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…
I am delighted to be taking my turn on the blog tour today to celebrate the paperback release of Dead Sweet by Katrin Juliusdottir. My thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on to the tour to reshare the review I wrote of the book when it was first published.
This book has so much to offer on so many different levels it is very hard to know where to begin to talk about it. A brutal murder takes place of a high profile government official and the police have to sort through mountains of startling and conflicting evidence to try and find out the motive for the killing of a man who seemed to be highly respected and well-liked b y all, because only in discovering the motive for the killing will they be able to find the killer. A young police officer on the case, a woman tussling with her own demons has her theories about the case which may crack it wide open but she has to fight preconceptions and her own inexperience to have her ideas heard.
Sigurdis is an absolutely fascinating character and a wonderful person to carry the story on her shoulders. Damaged, youthful and a bit of a maverick, she follows in the footsteps of all the great literary detectives who follow their instincts rather than toe the line. This inevitably leads to conflict with her more senior colleagues and adds an additional element of peril to the story and allows the reader to invest deeply in the story and root for Sigurdis’s success – after all, who doesn’t love a feisty underdog? Her own turbulent personal life also informs her behaviour and her instincts and adds a further level of interest and tension to the story, there is so much for the reader’s brain to sift through in this book in order to work out what is going on and who might be to blame, it is a book for the reader who likes their novels to test all of their intellectual and emotional faculties.
This book covers some dark topics that are often difficult to read about but the author deals with them sensitively. My opinion of all of the characters changed dramatically across the course of the book and the story took so many twists and turns that it was impossible to be sure before the end who, how or why had committed the crime. You may have an inkling but you are kept second-guessing yourself until the very last chapter. I loved the ending of the book which was both satisfying and intriguing and left the reader with the perfect yearning for the next book in the series. We know who committed this crime but there are still questions to be answered going forward, it is really well done.
If you are a fan of Scandi noir, this is the beginning of a new series that is going to excite and delight you. It is gripping, moving and rewarding by turn and I have no hesitation in recommending it to my readers who enjoy this genre. Grab a copy today.
Dead Sweet is out now in all formats and you can buy a copy here.
Please go and check out some of the other blogs taking part in the tour for other reviews of the book:
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.
Connect with Katrin:
Twitter: @katrinjul
