‘Trap’ by Lilja Sigurdardottir

Published by Orenda Books,
October 2018.
ISBN: 978-1-912374-35-9 (PB)

Sonja has escaped to Florida with her son Tomas – until her unscrupulous husband, Adam, snatches Tomas, and she finds herself taken back to Iceland, and the drug barons she thought she had escaped.

Continuing from where Snare finished, this fast-moving novel whisk us straight into Sonja’s nightmare world of ruthless people, including the sinister Mr Jose, who keeps a hungry tiger in his London house. The reader sympathises with Sonja’s predicament, and is drawn into her fear of the men she’s unwillingly involved with. Adam is still being investigated by the public prosecutor over his role in the bank crash, but the heat is fiercest on Sonja’s lover Agla, a competitive finance expert in the male world of banking. She’s come up with a new way to protect their profits from seizure, but illegally-taped phone calls set a new series character, Maria, on her trail. We also meet Braggi again, the customs officer who’s caring for a wife with dementia, and this strand is movingly rounded off. The action is fast, helped by the short chapters switching us from one set of characters to another, the villains ruthless, and the undercover world of Iceland vividly evoked.

A treat for fans who enjoyed Sonja’s debut in Snare; if you haven’t yet read it, then, although Trap works well as a stand-alone, I would recommend reading Snare first.

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Reviewer: Marsali Taylor

Lilja Sigurdardottir was born in the town of Akranes in 1972 and raised in Mexico, Sweden, Spain and Iceland. An award-winning playwright, Lilja has written four crime novels, with Snare, the first in a new series, hitting bestseller lists worldwide. The film rights have been bought by Palomar Pictures in California. Lilja has a background in education and has worked in evaluation and quality control for preschools in recent years. She lives in Reykjavik with her partner.

Marsali Taylor grew up near Edinburgh and came to Shetland as a newly-qualified teacher. She is currently a part-time teacher on Shetland's scenic west side, living with her husband and two Shetland ponies. Marsali is a qualified STGA tourist-guide who is fascinated by history, and has published plays in Shetland's distinctive dialect, as well as a history of women's suffrage in Shetland. She's also a keen sailor who enjoys exploring in her own 8m yacht, and an active member of her local drama group.  Marsali also does a regular monthly column for the Mystery People e-zine.

Click on the title to read a review of her recent book Death on a Shetland Isle

www.marsalitaylor.co.uk