Book Review | The Legacy by Ysra Sigurdardottir

The Legacy

By Ysra Sigurdardottir

Translated by Victoria Cribb

Minotaur Books

Publication Date : February 13, 2018

Pages : 464

Synposis From Publisher:

The only person who might have the answers to a baffling murder case is the victim’s seven-year-old daughter, found hiding in the room where her mother died. And she’s not talking.

Newly-promoted, out of his depth, detective Huldar turns to Freyja for her expertise with traumatized young people. Freyja, who distrusts the police in general and Huldar in particular, isn’t best pleased. But she’s determined to keep little Margret safe.

It may prove tricky. The killer is leaving them strange clues, but can they crack the code? And if they do, will they be next? 

My reading goal for 2018 is to discover as many new Crime Fiction authors as I can. Crime Fiction is such a diverse genre, I would be doing myself a disservice if I limited my reading to only certain types of crime fiction books and authors. The Legacy is my first book of 2018 written by an author I have never read before. Ysra Sigurdardottir is known as “Iceland’s Queen of Crime”. Reviews of Sigurdardottir’s works hail them as, dark, twisted, and engaging. After reading The Legacy I 100% agree.

A young mother of three is murdered in her home while her children are in the house. The young mother’s daughter, Margret, witnesses her mother’s horrific murder but is unable to provide the police any details to help solve the crime. The case is assigned to Detective Huldar Jonas. With little evidence found at the crime scene, Huldar seeks help from The Children’s House. The Children’s House is an organization which specializes in the treatment of traumatized children. Huldar hopes The Children’s House can coax details from Margret that will help identify the killer.

Freya, the director of The Children’s House is under a lot of pressure with regards to Margret. This will be the first time her organization will be assisting with a homicide investigation. If she and The Children’s House fail in this investigation, there may be lasting consequences for her and The Children’s House. Despite this pressure for a successful outcome, Freya remains focused on her job. She is determined to help Margret come to terms with what she has experienced. Helping the police seems to be her minor objective, much to the displeasure of the prosecuting attorney and Huldar. I admired Freya for her dedication and determination to not become an agent of the police. Freya proves that she is not interested in politics or the needs of the police but only in the welfare of Margret.

Sigurdardottir’s writing is unlike any other type of crime fiction book I have ever read. There are a lot of layers to The Legacy. The Legacy is a police procedural but it is also a thriller, suspense, and a character study. Each chapter begins a very different type of story from the last. I enjoyed seeing all of these sub genres of crime fiction being merged into one story.  

For me the most interesting element of this story is the character Karl. It actually took me a while to figure out how he fit into the story. There were several times I thought I figured out what Karl’s role was and I was wrong. Horror is another element Sigurdardottir flawlessly added to The Legacy. The crimes committed in The Legacy differed from other crime books I have read. The methods used were so shocking and disturbing they read like something out of a horror novel. Although the methods were horrid and the descriptions were vivid; the violence was not meaningless. There was a story and meaning behind the gore.

The Legacy is book one in The Children’s House series.  The Legacy is a fresh yet dark introduction to characters I look forward to getting to know better. The story moves at a slower pace but this allows suspense and anxiety to build up before the shocking conclusion. Fans of Camilla Lackberg should add The Legacy to their list of must reads.

Murder and Moore Rating:

4 ½ out of 5 Stars