A wealthy Icelandic family gathers for a reunion in a remote hotel on the isolated lava fields, but when someone goes missing, dark secrets are exposed and everyone is a suspect … the chilling, gripping prequel to the addictive, award-winning Forbidden Iceland series…

`A country house mystery worthy of Agatha Christie´ The Times Crime Book of the Month

`As storms rage, people fall prey to a sinister figure. A canny synthesis of modern Nordic Noir and Golden Age mystery´ Financial Times

`In a Forbidden Iceland novel, there's no terrain more treacherous than the mind … a deep-dark thriller to read with the lights on´ A J Finn

`Riveting, exciting, entertaining and packed with intrigue … like Succession on ice´ Liz Nugent

**WINNER of the STORYTEL AWARD for Crime Book of the Year***

The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland's remote Snæfellsnes peninsula.

Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose social-media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Ageing carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he's the boyfriend of Petra's aunt, but he's struggling to avoid alcohol because he knows what happens when he drinks … Humble hotel employee, Irma, is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters … perhaps too close…