Helpful Score: 1
I have been a huge fan of Ragnar Jónasson ever since reading his excellent police procedural series set in northern Iceland featuring Ari Thór Arason and his superb Hulda Hermannsdóttir trilogy. However, I have to admit that the bloom is wearing off the rose a bit with this second standalone thriller.
Don't get me wrong. Outside is very well-plotted and extremely well-written. The narrative moves back and forth between the four friends so readers are able to get inside the characters' heads and formulate their own ideas about what exactly is going on. It doesn't take long at all to see that certain things just don't add up.
The set-up is good. The execution is fine. So... what exactly is my problem? This is the second standalone thriller Jónasson has written in which I haven't been able to rouse much enthusiasm for any of the characters. Wait. That's not entirely true. In Outside, I had enough enthusiasm to wish that all four friends would leave their shelter, go out into the raging storm, and turn into human popsicles. (It's fiction. I'm allowed, right?) I found all four of them to be extremely annoying and self-absorbed. So much so, that I think I kept on reading hoping that they would walk out into the snow and vanish-- never to be seen again.
Hopefully, you have more patience than I do.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
Don't get me wrong. Outside is very well-plotted and extremely well-written. The narrative moves back and forth between the four friends so readers are able to get inside the characters' heads and formulate their own ideas about what exactly is going on. It doesn't take long at all to see that certain things just don't add up.
The set-up is good. The execution is fine. So... what exactly is my problem? This is the second standalone thriller Jónasson has written in which I haven't been able to rouse much enthusiasm for any of the characters. Wait. That's not entirely true. In Outside, I had enough enthusiasm to wish that all four friends would leave their shelter, go out into the raging storm, and turn into human popsicles. (It's fiction. I'm allowed, right?) I found all four of them to be extremely annoying and self-absorbed. So much so, that I think I kept on reading hoping that they would walk out into the snow and vanish-- never to be seen again.
Hopefully, you have more patience than I do.
(Review copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley)
