Ashes to Dust

by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Overview

Named One of the Year’s Top Ten Crime Books in the UK…

A Masterwork of Suspense from "Iceland’s Crime Queen" (The Scotsman)

In 1973, a volcanic eruption buried an entire Icelandic village in lava and ash. Now this macabre tourist attraction proves deadly once again—when the discovery of fresh bodies casts a shadow of suspicion onto Markus Magnusson, a man accused of killing his childhood sweetheart. His attorney Thora Gudmundsdottir finds that her client has a most inventive story to tell. But the locals seem oddly reluctant to back him up…

Filled with unforgettable characters, unexpected twists, and superb psychological suspense, Ashes to Dust is a superlative thriller from an acclaimed master of Nordic fiction.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781444700077
Publisher:	Hodder
Publication date:	04/28/2011
Pages:	464
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

YRSA SIGURDARDOTTIR lives with her family in Reykjavík; she is also a director of one of Iceland's largest engineering firms.

Editorial Reviews

Sigurdardóttir’s excellent third thriller featuring lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdóttir should win this talented Icelandic author new fans. In 1973, a volcanic eruption on Iceland’s Heimaey Island buried a number of houses in lava, including that of Markús Magnusson, who was 15 at the time. In 2007, an excavation of his childhood home reveals three bodies and a severed head that appear to be decades old. Markús tells the police he knows nothing about the bodies, but the single person who could have verified his version of events is found dead, her apparent suicide soon revealed as murder. With the searchlight of suspicion cast on his affairs, Markús must rely on Thóra, his determined lawyer, to defend his interests. Siggurdardóttir uses Iceland’s past and present to full effect in this tale of hidden crimes and family secrets. Even those unfamiliar with this volcanic island nation will find themselves entranced. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

In her third outing (after My Soul To Take) Icelandic lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdóttir is hired to assist an heir to an elite fishing company located on a volcanic island far from Rekyavik. A few decades after a catastrophic volcanic eruption, life on the island is dramatically uprooted by the discovery of three dead bodies and one head in a box. It is up to Gudmundsdóttir both to defend her client on charges of murder and to find out who exactly is behind these crimes. VERDICT In this long and detailed novel, the author loads her story with clues, some of which ultimately prove to be relevant while others turn out to be superfluous. But her heroine is engaging and spunky, and fans of both mystery and international crime fiction will be intrigued by the stark setting and puzzling plot.—Jennifer Rogers, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Coll. Lib, Richmond

Library Journal

A trip down a flight of stairs leads to an unspeakable discovery with appalling consequences for Reykjavík attorney Thóra Gudmundsdóttir and her latest client. No one has been able to enter the house in which Markús Magnússon had been brought up since a volcanic eruption in Iceland's Westmann Islands in 1973. Now that an archeological project is excavating several of the houses buried under lava and ash, Markús has engaged Thóra to accompany him and the project's representative as he searches the house for personal articles his family might have left behind in their hurried evacuation. But he insists on going down to the basement alone, and when he calls out to her, she joins him to find a horrifying scene: three long-dead bodies and the severed head of a fourth. The story Markús tells is as shaky as he is. Alda Thorgeirsdóttir, the nurse he'd carried a torch for when they were in school together, had asked him to retrieve a box she'd asked him to get rid of just before the eruption--a box he'd left in the basement without ever opening it to reveal the head. Unfortunately for Markús, Alda's in no position to confirm this wild tale because someone's just killed her in a particularly fiendish way. So after the police lock up Markús for the 34-year-old murders, Thóra (Last Rituals, 2007, etc.) makes the rounds of three generations of locals searching for exculpatory evidence and alternate suspects. The former is hard to find, but the latter are plentiful in a world in which the sins of the fathers are visited without mercy on the children. Buried under all the volcanic ash, false trails and endless recriminations is a puzzle whose grim solution is worthy of Stieg Larsson.

Kirkus Reviews