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Trap by Lilja Sigurdardottir #BlogTour

A Sigurdardottir double bill this weekend with Snare, the first book in the Reykjavik Trilogy being the Book Club's Book Of The Month and Trap, the second book being my last Blog Tour of the month.

Picking up straight where Snare left off I really do recommend you read the first book before dipping your toes into the second helping of Sonja and her drug smuggling, Adam the evil ex husband and Agla Sonja's ex girlfriend and high finance crook. In fact all the character's from Snare make a return in all their complicated glory.

I should start with a word of caution - Trap really should come with a health warning as God I found it tense! 

Taking us much deeper in to both the banking crisis and the drug smuggling underworld, Trap was so much darker than Snare and really had me questioning why I found myself routing for these characters. Can a criminal ever be a victim? Surely not a fat cat banker who seeks to line their own pockets further, or a drug smuggler who is allowing your children to be exposed to substances that could cause a life time of addiction and pain? But what about a mother up against an evil ex-husband and fighting for her child? Surely drug smuggling is worse than a bankers fancy fiddling of figures? But what about when that fiddling results in your savings vanishing to nothing and the helpless drug mule is replaced ten times over by desperate people in desperate circumstances. Tricky isn't it? As with Snare Sigurdardottir delivers complex moral questions by the bucket load whilst never relenting on the pace or the plot. 

The star of the show for me was Agla who was featured much more heavily this time round. I really enjoyed reading her spiral out of control as her world changed from underneath her and her emotions took hold. Bragi the customs officer also once again shone in his love for his wife and we found out why Rikhardur is called Sponge. Urgh!  

I was perhaps most struck by Maria one of the investigators into the banking crisis and really the only one who was innocent. She religiously stuck to the rules and lived an ordered and measured life yet somehow was the one who didn't come out OK. Throughout the book I really found myself hoping she didn't uncover Agla's wrong doings and bring her down. How wrong is that?!?  

My only problem with Trap is that I now have to wait until book number three, Cage, is translated! Bravo Lilja, the characters are more developed, the plot is more complex and the pace is faster than Ussain Bolt brushing his teeth. Not taking anything away from the very good Snare but second time round is definitely better.

My thanks go to Orenda Books who via Anne Cater's Random Things Through My Letterbox website provided me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. As with Snare, congratulations to Quentin Bates once again for his fantastic translation. 



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