{"id":2843,"date":"2018-12-09T16:49:34","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T00:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/?p=2843"},"modified":"2019-01-30T13:35:45","modified_gmt":"2019-01-30T21:35:45","slug":"ragnor-jonasson-rupture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/ragnor-jonasson-rupture\/","title":{"rendered":"Ragnar Jonasson: Rupture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>While this series started to come out in Jonasson\u2019s native Iceland in 2015, the books have only now started to make their way stateside, via the UK.\u00a0 Rupture<\/em>, which Jonasson wrote in 2016, will be published here in January. It’s the third in his \u201cDark Iceland\u201d series which began with the sensational Snowblind.<\/em> Let me tell you, whatever publishing path this author took to get here is definitely worth the wait, as he is a phenomenal writer.<\/p>\n

While I would classify this series as a \u201ctraditional detective\u201d series, mostly because of the plot structure, it also has the feel of a contemporary noir.\u00a0 Jonasson embraces both of these strong \u00a0threads in mysteries equally, and with equal aplomb.\u00a0 His main character is Ari Thor, who began the series as a new detective in tiny Siglufjorour.<\/p>\n

In the first novel, he was gripped by claustrophobia \u2013 Siglufjorour, in northern Iceland, is ringed by mountains, and experiences roughly 8 \u00bd months of winter.\u00a0 In the course of the novels Ari Thor has adjusted to his new home and \u00a0he experiences a different kind of claustrophobia in this novel, one brought on by a quarantine.\u00a0 Because of a rapidly spreading disease every shop and business is closed and no one is out on the streets.<\/p>\n

Thanks to the enforced isolation Ari Thor begins to look into a long ago case of a suspected suicide by poison in the incredibly remote fjord encampment \u2013 it can\u2019t be called a village \u2013 of Hedinsfjorour.\u00a0 In 1955, two couples decided to strike out there, and a baby was even born, but one of the women was undone by the darkness and isolation and drank rat poison.<\/p>\n

The first rupture.\u00a0 The second involves a man whose wife was brutally assaulted in their home and died two years later, never coming out of a coma.\u00a0 Third rupture.\u00a0 Robert and Sunna, who share a home with Sunna\u2019s baby, are sure someone is watching them, and then their baby is kidnapped.\u00a0 Fourth rupture: recovered addict Snorri heads to a meeting in hopes of a much desired recording contract and is run over and killed.<\/p>\n

I think what sets a truly excellent writer above a writer who is merely (though I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a small feat) telling a compelling story, is the addition of a theme.\u00a0 This novel takes a look at what an individual breaking point might involve.\u00a0 Jonasson is so excellent because on top of this story structure and thoughtful theme, he also writes true detective novels in the most traditional sense.\u00a0 In golden age style, the cases often involve very few suspects, and it\u2019s only a turn of focus and perception that brings clarity and a solution.<\/p>\n

The writing is also knockout, as Jonasson really creates an atmosphere of dark, cold, and endless snowfall, completing the whole package and making him a real standout, an author well worth reading.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a fan of Ann Cleeves\u2019 bleak but excellent Shetland series, you\u2019ll love this series as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While this series started to come out in Jonasson\u2019s native Iceland in 2015, the books have only now started to make their way stateside, via the UK.\u00a0 Rupture, which Jonasson wrote in 2016, will be published here in January. It’s the third in his \u201cDark Iceland\u201d series which began with the sensational Snowblind. Let me … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[50,11,8,14],"class_list":["post-2843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews","tag-iceland","tag-international","tag-police","tag-psychological"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2843"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2981,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2843\/revisions\/2981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/auntagathas.com\/aa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}