I am a big fan of Icelandic crime fiction, and very much enjoyed Lilja Sigurdardóttir’s previous novels so I was looking forward to reading her latest Red As Blood.
Red As Blood starts with the wife of millionaire Flossi going missing. He comes home to find the house in dissaray and a ransom demand of two million euros. As someone who specialises in finding missing assets Aurora is asked to help look into the finances of the couple in the hope that the money may throw up some leads. Realising she’s out of her depth she calls in police friend Daniel. They have to race to solve the case without the kidnappers finding out they are involved. Alongside this Aurora is still looking for her missing sister whilst struggling to navigate the path between grief and hope.
Red as blood was another great read from Lilja Sigurdardóttir. The story is told from multiple view points and written with nice short chapters so the story zips along.
There is a large array of characters and at the start it was a little tricky keeping track of them all but I soon found that the story almost had a rhythm that I fell into. I then really enjoyed this cast of characters from the feisty, hands on Aurora to the more measured calm Daniel, through his vibrant drag queen neighbour Lady Gugula. They are all intertwined and bounce of each other as the story progresses and each character is given enough back story to become fully alive.
The story itself was good, and although I did guess part of it there were also plenty of red herrings and twists to keep you on tenterhooks. I always enjoy reading about other places and this was no exception with the cold foggy weather creating a good background for the story.
Although this is the second in the series it can be read as a standalone but you will get more of a sense of Aurora and Daniel if you have read Cold as Hell first.
If you like your scandanvian crime, and sassy interesting characters then this is definitely a read for you.
Don’t forget to find out what others thought by visiting the other stops on the tour:
A crime readers blog 