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The Silence of the Sea
(Þóra Guðmundsdóttir #6)
by
The most chilling novel yet from Yrsa Sigurdardottir, an international bestseller at the height of her powers. 'Mummy dead.' The child's pure treble was uncomfortably clear. It was the last thing Brynjar - and doubtless the others - wanted to hear at that moment. 'Daddy dead.' It got worse. 'Adda dead. Bygga dead.' The child sighed and clutched her grandmother's leg. 'All
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Paperback, 384 pages
Published
2014
by Hodder & Stoughton
(first published 2011)
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A luxury yacht, repossessed from its crooked wealthy owner sails from Lisbon to Iceland. On the dock waiting is an older couple and small child, they are waiting form the rest of the family. But when the yacht arrives it is empty, no people, no apparent bodies. Thora is hired by the older couple to collect on the large life insurance policy, the money to be put aside form the smallest daughter, the one considered to young to make the trip. What could have happened and where are the seven people
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This is a truely creepy book much of which is set on a yacht sailing from Lisbon to Iceland. This is told in parallel with the investigation into what happened to the passengers and crew aboad when the boat crashes into Reykjavik harbour with no-one on board.
These two accounts make for an intreging mystery which perhaps knowing the fate and thinking the worse makes for uncomfortable reading at times. It is quite like the best of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None ", with the hapless peo ...more
These two accounts make for an intreging mystery which perhaps knowing the fate and thinking the worse makes for uncomfortable reading at times. It is quite like the best of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None ", with the hapless peo ...more
Can't get this review to appear on 'my books,' so had to do some moving around. It says I never read it, but I did, so...this is an older review. So I'm going to delete everything, save this review, and repost it. I can't seem to fix it.
I loved the set-up of this one, a little disappointed in how it plays out.
Thora, the MC, a PI, is asked to look into the whereabouts of a missing family who were sailing to to Iceland via a private luxury cruiser. Said cruiser enters (bangs into a jetty) in Reyk ...more
I loved the set-up of this one, a little disappointed in how it plays out.
Thora, the MC, a PI, is asked to look into the whereabouts of a missing family who were sailing to to Iceland via a private luxury cruiser. Said cruiser enters (bangs into a jetty) in Reyk ...more
Book 6 of the Thora series which has been a long hiatus for me since my last venture with Yrsa. It’s not always been a smooth ride with some of the stories a bit of a grind.... those with her German b/f in tow to be precise but seeing as it looks to be the last in the series I thought to finish it off.
So a Mary Celeste style mystery it is as we start with a ghost (luxury Yacht) ship running into Reykjavik harbour...... The story starts with Thora being hired to investigate whilst a story also ru ...more
So a Mary Celeste style mystery it is as we start with a ghost (luxury Yacht) ship running into Reykjavik harbour...... The story starts with Thora being hired to investigate whilst a story also ru ...more
Sadly thrilling
This is a chilling story, told adroitly by its author. Written in a fashion that generates curiosity and fear, it lives up to its title as a thriller. To this reader's mind, none of the characters are very likable, although Thóra, who investigates, has some compassion for those who are affected by the death of their family members.
How Thóra solved the mystery is a bit of a mystery, as the solution is nearly as confusing as the mystery itself! I seldom have criticism for the arc ...more
This is a chilling story, told adroitly by its author. Written in a fashion that generates curiosity and fear, it lives up to its title as a thriller. To this reader's mind, none of the characters are very likable, although Thóra, who investigates, has some compassion for those who are affected by the death of their family members.
How Thóra solved the mystery is a bit of a mystery, as the solution is nearly as confusing as the mystery itself! I seldom have criticism for the arc ...more
A luxury yacht on auto steer comes to dock in Iceland minus it's crew and a young family. A b-list, but once very rich superstar wife of the previous owner of the recently sold yacht has also gone missing! Thor Gudmundsdottir is hired by the young family's parents to investigate.
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Yrsa takes a slow procedural investigation and recounts what happened on the boat and via both stories slowly reveals the chilling horrifying truth of what really happened. Yrsa's crime thriller moves very close to the ...more
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Yrsa takes a slow procedural investigation and recounts what happened on the boat and via both stories slowly reveals the chilling horrifying truth of what really happened. Yrsa's crime thriller moves very close to the ...more
Agonizingly slow mystery that leads to a bitter ending. Not my thing.
Intense noir Icelandic to the max!
Although I adore Thora and Bella - especially that dynamic of boss/ worker- I like it more when Matthew is in the mix. This time, it is less Thora's family and more her work. As a lawyer she is in the case of legal procedure to declare a couple deceased so that their daughter may inherit.
Frankly, I was shocked at the fact that in Iceland, the government declares that children who are orphaned become dictates of the state. All regard decided by the "authority". ...more
Although I adore Thora and Bella - especially that dynamic of boss/ worker- I like it more when Matthew is in the mix. This time, it is less Thora's family and more her work. As a lawyer she is in the case of legal procedure to declare a couple deceased so that their daughter may inherit.
Frankly, I was shocked at the fact that in Iceland, the government declares that children who are orphaned become dictates of the state. All regard decided by the "authority". ...more
I found this boring and the story felt like it was dragged out to breaking point. Where was the chilling, creepy, crime mystery? People disappear from a boat, lets spend over 500 pages taking you through their entire paranoid voyage whilst also following a lawyer as she proves how great she is at collecting various bits of paper from people. Yes, apparently the lawyer is trying to solve the mystery but in reality she is visiting various people in the company of her wholly unbelievable receptioni
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This has a very cool premise and neat characters. However, I found it had too many words. I adore this kind of scary mystery and Sigurðardóttir may have managed it further on in pages that surround readers like the endless ocean outside the yacht. Only I would not see it because I would be dead already.
4.0 out of 5 stars -- Complex and intense mystery, the latest in the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series (#6).
The chilling opening of this suspense novel by the "Queen of Nordic Noir" quickly sets the mood for this well plotted tale. A luxury yacht that is supposed to have 7 persons on board crashes into the pier in Reykjavik Harbor. A family of four (husband, wife and twin daughters) and 3 crew are missing from the yacht. There is no evidence of foul play and no clues as to what might have happened. Th ...more
The chilling opening of this suspense novel by the "Queen of Nordic Noir" quickly sets the mood for this well plotted tale. A luxury yacht that is supposed to have 7 persons on board crashes into the pier in Reykjavik Harbor. A family of four (husband, wife and twin daughters) and 3 crew are missing from the yacht. There is no evidence of foul play and no clues as to what might have happened. Th ...more
Wow, I really enjoyed the book and definately a 5* read. I was lucky to get this as a first read winner and I am so pleased. The book makes me feel as though I was on board the yacht, sea sickness and all. When the boat arrive at Reykjavic harbour with no-one on board the police are mystified. What had happened to the crew and family that left Lisbon. The family's parents are looking after their youngest daughter and are worried at what will happen to her now they can't be found. They are too ol
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Loved it, hardly drew a breath while reading it and couldn't put it down. A yacht crashes into a port in Iceland, empty...Where are the 7 people who were on it? This scary, addictive book moves back and forth between the yacht and Iceland, seamlessly and effortlessly. There are scenes that made me promise myself never to travel the ocean on a yacht - terrifying... But utterly recommended!
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when you can feel the love without even say a word i love it
it's get me deeply ...more
it's get me deeply ...more
Although The Silence of The Sea is the 6th book in the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series, it is definitely a book that stands alone. I can't remember how I heard about this book, but I can tell you that I searched a few libraries for it and had to wait a few days for my inter-library loan to arrive. I'm glad I requested this book. This is my first novel from Icelandic author Yrsa (pronounced UR-suh) Sigurdardorttir (pronounced SIG-ur-dar-daughter). Wow! That's a mouth full, so when you get passed all
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Wow!
A tense atmospheric thriller. Fast paced with many twists and turns. Loved it, especially Thora.
When a repossessed luxury yacht crashes into the harbour it is meant to be mooring at, the waiting friends and family members are horrified to find the yacht devoid of any crew or passengers. The captain and his two crew members as well as the family of 4 that were helping out on the voyage home are nowhere to be seen. Thóra Gudmundsdóttir is hired by the parents of the missing father of the family to investigate life policies left behind in order to pay for the upkeep of the remaining grandchil
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This is an amazing novel, told on two planes.
The opening scene is of a fabulous yacht, several decks high, coming into Reykjavik harbour. On the wharf waiting for it are an old couple with a young granddaughter, a man with his leg in a cast, and the harbour master. Something is wrong. The yacht makes no attempt to slow down and it crashes into the wharf. No one appears on deck and it becomes apparent that there is nobody aboard. The incident makes the headlines of Reykjavik news.
Thora Gundmundso ...more
The opening scene is of a fabulous yacht, several decks high, coming into Reykjavik harbour. On the wharf waiting for it are an old couple with a young granddaughter, a man with his leg in a cast, and the harbour master. Something is wrong. The yacht makes no attempt to slow down and it crashes into the wharf. No one appears on deck and it becomes apparent that there is nobody aboard. The incident makes the headlines of Reykjavik news.
Thora Gundmundso ...more
2 stars for the last 2 pages and their exceptionally dark ending.
There are unrealistic scenarios like the whole plot. Even by page 5, there's the 2-year-old who cries "mummy dead' and 'daddy dead'. At 2, she's likely too young to understand death. Then, there are the conflicts of information, for example where the author refers to the same child, saying she would have no understanding of the death. Petty sidelines like these take up a lot of page space. I don't care about the lawyer's catty rela ...more
There are unrealistic scenarios like the whole plot. Even by page 5, there's the 2-year-old who cries "mummy dead' and 'daddy dead'. At 2, she's likely too young to understand death. Then, there are the conflicts of information, for example where the author refers to the same child, saying she would have no understanding of the death. Petty sidelines like these take up a lot of page space. I don't care about the lawyer's catty rela ...more
A luxury yacht slams into the harbour wall in Reykjavik. When police investigate they discover no one on board. Missing are the skeleton crew and an employee of the company overseeing liquidation of assets and his wife and twin daughters. The grandparents of the little girls approach Lawyer Thora Gudmundsdottir to help them gain custody of their youngest granddaughter left behind because her her age and assist with life insurance claim
The full story unravels from two angles: Thora's investigatio ...more
The full story unravels from two angles: Thora's investigatio ...more
I read a review of this in a Sunday paper and thought it sounded interesting. The story has a vaguely ghostly quality as it develops - deliberately I would say - and draws you in. The story alternates between the present and the past as it recounts the story of a ship that runs aground in Iceland with no one aboard. The story is told through the viewpoint of a woman trying to unravel the mystery and the a man caught up on the boat before it was found empty.
I really enjoyed the story including t ...more
I really enjoyed the story including t ...more
The first half of the book I had pretty much decided to give this 4 stars. It has suspense and a bit of a creepy/spooky factor going on. But as I got closer to the end of the book I felt it dragged on a bit.
It's still a good read, just not amazing in my opinion. I will probably read more by the author in the future though! ...more
It's still a good read, just not amazing in my opinion. I will probably read more by the author in the future though! ...more
One review I'd read said:"a gripping thriller with enough mystery & horror to keep you sitting on the edge of your seat...." - I can only assume that the review was for another book and ended up on this one by mistake. The only horror was the plot.
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Wow, what a story. It was about greed.
The premise of this story seemed interesting. It had promise, so it really should have been. Unfortunately, it was sooo boring. It took me so long to get through this, even with skimming through all the unnecessary parts about Thora's children and snoozefest life. The unraveling of the events on the yacht was remotely interesting, but it dragged on -- and then in the end, suddenly Thora knows nearly everything that supposedly happened, even though she's a lawyer and not a detective, and didn't r
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Thought this was going somewhere creepy and harrowing, but it wound missing the mark in a big way. The problem is that Aegir doesn't have enough agency, I think; ultimately he's just a guy whom unpleasant things happen to. And since he's the primary viewpoint on the central mystery, the whole thing doesn't seem revelatory; it just seems like a bunch of unpleasant events capped by an epilogue that (sorry) came off as exploitative.
(As a sidenote, I was saying that the book did make me want to take ...more
(As a sidenote, I was saying that the book did make me want to take ...more
A great introduction to Icelandic mysteries. A luxury yacht crashes into a Reyjavik pier. The yacht is unmanned, yet when it set sail from Lisbon is had a full crew and a family as passengers. The investigation covers land and sea, as well as rumors that the vessel was cursed. Bit by bit the fates of all aboard are revealed and the mystery is solved. The novel is a masterpiece of thrilling and suspenseful writing.
It was refreshing to read a thriller without any super strong super smart characters chasing each other all over the world, instantly recovering from all their injuries. This one has more believable characters and you can even figure out whodunit about two thirds of the way through. Stick with it till the end, though. There are still those loose ends to tidy up.
The book is good it’s a 3,5 ⭐️ but not enough for a 4 ⭐️! The story is quite good the idea is great a Beautiful voyage from Lisbon to Reykjavik with an Insolvency office taking care of the Boat that’s under liquidity! The idea is superb I just reckon could make a better book! Anyway the novel is highly readable!
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Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic writer, of both crime-novels and children's fiction. She has been writing since 1998.
Her début crime-novel "Last Rituals" published in the US in 2007, and the UK in January 2008 was translated into English by Bernard Scudder, and is book 1 of the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series.
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir graduated from high-school in 1983, finished a B.Sc. in civil engin ...more
Her début crime-novel "Last Rituals" published in the US in 2007, and the UK in January 2008 was translated into English by Bernard Scudder, and is book 1 of the Thóra Gudmundsdóttir series.
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir graduated from high-school in 1983, finished a B.Sc. in civil engin ...more
Other books in the series
Þóra Guðmundsdóttir
(6 books)
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