My
Thoughts:
Agnes has traveled from California to Iceland to meet with a
true crime podcaster covering the unsolved murder of her grandmother and aunt,
forty years earlier. Her stoic grandfather was convicted by public opinion, but
he fled with Agnes’ father to the US before anything could come of it.
Agnes loved her grandfather, closer to him than her father,
and is still grieving his loss. She can’t imagine he’d kill his wife and baby
daughter, so she hopes to clear his name with the investigation. However, as
the details of her grandfather and grandmother’s life emerge Agnes starts to
realize how little she knew of them.
Then there’s a new case of a missing girl that is somehow
tangled up in all of it.
Agnes was a complicated character dealing with issues besides
the mystery of her grandmother’s murder.
Still healing from an accident she barely survived and reliant on painkillers.
I felt that she took a lot of unnecessary risks trapsing about in the cold countryside
when she still had so much trouble walking. Also, not letting anyone know where
she was going half the time or having a properly working phone, but I guess
that fit with where she was in her life mentally.
Iceland was described vividly, cold, stark and beautiful, almost
a character on its own!
The Lost House was an atmospheric and compelling mystery.
Engrossing but slow going at first. I feel like things didn’t really take off
in pace until after the 50% mark.
I alternately read and listened to The Lost House
narrated by the talented Saskia Maarleveld. I’ve enjoyed her performances immensely
and she did a wonderful job with both male and female voices and giving a subtle
Icelandic accent where appropriate. I recommend either version!
3.5 Stars
Book Description:
In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.
Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.
Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life—which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver’s invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.
Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.
Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.
