When two small-time crooks rob Reykjavik's premier drugs dealer, hoping for a quick escape to the sun, their plans start to unravel after their getaway driver fails to show. Tensions mount between the pair and the two women they have grabbed as hostages when they find themselves holed upcountry in an isolated hotel that has been mothballed for the season.
Back in the capital, Gunnhildur, Eiríkur and Helgi find themselves at a dead end investigating what appear to be the unrelated disappearance of a mother, her daughter and their car during a day's shopping, and the death of a thief in a house fire.
Gunna and her team are faced with a set of riddles but as more people are quizzed it begins to emerge that all these unrelated incidents are in fact linked. And at the same time, two increasingly desperate lowlifes have no choice but to make some big decisions on how to get rid of their accidental hostages..."
My only gripe when it comes to Quentin Bates is the length of time it took me to discover him - I am HOOKED on Gunnhildur, and have devoured nearly all the series since discovering it a few months ago. Yes, I cheated a bit and read this one out of sequence, but it really doesn't make a difference - although I was familiar with Gunnhildur already, this can be read easily as a standalone.
Quentin Bates has a real knack for creating characters that you can't help but love - even one of the characters in this novel is, realistically, a bit of a psycho, I couldn't help but like him and even found myself thinking that if I were to be kidnapped, I wouldn't mind if it was Ossi that kidnapped me because he really wasn't that bad!
There is a good solid plot line that jogs along at a decent pace - with a great sense of location (making me wish I could go back to Iceland!), and some fantastic characters, followed by a somewhat unexpected ending, I found this a really enjoyable read. I can't wait to go back now and finish off the rest of the series, hopefully that'll keep me going until Quentin's next offering :)
Thin Ice is out on 3rd March and you can get it here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/
**My thanks to the publisher for my ARC**
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