When the skeletons of a young woman and a baby are uncovered on a long-abandoned farm in Hvalfjörður, it is clear they were buried years apart. West Iceland CID begins to investigate the disturbing discovery, aware that someone has gone to great lengths to keep the past hidden.
In Akranes, Karitas, a young single mother seeking a new start, settles in with her four-year-old son and rents a basement flat from an eccentric landlord. A cautious sense of happiness returns when she meets the boy next door.
But when news breaks that a local girl has been murdered, Karitas must decide who she can trust, knowing that one wrong choice could place her and her child in danger. Detective Elma is drawn into the case, forced to navigate long-hidden family secrets to understand a killer’s motive, while trying to hold together her increasingly troubled relationship with Sævar.
Dark, atmospheric and rich with psychological suspense, The Last Tenant confirms Eva Björg Ægisdóttir as one of Iceland’s finest crime writers, as a meticulous investigation and a series of unsettling discoveries draw a close-knit community towards a reckoning no one can escape…
I'm delighted to be sharing my review of The Last Tenant by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir today. Many thanks to Orenda Books and Anne Cater from Random Things Tours for inviting me and for my advance copy of the novel. My daughter has recently been in hospital which meant I was unable to post this on my blog tour date; my apologies to all for the delay.
The Last Tenant is the most recent book in Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's Forbidden Iceland series, which, like most of the instalments, features Detective Elma as the main character. Elma's personal life is an important part of the overarching narrative and returning readers may feel a deeper emotional response to her problems here but it certainly isn't necessary to have read the previous novels and it can easily be enjoyed as a standalone too.
The first person opening narrated by an unknown character fearing real-life monsters rather than those in folklore, followed by a brief introduction to a character who is awaiting the arrival of a girl he seems to have obsessively researched, is an unsettling introduction to the book. Events soon take an even darker turn however, as the action moves to Elma who is on the site of a recently discovered skeleton. Her instinct tells her the remains belong to a woman and she is proven right a little later. However, like everyone else present, she is shocked when a second skeleton belonging to a baby is uncovered – particularly as it's obvious the baby was buried several years before the second victim.
The storyline switches between Elma's third-person perspective to that of Karitas, a young single mother who has recently arrived in Akranes, and Kristófer, her next-door-neighbour, with whom she quickly becomes romantically involved. Eva Björg Ægisdóttir weaves a chilling sense of tension throughout The Last Tenant through her clever use of hints and misdirections. Readers know that somebody is responsible for the death of the young woman but what this means for Karitas isn't clear and the suspense builds steadily as she and her young son become more involved with both Kristófer and her landlord, Baldvin Baldursson.
Baldvin is undeniably odd, especially when it comes to the creepy similarities he points out between Karitas and his daughter. He is kind to little Bessi though, and the pair strike up an unlikely friendship. Kristófer initially seems like the perfect boyfriend but other people have their reservations about him and as he also becomes a person of interest in the investigation, Karitas has to decide who she can trust. There are unnerving incidents throughout The Last Tenant which suggest she should be suspicious of both men but quite what their secrets are and whether they are connected to the skeletons isn't revealed until much later. What is evident, however, is that something very dark occurred on the farm and as Elma investigates the former residents, she uncovers a distressing history of violence which was kept hidden for many years. Eva Björg Ægisdóttir 's atmospheric descriptions are exemplary and together with her nuanced characterisation, the sense of terrible foreboding she creates is almost unbearable at times.
It's a tricky case for Elma, made more difficult due to the passage of time since the victims were killed. Some forensic evidence still survives but this isn't the usual crime scene. Meanwhile, her relationship with Sævar also becomes a cause for concern. It's been patent for a while that he isn't happy at work but when she learns he has been keeping secrets from her, she fears that has now crossed into their personal life. As always, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir strikes a good balance between the psychological suspense of the investigation with the continuing development of her returning cast of characters – readers will be gripped by the standalone storyline and compelled to come back for more! A word here, too, for Victoria Cribb's translation which allows the narrative to flow seamlessly from that sinister opening until the breathtakingly dramatic denouement and the subsequent disturbing conclusion.
The Last Tenant is Nordic Noir at its most chillingly addictive. Very highly recommended.
The Last Tenant by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir is published by Orenda Books and can be ordered from their website. Further purchasing links can be found here.
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