There are not many thriller authors embodying the icy, chilly crime noir genre like Icelandic writer Ragnar Jónasson. His novels just get better and better, and a previous story of his, THE DARKNESS, is about to be adapted into a television series. Not bad for a young man who started out translating the works of Agatha Christie into Icelandic for his countrymen to enjoy.

THE GIRL WHO DIED is far different from anything that Jónasson has written thus far. A young woman awakens to what appears to be a girl standing at the foot of her bed. She swears she hears some sort of lullaby being sung before the moment is over.

"THE GIRL WHO DIED is a haunting tale with prose as chilly as the Icelandic winter season in which it is set. Jónasson is an immensely gifted writer who brings even the smallest, most remote areas of his country to vivid life..."

That opening scene sets the tone for this creepy and claustrophobic novel in which Una, an aspiring teacher, leaves her home in Reykjavík for the remote village of Skálar that houses only 10 residents. This is all in response to an ad for a teaching assignment that her best friend, Sara, showed her. There are only two students, but that's better than the lack of prospects she's seeing in Iceland’s capital city and worth her investment of six months to see if it's a fit.

Throughout the book, we see sequences of a violent murder that took place in the near past that readers just know will play some role in the events to follow. Una gets to Skálar and takes up residence in the attic apartment in the home of a woman, Salka, whose daughter, Edda, is one of Una’s two students. It is not long before the strange dreams begin, followed by visions like the one outlined at the start of the story. This prompts Una to ask questions, but she finds the close-knit village somewhat reluctant to talk. All they say is that the house is haunted by the spirit of a girl named Thra, who died there in the 1930s.

Una is getting along as best she can as an outsider in such a small village until the horrific events at the Christmas pageant. Her students are all set to perform for the town when Edda collapses, her complexion a sallow yellow. Having no medical facility in Skálar, Salka and Edda travel by ambulance to the nearest hospital, but it is too late. Edda does not survive for long, and her unexpected death is attributed to liver disease.

Salka does not come home immediately, which leaves a devastated Una alone in her home for the holidays. She tries to befriend Thór, a local man, but the woman with whom he lives, Hjördís, does not seem to trust her and is very protective of Thór. There is nothing more for Una to do than to drink a lot of wine and read novels since there is no TV in the village. So she decides to obsess over the young man who arrived at Salka’s door one night prior to Edda’s death, looking for Hjördís’ residence. They directed him, but Una feels that there is something not quite right with the stranger. She has no idea the trouble that she is about to start in Skálar when her curiosity gets the best of her.

THE GIRL WHO DIED is a haunting tale with prose as chilly as the Icelandic winter season in which it is set. Jónasson is an immensely gifted writer who brings even the smallest, most remote areas of his country to vivid life and creates a story that readers will not soon forget.