Dead Sweet by Katrín Júlíusdóttir (tr. by Quentin Bates) #BookReview #BlogTour

 

A murder is just the beginning…
When Óttar Karlsson, a wealthy and respected government official and businessman, is found murdered, after failing to turn up at his own surprise birthday party, the police are at a loss. It isn’t until young police officer Sigurdís finds a well-hidden safe in his impersonal luxury apartment that clues start emerging.
As Óttar’s shady business dealings become clear, a second, unexpected line of enquiry emerges, when Sigurdís finds a US phone number in the safe, along with papers showing regular money transfers to an American account. Following the trail to Minnesota, trauma rooted in Sigurdís’s own childhood threatens to resurface and the investigation strikes chillingly close to home…
Atmospheric, deeply unsettling and full of breakneck twists and turns, Dead Sweet is a startling debut thriller that uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives, and kicks off an addictive, mind-blowing new series.

I'm delighted to be hosting the paperback blog tour for Dead Sweet by Katrín Júlíusdóttir today. Many thanks to Orenda Books and Anne Cater for inviting me and for sending me an advance copy of the novel.

Dead Sweet is the first book in a new series by debut author, Katrín Júlíusdóttir and on this showing, it seems certain that she will be joining the growing ranks of Icelandic crime writers who are deservedly gaining fans across the world. This is a complex, multi-faceted mystery novel with a storyline which hooked me from the start.

We only come to know Óttar Karlsson after his murder but he is a man whose life was characterised by dark secrets. A renowned businessman and government official, Karlsson had earned himself the nickname, 'the Panther'. However, his fraudulent business dealings are soon exposed which suggest an obvious motive for his murder. Young, ambitious officer Sigurdís isn't so convinced though and pursues a different potential lead.

Sigurdís is a wonderful lead character; she is clearly still haunted by the traumatic events in her own past but as her fellow officer, Unnar observes, it gives her a unique sense of perceptiveness, which means she is able to read situations more deeply and piece everything together to achieve the full picture. This ability comes at a cost, however, as it means she has to make a possibly career-threatening decision to ignore orders – something which is especially risky considering she has already been compelled to attend sessions with a therapist following a previous altercation. Sigurdís is also forced to face up to the terrifying likelihood that a figure from her past is determined to return to her life. Although the investigation itself is deftly portrayed as a frustrating process of false leads and red herrings, there is  definite sense of impending tension regarding her personal life and the danger she may face.

As Sigurdís follows the leads she believes are pertinent to solving the case, she ends up in rural Minnesota. The sense of place is excellent throughout Dead Sweet and while it's not really surprising that Katrín Júlíusdóttir should be able to vividly describe Iceland, she also evokes a real feeling of small-town community in her depiction of Biwabik. She recalls the true story of Honk the moose who was immortalised in Phil Stong's children's book after the residents took pity on a moose who wandered into town during a punishing winter and was taken care of by the residents. It's a lovely story of kindness and generosity which is cleverly juxtaposed against the dark, shocking deeds that eventually come to light. While none of the heinous acts perpetrated appear on the page, the horror of what took place is still deeply affecting and sadly only too believable. 

Most of the narrative follows Sigurdís but there are some brief passages written from the perspective of an unknown character, which although ostensibly refer to a blossoming love affair, drip with malevolent foreboding about what they truly reveal. The conclusion is both surprising and satisfying, leaving readers with the promise that there is much more to come from the ambitious, talented Sigurdís. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing if the hints towards a possible romantic liaison come to fruition and how her career progresses now she has a clear idea of the path she wishes to take. 

Dead Sweet is a compulsive, character-driven murder mystery which explores the pervasive nature of guilt, shame and regret to devastating effect. Praise must also go to Quentin Bates for his seamless translation. Very highly recommended.

Dead Sweet is published by Orenda Books, it can be ordered directly from their website, further purchasing links are here.

Follow the blog tour, details are below.

About the Author 

Katrín received the Blackbird Award, an Icelandic crime-writing prize, for her first novel, Dead Sweet in 2020. Her debut novel was reviewed well by critics and hit the best-selling lists in the first weeks after publication. Katrín has a political background and was a member of Parliament from 2003 until 2016. Before she was elected to Parliament, Katrín was an advisor and project manager at a tech company and a senior buyer and CEO in the retail sector, as well as the Managing Director of a student union during her uni years. She worked from a young age in the fishing industry, as a store clerk and took nighttime shifts at a pizza place. She studied Anthropology and has an MBA from Reykjavík University. She was raised in Kópavogur, about 15 minutes’ drive from downtown Reykjavík. She now lives in the neighbouring town of Garðabær with her family. She is married to author Bjarni M. Bjarnason, who encouraged her to start writing. They have four boys.

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About the Translator

Quentin Bates escaped English suburbia as a teenager, jumping at the chance of a gap year working in Iceland. For a variety of reasons, the gap year stretched to become a gap decade, during which time he went native in the north of Iceland, acquiring a new language, a new profession as a seaman and a family, before decamping en masse for England. He worked as a truck driver, teacher, netmaker and trawlerman at various times before falling into journalism, largely by accident. He is the author of a series of crime novels set in present-day Iceland (Frozen Out, Cold Steal, Chilled to the Bone, Winterlude, Cold Comfort and Thin Ice) which have been published worldwide. He has translated all of Ragnar Jónasson’s Dark Iceland series.

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