SHORTLISTED FOR THE PETRONA AWARD 2024

'Mesmerising and atmospheric, with entrancing descriptions of landscape' *** A SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR ***

THE FIRST PHONE CALL SHOCKS A FAMILY

A box of photo albums is found in the attic of a house in Höfn, a small fishing village on the south coast of Iceland. The new owners return it to the man who sold them the house, along with a muddied child's shoe with a name written on the sole: Salvor. The man is baffled; they never knew anyone called that. Shortly after the phone rings - it's the nursing home where his mother, an Alzheimer's patient, lives. She's suffered a heart attack and the doctors don't expect her to live much longer. The nurse asks him to let his sister, Salvör, know as well. Their mother has been asking for her.

THE SECOND TRACKS TWO MISSING COUPLES

Jóhanna is a member of a search and rescue team in Höfn and she's searching for two couples from Reykjavik. Their phones' last location has been pinpointed as the road leading up into the highlands. It's far from clear why these people would have made such a risky trip in the middle of the harsh winter, and they soon find the first dead body. More troubling, Johanna senses her team is being tracked out in the snow.

A THIRD FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE?

Hjörvar works at the Stokksnes Radar Station in the highlands. He is alone when the phone connected to the gate rings. It's the first time it's done so since he began working there five months ago. He picks up the phone but can hear only interference and what sounds like a child's voice asking for her mother.

How are these events connected? And what may be searching for its prey out on the ice?

'A nail-biting, ice-cold tale of horror. Twisty, twisted and scary as hell' C.J. TUDOR
'Sigurdardottir is a skilled hand and ties all her threads and twists together neatly, but it's her thrilling tale of a struggle to survive in freezing temperatures, under a sky that never seems to lighten, that provides the real chill factor here' OBSERVER
'Atmospheric, twisty' HEAT
'An extraordinarily creepy mystery. Sigurdardottir can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up whether describing the weird and wintry terrain of southern Iceland or the odd behaviour of a cat called Puss. The outer darkness reflects that within the characters. One of the doomed hikers asks herself: "Was there no end to the wretchedness and cruelty of the world?" The answer she receives will make your blood run cold' THE TIMES
'Dark, creepy, and gripping from beginning to end' STUART MACBRIDE
'Yrsa gets better with each book' LIZ NUGENT
'Such engaging characters and a compelling, twisted and creepy mystery' SHARI LAPENA
'Atmospheric, mysterious and brilliantly plotted' MARI HANNAH

Praise for Yrsa Sigurdardottir - :
The undisputed Queen of Icelandic Noir -- Simon Kernick
Nail-biting . . . Iceland's long dark nights are at their most minatory in Sigurdardottir's atmospheric thrillers * Financial Times *
One of the best books I've read for a long time: dark, creepy, and gripping from beginning to end -- Stuart MacBride
Sigurdardottir is as confident a writer as ever * The Sunday Times *
Praise for The Prey - :
Sigurdardottir's novels are always suffused with a sense of unease and her characters struggle with mental turmoil as well as hostile conditions. Lyrical landscape descriptions combine with intimations of terrible events in the past in this haunting story * Sunday Times CULTURE *
If you like your chilling thrillers ice-cold and with an epic plot twist, then look no further . . . another atmospheric, twisty thrill-fest from Sigurdardottir * Heat *
Sigurdardottir is a skilled hand and ties all her threads and twists together neatly, but it's her thrilling tale of a struggle to survive in freezing temperatures, under a sky that never seems to lighten, that provides the real chill factor here * Observer *
This Icelandic writer is the real horror deal * Peterborough Telegraph *
A supernatural Icelandic thriller that'll chill you to the bone * Buzz Magazine *
The Prey is an extraordinarily creepy mystery. Sigurdardottir can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up whether describing the weird and wintry terrain of southern Iceland or the odd behaviour of a cat called Puss. The outer darkness reflects that within the characters. One of the doomed hikers asks herself: "Was there no end to the wretchedness and cruelty of the world?" The answer she receives will make your blood run cold * The Times *
Mesmerising and atmospheric, with entrancing descriptions of landscape * The Sunday Times (Culture) *

Author of the bestselling Thora Gudmundsdottir crime series and several stand-alone thrillers, Yrsa Sigurdardottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1963 and works as a civil engineer. She made her crime fiction debut in 2005 with LAST RITUALS, the first instalment in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series, and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Her work stands 'comparison with the finest contemporary crime writing anywhere in the world' according to the Times Literary Supplement. In 2015 THE SILENCE OF THE SEA won the Petrona Award for the year's best Scandinavian crime novel. All of her books have been European bestsellers. Victoria Cribb has translated over thirty-five books by Icelandic authors. Her translations of Moonstone and CoDex 1962 were both longlisted for the PEN America Translation Prize and in 2017 she received the Ordstír honorary translation award for services to Icelandic literature.