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Sassy Brit (97 KP) rated The Island (Hidden Iceland #2) in Books

Jun 5, 2019  
The Island (Hidden Iceland #2)
The Island (Hidden Iceland #2)
Ragnar Jonasson | 2019 | Crime, Mystery
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
After reading the previous Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir story (The Darkness) of which I really enjoyed, I was pleased to be offered this book to review by Penguin UK (Michael Joseph) via NetGalley. Here’s my review:
In The Island Ragnar brings back CID member Hulda of the Reykjavik police with another case to solve. One surrounding four young adults who have decided to take a weekend away in a remote and deserted part of of Elliðaey island off the Icelandic coast. Strange because they’d not seen each other for ten years, and even stranger still, one is married with kids and it’s odd that she’d just go on a mini-break with old school friends she’d not seen for years when they hadn’t really kept in contact all that time. Stranger still, once they meet up again, there’s a fatal accident and when they wake up one morning a girl’s missing. She’s only gone and fallen off a cliff and killed herself.
Or was she pushed? *Strokes chin in a very Sherlock way*

What is the connection between these four people? And why did they decide to meet up after ten years? I don’t know about you, but I was dying to find out! Okay, maybe not dying, I don’t want the author to put me in one of his stories only to kill me off – but I was keen!
My thoughts? Ragnar has written an intriguing and clever plot where two stories (past and present) fold into one. Running along beside Hulda’s crime solving antics, there’s a chance to discover more about her private life, her dark past, and her wish to find her own father of whom she’s never known.

I thoroughly enjoyed solving this crime with Hulda. I found the bittersweet ending (of which more than one character received) was brilliantly crafted. How an author writes a book with so much detail, I’ll never know but Jónasson is very good at it!
Nordic fiction can be as bleak as the setting, but that’s the beauty of these unforgiving scenes! I love how the isolated island, along with the terrain and the weather, helps to weave suspense and atmosphere into the story, just as much as the characters involved. What an entertaining, and cleverly crafted Nordic Noir! Looking forward to reading The Mist the third of Jónasson’s Hidden Iceland series. It can’t come fast enough!
  
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Louise (64 KP) rated Surviving Execution in Books

Jun 28, 2018  
Surviving Execution
Surviving Execution
Ian Woods | 2018 | Crime, Law
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
First off thank you to readers first for a copy of this book.

Surviving execution is the true story of Richard Glossip, a man who is on death row for a crime he never committed. Richard Glossip’s story is told by Ian Woods a UK Sky news reporter, Ian wanted to bring this to the UK’s attention of the miscarriage of justice and how capital punishment is not always as straight forward as it’s made out to be.

Richard Glossip was arrested for the murder of his boss and motel owner Barry Von Treese, however Richard was not the person that killed him but was implicated by Justin Sneed and the police who interviewed him. For this the man who actually murdered Barry Von Treese got life without parole whilst Richard gets the death penalty for being the supposed mastermind.

Richards Glossip didn’t start off well with a bad lawyer that was under qualified for this type of case and failure to bringing certain evidence to light was going to cost Richard his life. With multiple trials, appeals and stays you would hope this man would get some sort of break, however that’s not the case and shows how corrupt the police and the law can be.

Also this book tells us a bit about the history of Capital Punishment, the methods, the countries and also the abolitionists. Although this is non fiction it is really easy to digest and very much the page turner. It makes you question so many things and whether this should really still be carried out.

We also get an insight in to what Ian Woods is thinking as he is helping this mans case and whether he would or could witness the death of a man that he has come to know and call a friend. Ian tries to remain unbiased especially when asked if he thinks Richard is guilty which infuriates others helping with the case. This case got some high coverage as Richard Branson, Susan Sarandon, Sister Helen Prejean and even the Pope got involved.

I would really recommend reading this book if you are interested in true crime and capital punishment. Maybe just read this book so you can decide if the state of Oklahoma was correct in giving this man the death penalty.