The Mist by Ragnar Jónasson

Minotaur Books, 320 pages, $27.99

At last, Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson has fulfilled his promise to his readers. Here is the third and last Hulda Hermannsdóttir book. Jónasson has worked a nifty gimmick to expose heartbreak and crime over a twenty-five year period, the time span of the Hulda books: The Darkness, The Island, and now The Mist. Hulda is 65 years old in the first one, 50 in the second, and 40 in this last book.

This is one of the rare times I say, please read the books in order. There is a sense of drama in reading “how it turns out” first, and “how it begins” last. Hulda’s story will wrench your heart. 

Misery is Hulda’s constant companion. In this last book — but first chronologically — we see the beginning of the sense of dread Hulda feels; something is wrong in her life. She has a teenage daughter who is sullen, antisocial, and wants nothing to do with her parents. Christmas is around the corner, and Hulda hopes miraculously that Dimma will bounce back to her lively, happy self. Hulda admits she has neglected her family, mostly because she is trying to prove herself at her police precinct, where she is a detective. That and the unhappiness at home leads Hulda to have no regrets about drawing the Christmas Day shift.

In the meantime, the story of Hulda’s family is alternated with a story about a farming couple in an isolated homestead, currently being blocked in by heavy snowstorms and freezing temperatures. Einar is content with farming the inhospitable and bleak land worked by his ancestors before him. His wife, Erla, who grew up in Reykjavik, is not as thrilled with the isolation and claustrophobia of the dark winters. At this point of Erla’s story, however, we are told she has no other recourse. She has been apart from her own family for a long time, and it would be hard to reconnect. One bright light is Anna, their daughter, who lives just down the road. Erla looks forward to Anna’s visit on Christmas.

But first, comes a stranger. Yes, in the terrible, raging snowstorm a stranger appears out of nowhere. He claims he was separated from his hunting buddies. (Seriously, in this weather, Erla thinks.) The more the stranger, who introduces himself as Leó, says and doesn’t say, the more suspicious Erla becomes of him.

Back to Hulda’s story. Jónasson loves to play around with the time frame. He doesn’t make it clear until the end how the stories he tells are related to each other in time or in people. So in one of Hulda’s storylines, she is sent to investigate the deaths of people found at an isolated farmhouse. Are Erla and Einar two of them? Did the stranger murder them? Is it even contemporaneous with Hulda's Christmas story?

Also, at some point, Hulda is investigating the cold case of a missing daughter, a young woman who has taken a gap year before college. It will tie in somewhere with one or more of the other storylines. Maybe.

Patience.

If you have read the first two books — and if you have not but are reading “The Mist,” shame on you — you can’t wait to get back to the Hulda chapters to find out about the tragedies you know will play out. But the chapters about Erla and Einar — mostly focusing on Erla — increase in dread and terror. The author is such a pro!

I was so happy to finally read this story, although “happy” perhaps isn’t the right word. I was satisfied. Happiness would imply somehow a happy ending, but we know there is no happy ending, just a well constructed, moving origin story. 

Thank you, Ragnar Jónasson. MBTB star.