Cage by Lilja Sigurdardottir

Cage

By Lilja Sigurdardottir

Published by Orenda Books (E-book - 17 August 2019); Paperback - 17 October 2019)

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher

Publisher's description

Drugs, smuggling, big money and political intrigue in Iceland rally with love, passion, murder and betrayal until the winner takes all … in the masterful, explosive conclusion to the award-winning Reykjavík Noir trilogy…

The prison doors slam shut behind Agla, when her sentence ends, but her lover Sonja is not there to meet her.

As a group of foreign businessmen tries to draw Agla into an ingenious fraud that stretches from Iceland around the world, Agla and her former nemesis, María find the stakes being raised at a terrifying speed.

Ruthless drug baron Ingimar will stop at nothing to protect his empire, but he has no idea about the powder keg he is sitting on in his own home.

At the same time, a deadly threat to Sonya and her family brings her from London back to Iceland, where she needs to settle scores with longstanding adversaries if she wants to stay alive.

With a shocking crescendo, the lives of these characters collide, as drugs, smuggling, big money and political intrigue rally with love, passion, murder and betrayal until the winner takes all … in the masterful, explosive conclusion to the award-winning Reykjavík Noir trilogy.

My verdict

I've been following this Reykjavik Noir trilogy - Snare, then Trap and now Cage. And each time, the book has offered a slightly different 'reading experience' focusing on the background of the characters' lives.

Cage is a fairly short book, but there's so much packed within its pages: a journalist's search for the truth, political conspiracies, a teenage boy with an axe to grind, Agla's adjustment to life outside prison and Sonja's natural instinct to protect her son. All of these threads weave together to create a multilayered plot that culminates in a dramatic ending.

This book provides a real game changer, focusing more on Agla than Sonja. It does what few books manage to do successfully - evolving a character so much that the reader's view of them changes drastically. The author also manages successfully to create a sense of fear, with rising tension and violence. The Icelandic has been well translated into English and provides a sharp sense of place. 

I would advise reading all three books in order to allow the characters to grow - and to grow on you.

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