My Soul to Take: Thora Gudmundsdottir Book 2: Thora Gudmundsdottir

Sigurdardottir delivers terrific clammy atmosphere and frequent frissons of fear; she is entitled to join the front rank of Nordic crime writers.
The second book from Yrsa Sigurdardottir is funny as well as being a taut and accomplished novel.
Yrsa Sigurdardottir brilliantly conjures an atmosphere of creeping menace and unreality.
The numerous twists and turns are worthy of Agatha Christie and keep the reader guessing until the very end.
This is well-written, pacey and wonderfully atmospheric, but the USP here is the character of Gudmundsdottir. Wry, very funny and valiantly trying to balance the demands of her private life with her work - she is a joy. I'm looking forward to number three.
Both frightening and funny - a terrific trick if you can pull it off.
Distinguished by superb evocations of extraordinary landscapes and . . . rivetingly gruesome inventiveness.
A suspenseful, sophisticated story
A welcome second outing for the good-natured lawyer-sleuth Thora Gudmundsdottir . . . Yrsa Sigurdardottir's lightness of touch is refreshing
The novel is both spooky and gruesome. But Thora's distinctly chaotic private life provides a welcome contrast and moments of very black humour . . . It's rare to find a crime novel that's both chilling and witty - an agreeable combination
Dark, rich and satisfying.
Yrsa Sigurdardottir has arrived, fully formed, it seems, as something of a unique talent in the field . . . [She] matches Tess Gerritsen and Kathy Reichs in the bloodchiller stakes.
'Iceland is fast becoming a hotbed of fine crime writing, and Sigurdardottir is at the front of the pack. This second novel builds on her already impressive reputation . . . brilliantly paced and expertly constructed.'
More splendidly accomplished - and involving - fare from Sigurdardottir

In the mystical Snæfellsnes region on Iceland's west coast—at a New Age health resort in a renovated farmhouse—the body of a young woman is discovered, savagely beaten, with pins inserted into her feet. Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, lawyer and single mother of two, has been retained to represent the resort's owner and prime suspect. But a fresh corpse is not the only abomination Thóra encounters here—for local legend says this place is haunted . . . and a bizarre series of inexplicable occurrences soon suggests it is so.
As Thóra digs deeply into the farm's past, she unearths a shocking history of evil and depravity—and her once-solid view of reality begins to waver. But a second murder, shockingly similar to the first, pulls Thóra back to earth by making two inescapable truths abundantly clear: the killer she seeks is very real . . . and is not finished yet.

Yrsa SigurdardÓttir is an award-winning author of five children's novels and a division manager with one of Iceland's largest engineering firms. She lives with her family in Reykjavík, Iceland.