The Doll

Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb

I love the Childrens House series and Yrsa delivers again with The Doll. Such engaging characters and a compelling, twisted and creepy mystery - I couldnt put it down!SHARI LAPENA

Yrsa is a wonderful storyteller. Her stories are atmospheric, mysterious and brilliantly plotted ... you will never see the twists comingMARI HANNAH

A magnificent writerKARIN SLAUGHTER

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 mothers 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 Freyjas experience to help him. As the mystery of the unidentified body deepens, Huldar is also drawn into an investigation of a homeless drug addicts 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 Sigurdardottirs reputation as a master of storytelling tension and surprise.