Today I’m taking part in the blog tour for Dead Sweet. My review is written with thanks to Anne Cater for inviting me on the tour and to Orenda Books for my copy of the book.

Blurb:

A murder is just the beginning…

When Óttar Karlsson, a wealthy and respected government official and businessman, is found murdered, after failing to turn up at his own surprise birthday party, the police are at a loss. It isn’t until young police officer Sigurdís finds a well-hidden safe in his impersonal luxury apartment that clues start emerging.

As Óttar’s shady business dealings become clear, a second, unexpected line of enquiry emerges, when Sigurdís finds a US phone number in the safe, along with papers showing regular money transfers to an American account. Following the trail to Minnesota, trauma rooted in Sigurdís’s own childhood threatens to resurface and the investigation strikes chillingly close to home…

Atmospheric, deeply unsettling and full of breakneck twists and turns, Dead Sweet is a startling debut thriller that uncovers a terrifying world of financial crime, sinister cults and disturbing secret lives, and kicks off an addictive, mind-blowing new series.

Review:

Dead Sweet marks the beginning of a brand new series and it looks set to be a cracker! It’s set in Iceland, which is a location I love in a crime novel as it’s so atmospheric and this is no different. Katrin Juliusdottir does a brilliant job of taking us to Iceland and involving the reader in the investigation. It’s hard to believe that she is a debut author as her storytelling is absolutely stunning. I read Dead Sweet so quickly as I was so desperate to find out what was happening.

The protagonist of Dead Sweet is Sigurdis. She’s a young police officer who has some good ideas but is frustrated by police protocol and is determined to prove herself on juicier cases. She also has a harrowing past of her own and I’m interested to see how this unfolds as the series continues.

Dead Sweet is a novel which explores some difficult themes, and this won’t be for everyone. However, the scenes of abusive behaviour are not gratuitous and they add an extra layer to the story.

 There are excerpts from a diary between some of the chapters and I was interested to know what these were and who had written them.

As the investigation unfolds, there are a few elements that I was not expecting and I remained eager to find the answers until the very end.

Dead Sweet is available from Amazon.

You can follow the rest of the blog tour here: