It was meant to be a quiet family fishing trip, a chance for mother and daughter to talk. But it changes the course of their lives forever.
They catch nothing except a broken doll that gets tangled in the net. After years in the ocean, the doll a terrifying sight and the mother’s first instinct is to throw it back, but she relents when her daughter pleads to keep it. This simple act of kindness proves fatal. That evening, the mother posts a picture of the doll on social media. By the morning, she is dead and the doll has disappeared.
Several years later and Detective Huldar is in his least favourite place – on a boat in rough waters, searching for possible human remains. However, identifying the skeleton they find on the seabed proves harder than initially thought, and Huldar must draw on psychologist Freyja’s experience to help him. As the mystery of the unidentified body deepens, Huldar is also drawn into an investigation of a homeless drug addict’s murder, and Freyja investigates a suspected case of child abuse at a foster care home.
What swiftly becomes clear is that the cases are linked through a single, missing, vulnerable witness: the young girl who wanted the doll all those years ago.
My thoughts on The Doll
It’s been a while since I’ve read any Scandi Noir-style books (I know that technically Iceland isn’t in Scandinavia but there are a lot of similarities) and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. And I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed books by Yrsa Sigurdardottir. She has a wonderful way of crafting a story that is just that little bit different from your average police procedural.
The Doll is no exception. The opening is slightly spooky, with the dredging up of a doll from the sea bed and the death of the woman who found it before moving between a number of cases, all of which slowly come together in a way that makes perfect sense – even though you kind of know they shouldn’t.
The fact that they do work well together is down to the skill of Sigurdardottir and you have to marvel at that. I was pretty impressed too by the fact that, for quite a long book, there wasn’t any ‘saggy’ bits, the parts that drag and make you wonder if you should give up.
I never wanted to do that. What I wanted was to stay up late and keep reading. I thought the plot was great (though hard to write about without spoilers), and the characters interesting – the type you want to know more about. For me, this was a real page turner. The type of book I will be thinking about for a while – and will definitely be recommending to others.
Enjoy!
Emma x
Please note: I received a copy of this book in return for a fair and honest review. All thoughts, feelings and opinions are my own.
One Readers Thoughts 
Finding a creepy doll in my fishing net would freak me out. This sounds brilliant!
LikeLike
I have this book on my NetGalley shelf, your review has made me want to start it as soon as I’ve finished what I’m reading!
LikeLike
I hope you enjoy…😀
LikeLiked by 1 person