Book Review: The Reckoning

No one does Nordic noir better than Yrsa Sigurðardóttir. An absorbing and disturbing exploration of child sex abuse and trauma, The Reckoning (originally titled Sogið) is a gritty tour de force packed with gruesome murders and a spine-tingling mystery that lends itself to the backdrop's compelling atmosphere. Opening twelve years after the rape and murder of an eight-year-old school girl, a new series of grisly crimes take detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja through the corridors of revenge and retribution, while intricately dovetailing a grim tale of psychological unravelling that's both twisted and unnerving. An unrelenting pressure cooker of a story, the dark, slow-burn thriller is greatly enhanced by Sigurðardóttir's vivid prose, a rotating cast of fully-realised characters, and a masterful sleight of hand all of which add up to a terrific read.