit that I do enjoy reading the "isolated in a blizzard" tales when it's 120° here in the desert.

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  6. I like the whole blizzardy, people stuck in a shack, type of thing, but what I don't like is when they're all nasty and I just don't care what happens to them. You made me laugh so much, Cathy, so thanks so for that and I'll give this one a miss.

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    1. I was hoping that I made at least one person laugh, Cath, so you made my day!

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