Do not read late into the night! A horror novel guaranteed to surprise and chill, for fans of Catriona Ward, CJ Tudor and Stephen King.
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir Book order
Vilborg Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic writer, author of children's and young adult novels and crime novels.






- 2023
- 2022
Detective Huldar and psychologist Freyja are once again working together to solve a mysterious case in this incredible new novel from the internationally acclaimed author of The Doll and Gallows Rock.
- 2021
The Doll
- 464 pages
- 17 hours of reading
It was meant to be a quiet family fishing trip, a chance for mother and daughter to talk. But it changes the course of their lives forever.They catch nothing except a broken doll that gets tangled in the net. After years in the ocean, the doll a terrifying sight and the mother's first instinct is to throw it back, but she relents when her daughter pleads to keep it. This simple act of kindness proves fatal. That evening, the mother posts a picture of the doll on social media. By the morning, she is dead and the doll has disappeared.Several years later and Detective Huldar is in his least favourite place - on a boat in rough waters, searching for possible human remains. However, identifying the skeleton they find on the seabed proves harder than initially thought, and Huldar must draw on psychologist Freyja's experience to help him. As the mystery of the unidentified body deepens, Huldar is also drawn into an investigation of a homeless drug addict's murder, and Freyja investigates a suspected case of child abuse at a foster care home.What swiftly becomes clear is that the cases are linked through a single, missing, vulnerable witness: the young girl who wanted the doll all those years ago.Taut, terrifying and impossible to put down, The Doll cements Yrsa Sigurdardottir's reputation as a master of storytelling tension and surprise.
- 2020
"On a jagged, bleak lava field just outside Reykjavik stands the Gallows Rock. Once a place of execution, it is now a tourist attraction. Until this morning, when a man was found hanging from it...The nail embedded in his chest proves it wasn't suicide. But when the police go to his flat, a further puzzle awaits: a four-year-old boy has been left there. He doesn't seem to have any link with the victim, his parents cannot be found, and his drawings show he witnessed something terrible.As detective Huldar hunts the killer, and child psychologist Freyja looks for the boy's parents, the mystery unfolds: a story of violence, entitlement, and revenge"--Provided by publisher
- 2019
The Absolution
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
The new novel from the internationally bestselling, prizewinning, queen of Icelandic crime. All he wants is for them to say sorry. The police find out about the crime the way everyone does: on Snapchat. The video shows the terrified victim begging for forgiveness. When her body is found, it is marked with a number 2... Detective Huldar joins the investigation, bringing child psychologist Freyja on board to help question the murdered teenager's friends. Soon, they uncover that Stella was far from the angel people claim - but even so, who could have hated her enough to kill? Then another teenager goes missing, and more clips are sent. Freyja and Huldar can agree on two things at least: the truth is far from simple. And the killer is not done yet. A brilliantly suspenseful story about the dark side of social media, The Absolution will make you wonder what you should have said sorry for... Praise for Yrsa Sigurdardottir 'Iceland's outstanding crime novelist' Daily Express 'A magnificent writer' Karin Slaughter 'The undisputed queen of Icelandic Noir' Simon Kernick 'Believe all the hype - this is crime at its best.' Heat
- 2018
The Reckoning
- 416 pages
- 15 hours of reading
A time capsule is unearthed from a school playground - containing a threat of deaths to come. As Freyja and Huldar look for the writer, the murders start...
- 2017
The Legacy
- 455 pages
- 16 hours of reading
Required to both question and protect a traumatized seven-year-old girl who is the only witness to a murder, rookie detective Huldar and psychologist Freyja navigate elusive clues left behind by an unusually slippery killer.
- 2016
Why Did You Lie?
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
A journalist on the track of an old case attempts suicide. An ordinary couple return from a house swap in the States to find their home in disarray and their guests seemingly missing. Four strangers struggle to find shelter on a windswept spike of rock in the middle of a raging sea. They have one thing in common: they all lied. And someone is determined to punish them..
- 2015
The light spilling in from the corridor would have to do. Though weak, it was sufficient to show Aldis a boy sitting in the gloom at the furthest table. He had his back to her, so she couldn't see who it was, but could tell that he was one of the youngest. A chill ran down her spine when he spoke again, without turning, as if he had eyes in the back of his head. 'Go away. Leave me alone.' 'Come on. You shouldn't be here.' Aldis spoke gently, fairly sure now that the boy must be delirious. Confused, rather than dangerous. He turned, slowly and deliberately, and she glimpsed black eyes in a pale face. 'I wasn't talking to you.' Aldis is working in a juvenile detention centre in rural Iceland. She witnesses something deeply disturbing in the middle of the night; soon afterwards, two of the boys at the centre are dead. Decades later, single father Odinn is looking into alleged abuse at the centre following the unexplained death of the colleague who was previously running the investigation. The more he finds out, though, the more it seems the odd events of the 1970s are linked to the accident that killed his ex-wife. Was her death something more sinister? Yrsa Sigurdardottir is a huge European bestseller both with her crime and horror novels. You might want to sleep with the light on after reading THE UNDESIRED ...
- 2015
An abandoned yacht, a young family missing - chilling crime from the queen of Nordic Noir. WINNER OF THE 2015 PETRONA AWARD 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 dead.' A luxury yacht arrives in Reykjavik harbour with nobody on board. What has happened to the crew, and to the family who were on board when it left Lisbon? Thora Gudmundsdottir is hired by the young father's parents to investigate, and is soon drawn deeper into the mystery. What should she make of the rumours saying that the vessel was cursed, especially given that when she boards the yacht she thinks she sees one of the missing twins? Where is Karitas, the glamorous young wife of the yacht's former owner? And whose is the body that has washed up further along the shore? The most chilling novel yet from Yrsa Sigurdardottír, 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 dead.' A luxury yacht arrives in Reykjavik harbour with nobody on board. What has happened to the crew, and to the family who were on board when it left Lisbon? Thóra Gudmundsdóttir is hired by the young father's parents to investigate, and is soon drawn deeper into the mystery. What should she make of the rumours saying that the vessel was cursed, especially given that when she boards the yacht she thinks she sees one of the missing twins? Where is Karítas, the glamorous young wife of the yacht's former owner? And whose is the body that has washed up further along the shore? Author of the bestselling Thora Gudmundsdottir crime series and several stand-alone thrillers, Yrsa Sigurdardottir was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1963 and works as a civil engineer. She made her crime fiction debut in 2005 with LAST RITUALS, the first instalment in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series, and has been translated into more than 30 languages. Her work stands 'comparison with the finest contemporary crime writing anywhere in the world' according to the Times Literary Supplement. The second instalment in the Thora Gudmundsdottir series, MY SOUL TO TAKE, was shortlisted for the 2010 Shamus Award. In 2011 her stand-alone horror novel I REMEMBER YOU was awarded the Icelandic Crime Fiction Award and was nominated for The Glass Key. Her novel THE SILENCE OF THE SEA won the Petrona Award in 2015.