Someone to Watch Over Me (Thóra Gudmundsdóttir Series #5)

by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Overview

Bestselling and award-winning Icelandic crime author Yrsa Sigurdardottir is back with the next book in her Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series. SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME, the fifth installment in the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series, was named Crime Novel of the Year by the Sunday Times.

A young man with Down's Syndrome has been convicted of burning down his assisted living facility and killing five people, but a fellow inmate at his secure psychiatric unit has hired Thora to prove Jakob is innocent. If he didn't do it, who did? And how is the multiple murder connected to the death of a young woman, killed in what was supposed to be a hit-and-run?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250080974
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/23/2016
Series:	Thóra Gudmundsdóttir Series , #5
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

YRSA SIGURDARDÓTTIR (pronounced UR-suh SIG-ur-dar-daughter) lives with her family in Reykjavík; she is also a director of one of Iceland's largest engineering firms. Her work is found on bestseller lists all over the world, and films are currently in production for several of her books. Her titles include, The Day is Dark and Ashes to Dust.

Editorial Reviews

Iceland's Sigurdardottir is the reigning queen of mysteries, earning accolades worldwide and even an upcoming TV series. She deserves every bit of her praise. Her series about Reykjavik lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir is one of the best out there: spunky but smart heroine, wonderfully exotic setting, great subplots about Iceland's financial collapse and intriguing mysteries that always manage to satisfyingly come together. Someone to Watch Over Me may be her best Thora book, seductively weaving together two seemingly disparate stories about a man with Down Syndrome accused of burning down his group home and the hit-and-run-death of a babysitter who now seems to be haunting her young charge.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer (Grade: A)

“Yrsa Sigurdardóttir is ensconced at or near the summit of Nordic crime writing.” —The Times (UK)

“Someone To Watch Over Me, just out, has already seen Yrsa Sigurdardóttir inevitably labeled 'Iceland's answer to Stieg Larsson'” —The Independent (UK)

“This is a dark and brilliant novel.” —Sunday Times (UK)

“Thriller of the week. This is a finely drawn portrait.” —Mail (UK)

“This is a tough but moving novel, with an unusual plot and characters.” —Sunday Times (UK)

“A skilled author ... Extremely well plotted.” —Kiljan TV (Iceland)

“Nordic mystery writers can raise goosebumps as few others can, and Sigurdardottir shows she's one of the best.” —Booklist (starred) on I Remember You

“Sigurdardottir has written an excellent and seriously scary mystery with tangible and supernatural elements that will appeal to fans of John Ajvide Lindqvist.” —Library Journal (starred) on I Remember You

From the Publisher

2015-01-08
A suspicious fire in a home for the severely disabled leads to an investigation of the Icelandic social safety net in Thóra Gudmundsdóttir's fifth outing (The Day Is Dark, 2013, etc.).The arson has supposedly been solved, and one of the house's residents, Jakob Porbjarnardóttir, who has Down syndrome, has been convicted and sentenced to a psychiatric facility. However, one of Jakob's fellow prisoners, a sex offender and all-around creep named Jósteinn Karlsson, hires Thóra under the pretense that Jakob's previous lawyer missed compelling evidence that would have pointed to the true fire-starter. What Karlsson really wants, however, is to play a complex game of cat and mouse with our heroine, using her to avenge what he perceives as past wrongs. Sigurdardóttir's thriller moves slowly at first but picks up speed as Thóra speaks to more people involved with the burned-down facility—the families of the other residents, the therapists and other staff who worked there, and the beleaguered former director, who is certainly hiding something (as is Jakob's first, barely competent lawyer). When she discovers that a comatose patient had been pregnant at the time of her death in the fire, the mystery deepens, and Thóra's tenacity becomes more compelling and poignant. The backdrop of the novel is, of course, the collapse of the Icelandic economy, with rocketing unemployment and everyone feeling squeezed (literally, in Thóra's case; her household is composed of her; her out-of-work boyfriend; her two children; one grandchild; and her financially imprudent parents). Yet there are also the moving stories Thóra uncovers of families with disabled children, their sacrifices and their attempts to make the lives of society's most vulnerable members a little better. Unusual material for a mystery, but Sigurdardóttir handles it deftly through Thóra, who is as compassionate as she is intelligent and dogged.

Kirkus Reviews