Cold War suspense set 1989 BERLIN
Mystery set in REYKJAVIK
11th August 2026
Stop Dead by Katrín Júlíusdóttir, mystery set in Reykjavik.
TR: Larissa Kyzer
Sigurðís is back from the States and thrown straight into the twin turmoils of the murder case of Olga, a TV personality, during the Reykjavik marathon, and the reopening of the case of her dad’s alleged suicide, under an allegation of possible mishandling at the time. She’s reunited to work beneath Unnar, and the tension still fizzles between them, making her wonder what to do about boyfriend Jeff left behind in the States. There’s not much to go on in the murder case, but as Sigurðís travels around putting together a bigger picture of Olga’s life, it transpires that her glossy image hides a somewhat murkier underside.
Interspersed are chapters where it becomes apparent that someone is following Sigurðís, and eventually this spills over into the main text as a clear threat is delivered.
As the book progressed I was wolfing down the chapters, the tension was really hotting up, and I was suspecting anybody and everybody, but the number of pages left looked worryingly insufficient to wrap everything up (and I do know the Icelander’s penchant for leaving stories open-ended!) although you’ll be as relieved to hear as I was to discover that Katrín delivers us there in the end with aplomb, but with also the Icelandic trademark doorway left open for future possibilities… Not the least of which is what her mum has to say about the reopened case, which did feel a little rushed in the conclusion, but again, perhaps this is simply sowing seeds for book 3.
There is a change of translator from book one, but I feel the author’s voice still comes across in keeping with Dead Sweet, for which Larissa Kyzer must be applauded.
The content gets a full rating from me of 5 stars, it’s a real insight into having to try and pull together a case when there’s a heap of public and higher-ups pressure, but just so little to actually go on.
Although the action takes place mainly in Reykjavik, with visits to various more distant locations in the country, I would say that this is a more character driven novel, where the setting is secondary – it could be any city and distant villages really, it wasn’t crucial to the plot that it was Iceland per se. This is possibly down to author and anticipated audience familiarity – not much descriptive detail may be given because simply by naming a place your home audience already has that mental image and knowledge of cultural mores and foibles etc. So I think a 3 star rating for setting is fair.
An enjoyable follow up to Dead Sweet, and I will look forward to what Katrín (& Sigurðís!) brings us next time.”
Lee-Anne for the TripFiction Team
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