Today I’m joining the blog tour for You Can’t See Me. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the blog tour and to Orenda Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’s remote Snæfellsnes peninsula.

Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Ageing carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he’s the boyfriend of Petra’s aunt, but he’s struggling to avoid alcohol because he knows what happens when he drinks … Humble hotel employee, Irma, is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters … perhaps too close…

As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark.

But is the real danger inside … within the family itself?

Masterfully cranking up the suspense, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir draws us into an isolated, frozen setting, where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted, as the dark secrets and painful pasts of the Snæberg family are uncovered … and the shocking truth revealed.

Succession meets And Then There Were None … A Golden Age mystery for the 21st Century, with a shocking twist.

Review:

I’ve really enjoyed every single book in Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir’s Forbidden Iceland series, but You Can’t See Me may well be my favourite. The detectives don’t appear too much in this novel, but we do hear from them in shorter chapters as the action flips between the past (a few days previously) and the present, and this really builds up the intrigue as I wondered, from the very first page, what had happened and who the victim was. 

Unlike the author’s previous books, the chapters are told from the perspective of different characters. There’s a family tree at the beginning of the book and it’s a good idea to take note of this if you can, because the Snaeburgs are a big family, although it does become easier to keep track of them as certain characters come to the fore. I enjoyed getting to know them and getting a feel for their dynamics, and it quickly becomes clear that they are a family with a lot of issues and even more secrets (and reasons to kill each other) and I loved trying to fit everything together and work out who was involved in what. Through this, the author is able to explore several themes, which I won’t share in case of spoilers, but there will be something that resonates with each reader, as the author has carefully considered the issues that may affect a family of this size that covers many generations and family situations. 

As the series title suggests, You Can’t See Me is set in Iceland, and the description of the location is absolutely wonderful. I was able to picture the surroundings and the weather vividly, which was lovely on a really hot day in England! 

As we approached the conclusion, You Can’t See Me becomes much more tense. It’s paced perfectly and it’s a novel that I just had to keep reading, even when I should have been eating or sleeping or replying to e-mails. I hope there are many more crimes planned in this part of Iceland!

You Can’t See Me is available from Amazon.

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