Girls Who Lie by EVA BJÖRG ÆGISDÓTTIR
At once a startling, tense psychological thriller, and a sophisticated and twisty police procedural from a rising star in Icelandic literature.
When single mother Maríanna disappears from her home, leaving an apologetic note on the kitchen table, it is assumed that she’s taken her own life – until her body is found on the Grábrók lava fields seven months later, clearly the victim of murder. Her neglected fifteen-year-old daughter Hekla has been placed in foster care, but is her perfect new life hiding something sinister?
Fifteen years earlier, a desperate new mother lies in a maternity ward, unable to look at her own child, the start of an odd and broken relationship that leads to tragedy.
Police officer Elma and her colleagues take on the case, which becomes increasingly complex, as the list of suspects grows ever longer and new light is shed on Maríanna’s past – and the childhood of a girl who never was like the others...
About the author.
Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in Globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland and deciding to write a novel – something she had wanted to do since she won a short-story competition at the age of fifteen. After nine months combining her writing with work as a stewardess and caring for her children, Eva finished The Creak on the Stairs. It was published in 2018, and became a bestseller in Iceland. It also went on to win the Blackbird Award, a prize set up by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Ragnar Jónasson to encourage new Icelandic crime writers. It was published in English by Orenda Books in 2020. Eva lives in Reykjavík with her husband and three children and is currently working on the third book in the Forbidden Iceland series. Follow her on @evaaegisdottir
Review
‘Girls Who Lie’ is an outstanding book. It’s taut, chilling, completely gripping, a fascinating location and oh my the tension! This is the second book in the Forbidden Iceland series but it can be read as a standalone. However, I recommend you read ‘Creak on the Stairs’ as it's brilliant - plus it just won a CWA Dagger so you know it's a great series!
Iceland and its country is another character in this book as Eva brilliantly describes the landscape and its weather, to the extent that you feel you are there hearing the windows rattle in the wind. Plus, I don't think I have ever read a book where the deposition site is a cave in a lava field before! So unique.
The addition of the chapters in which you find out about the life of a young mother 15 years ago made for a gradual build-up of information and tension. As a reader, you wanted to know more and the background behind the mother's experience. I must say when the ‘ah-ha’ moment arrived I was not expecting it at all! Well done Eva!
I really enjoyed the interaction between Elma and Saver as they were a good counterbalance to the dark aspects of the book. The development of both their characters I felt made them come across as more human and well rounded. I can't wait to see what happens to them in the next book. It's these two characters which made the book compelling.
Random point here - I can't wait to try a danish pastry that is so long it has to be cut into pieces. That sounds like heaven!
I can't wait for the next in the series.
