Dr. Sue Ellen Holbrook introduced me to the Icelandic sagas and Vikings in 1975 while I was her student at Temple. I was hooked, and I longed to go to Iceland, but even with the well-known bargain airfares on offer then, I couldn’t afford to go–or perhaps I was too timid to take the chance. Anyway, it took another 30 years until I finally got there, and it’s been a regular short-break destination and/or layover break in our travels. In 2013, we attended the inaugural Iceland Noir, an intimate conference held at Nordic House in Reykjavik. We (husband George and I) had read novels by many of the authors who were speaking, and the conference gave us more authors whose work we now follow. Among them is Yrsa Sigurdardottir, whose novels–series and stand-alones–we avidly look forward to reading.
The Fallout is the sixth book in a series featuring Huldar, a Reykjavik cop, a likable fellow whose relationship antics complicate his work life, and Freyja, a child psychologist who now works directly for the police and whose relationship with Huldar she attempts to hide from colleagues and her ex-con brother. Freyja is living in an apartment (owned by a fellow who is currently serving time in prison) in a swanky suburb on the Seltjarnarness peninsula. Also resident in the flat is a python that Huldar keeps fed. The crimes investigated in each of the 6 novels are bizarre and convoluted. We’re left guessing until very nearly the end, and the epilogue in each leaves us gasping in surprise with an added punchline.
Much of the activity in The Fallout takes place on the Seltjarnarness peninsula, a narrow spit jutting west from Reykjavik into the Atlantic. Because we’ve been to Reykjavik as often as we have, we have a collection of tourist maps of the city that we haul out when we’re reading Icelandic authors so we can follow the characters around the city.
A shortcoming of the tourist maps is they show only the beginning of the Seltjarnarnes peninsula, a shortcoming that proved a challenge for us on a recent visit. We decided to forgo some of the usual tourist activities and followed the coast path west from the city out toward the lighthouse at Grotta Island, continue on the coastal path to Nautholsvik, completing the circuit back to the hotel. It was a stunningly beautiful day and an exhausting excursion. We had no idea when we set out that the trek would be about 16 km and over 3 hours in duration. Aside from George’s sunburn and my blown-out knee, it was a grand day out, followed by a well-earned nap.
I’m working my way through my self-imposed syllabus, reading work by the authors listed for this year’s Iceland Noir 2022. We’ve got our tickets and reservations, and we’re looking forward to our November trip to Reykjavik.
Booked for Travel 