Cold Malice

Officer Gunnhildur #7

by Quentin Bates

Reykjavík detective Gunnhildur Gísladóttir tries not to believe in ghosts. But when Helgi, one of her team is certain he's seen a man who had been declared dead more than fifteen years ago, she reluctantly gives him some unofficial leeway to look into it.

Has the not-so-dead man returned from the grave to settle old scores, or has he just decided to take a last look around his old haunts?

Either way, there are people who have nursed grudges for years, hoping for a reckoning one day. Even the rumour of his being alive and kicking is enough to spark a storm of fury and revenge, with Gunnhildur and Helgi caught up in the middle of it.

Praise for Quentin Bates:

'A great read - leaves you craving the next installment' - Yrsa Sigurðardóttir

'A meticulously constructed thriller, peopled with exceptionally convincing characters and shot through with black humour. Frozen Out is as chilling as an Icelandic winter' - S.J. Bolton

'Superior crime fiction set in Iceland... this is a well constructed, well written and satisfying police procedural' - The Times on Cold Comfort

'[A] crackling fiction debut ... palpable authenticity' - Publishers Weekly on Frozen Out

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Nordic Noir, Fiction

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 11, 2020

Reviews

[Mario · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing.

I’ve found all the books in this series a little hit and miss with some good aspects, such as the excellent main protagonist, Gunnhilder and some clever scenarios. Other aspects, such as the over complicated plot lines and innumerable peripheral, characters, I’ve found difficult.

This book followed a similar pattern but also had no real tension or twists in the story and had a desperately flat ending. Far too ordinary to warrant persevering any further into the series. Last one for me.

[Rowena Hoseason · Rating 4 out of 5]

After an atypical assignment in the preceding book, Cold Breath, police detective Gunna is back on familiar territory in this story. A sudden death in strange circumstances leads her to cast an inquisitive eye over older events and an earlier death by ‘misadventure’. Or was it something more sinister?

Gunna is her usual self – brisk to the point of being brusque, bluntly straightforward in her thinking and talking. She’s a refreshingly straightforward, no-nonsense female investigator. She’s also immune to the smarmy charms of the metro-chic new bohemians whose tangled private lives could have contributed to more than one fatality.

Their secrets range from merely immoral misdeeds to fatal criminal conspiracies – and the threat of discovery combined with potentially profitable illicit opportunities start yet more unlawful dominos tumbling…

Author Quentin Bates adds another overlapping plot about the familial ties that bind parent and child. A father pulled off a near-perfect disappearance a decade ago, but risks his new life to re-establish contact with his old family when one of his offspring takes a criminal turn. He attracts a whole bunch of trouble by showing his face again – risking the safety of the very people he is trying to protect.

This isn’t one of the breathless action-adventure thrillers which you gallop through at a pell-mell pace. It pays to take a metaphysical stroll through the pages, maintaining your attention as the intertwined storylines play out. You will definitely need to wrap your head around a metric tonne of Icelandic names and multi-generational relationships – because the domestic lives of the investigators and their complicated familial arrangements form connecting threads throughout this series.

Equally, this isn’t one of those dark, brooding Icelandic sagas full of nameless dread and Nordic angst. Instead Bates writes about solidly bluff Icelanders, the families of forthright fishermen whose personalities have been formed over decades by the same windswept forces that shape the shores of this fiery island. The characters of this story are time-served grafters who carve a hard living in Reykjavík’s sidestreets. And that’s what gives Cold Malice its unique appeal; the solid core of complete credibility which Bates bring to this complex genre.
8/10

There are many more reviews of Scandi crime and Nordic noir over at http://www.murdermayhemandmore.net

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gunna returns. It's winter in Iceland, the weather makes life difficult, and there are overlapping stories here which takes some concentration to keep on top of (but there's the usual wry humour too). A man vanishes, presumed dead, on holiday during the tsunami of 2004, yet here he is, returning incognito to Iceland (he appears to have murdered a Danish drug addict and assumed his identity, and has a new life in Spain). Of course his attempt to fly under the radar goes as well as you might expect, in a small country where people have long memories and many family connections, and he is recognised at the airport before even landing in Iceland. From there on he manages, just about, to keep one step ahead, and to re-establish contact with his family, particularly his daughter, and meets his baby granddaughter, perhaps for the only time. His wife and children all believed him to be dead (his wife, who has remarried, certainly doesn't want him coming back to life, not least because she has claimed his life insurance), but his brother (now a budding politician) did know that he was alive, and comes to his rescue as needed. Meanwhile the police team are also involved in a suicide case which leads them to a historic murder, with links to the same brother. Ingvar is a terrible rogue, of course, but somehow you do want him to get away with it (while wondering how he could ever have thought that reappearing in Iceland was a good idea!) As ever, a realistic and atmospheric slice of Icelandic life, although with perhaps a grimmer undertone than we would like to think there usually is. Oh, and there are a couple of murders - both of which escape official investigation!

[Valerie-St.John-Romans · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confusing

I typically only buy books with a 4+ rating and now I remember why I have that rule. I would have given this only 2 stars, but I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt; maybe it lost something in the translation. Or maybe it was great, but so many Icelandic names were just to confusing for my poor little American brain. Either way, the story line had no discernable resolution that I could ascertain. I am going to Iceland soon, and I did find some reward getting a very limited view into the Icelandic lifestyle. So all was not lost.

[Spuddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, I do hope there will be more books in this series! I saved this most recent one for a couple of years, hoping that there would be more. I love the series, the setting (Iceland), the main character Gunnhildur and her family, friends and co-workers. Gunnhildur gets involved in a cold case mystery when one of her co-workers, en route home from holiday, sees what he thinks is a man who was presumed dead years ago in the airport, on his way to Iceland. So certain is he, that he's not willing to write it off as coincidence, and it ends up getting twisted up with the present-day presumed suicide of an artist living on a remote farm. With just that right balance of police procedural details and progression of the recurring characters and their personal lives, I truly hope there will yet be more of this fantastic series. I enjoyed the reading of the audio version very much!

[Frieda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leaves too many questions

A very unconvincing storyline, wrapped around another storyline of environmental politics and the corruption of politicians and lawyers , with an ending of two many people getting away with literally murder on top of an unfortunate police officer, Helge, too dumb to accomplish anything. Left me frustrated at he end. What was the point of this guy showing up in person after disappearing and starting a new life and family, while leaving his wife and children believing he perished in a Tsunami? And after years of not caring, all of the sudden he remembered that he had a son, just because this son went to prison? Makes no sense. Maybe I am tired of this series …

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly-regarded author hangs himself. Gunna’s colleague Helgi catches a glimpse of a man thought to have been swept away years ago in a tsunami. Gunna – Detective Gunnhildur Gisladottir – is a great character, so any book featuring her is a welcome read. This kaleidoscope of a book is something of a challenge, however. If it were a film, the editor is splicing every few frames. However, since it is a book, there are no visual clues to orient the reader to the shifts. And the author relies heavily on pronouns rather than names which, though hard to remember, would provide some ground for the reader.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why I find books set in Iceland so appealing, I can't explain - though I have thoroughly enjoyed my visits to Iceland. And have appreciated books I've read by Quentin Bates. A very bad guy, believed to have died in the tsunmi in Thailand, has snuck back into Iceland to see his kids after many years of disappearance. We never learn what he has done in the past is so evil - though we do see him doing plenty of evil in his short visit to Iceland. I found the ending somewhat disappointing - though probably more realistic than many books.

[Ken Fredette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quentin Bates seemed to find the hardest crimes to solve but Gunna and Helgi seemed to run into them without any problems. Gunna found a suicide with a suicide happening 5 years prior. Helgi thought he found a lost man that was from a tsunami in Thailand in 2004 showing up in 2020. Both cases seemed to change from time to time as Quentin seems to change the plots. Each of them seems to end in some kind of noir situation.

[Glady Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read for Bates. Good solid, likable characters. I liked the way he told the story from multiple points of view. It was actually easy to follow along with the characters view of what's happening and what they are thinking. I like that characters threw on a little humor to offset more serious happenings.

[Bud Mallar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff. but with an odd ending, but you have to read it to figure out why I say that.

Again, character drive police procedural, although to keep me confused, there were about three story lines all with a bunch of 'strange' names making it hard for me to keep up with which character went with which investigation.

Enjoyed and happy there are more in the series.

[Henry Curran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quentin Bates at his very best

Great reed ,fast pace with the correct amount of mystery.
I loved every second of it and hope it's not the last we hear from Gunna.
Keep up with this exceptional standard Quentin you have it mastered.

[Rachael M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly average book, average plot and predictable characters. It certainly was a struggle to keep up with who was who and where. Points for trying. Upgrade from 2.5 stars because Iceland sounds cool.

[Michele Zito · Rating 3 out of 5]

First read from this author. Good but not wow.

[Marcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written, great characters, good setting.....but where was the resolution?

[Karl Lane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book. Having been to Iceland I found it easy to picture all of the locations. I found the ending slightly disappointing.

[Ruth Martynowicz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed in the ending. I felt too many loose ends unresolved

[Janellyn51 · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK, but not as good as the others. Less Gunna maybe?

[Sonja van der Westhuizen | West Words · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been less than two years since we’ve heard from Officer Gunnhildur Gisladottir of the Serious Crime Unit in Reykjavik. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. On average, Quentin Bates has written a novel almost annually since 2011. Considering he also translates Ragnar Jonasson and Lilja Sigurdardottir’s books, Bates, much like an Icelandic winter, is a force to be reckoned with, albeit a humble and kind one.

Rest of the review https://westwordsreviews.wordpress.co... and on Crime Fiction Lover.

[B E LAWLER · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cold and calculating

Complex and slowly evolving, an intricate story line.
Not as much Gunnhildur as I like. Descriptive narrative with a
Logical ending