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Last Rituals: A Novel of Suspense by Yrsa…
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Last Rituals: A Novel of Suspense (original 2005; edition 2009)

by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
1,0876118,497 (3.43)133
At a university in Reykjavík, the body of a young German student is discovered, his eyes cut out and strange symbols carved into his chest. Police waste no time in making an arrest, but the victim's family isn't convinced that the right man is in custody. They ask Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, an attorney and single mother of two, to investigate. It isn't long before Thóra and her associate, Matthew Reich, uncover the deceased student's obsession with Iceland's grisly history of torture, execution, and witch hunts. But there are very contemporary horrors hidden in the long, cold shadow of dark traditions. And for two suddenly endangered investigators, nothing is quite what it seems . . . and no one can be trusted.… (more)
Member:roseread
Title:Last Rituals: A Novel of Suspense
Authors:Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Info:Harper Paperbacks (2009), Edition: Reprint, Paperback, 336 pages
Collections:Read but unowned
Rating:****
Tags:mystery, iceland

Work Information

Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir (2005)

  1. 10
    Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg (sparemethecensor)
  2. 10
    Where the Shadows Lie by Michael Ridpath (viking2917)
    viking2917: If you liked this try, Where the Shadows Lie. While not written by an Icelander, it has a great view into both modern Iceland as well as the historic Iceland, and has a great hook that involves the ancient Sagas and J. R. R. Tolkien. Good fun.
  3. 00
    The Darkness by Ragnar Jónasson (MissBrangwen)
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» See also 133 mentions

English (52)  German (5)  Dutch (2)  Spanish (1)  Finnish (1)  Swedish (1)  All languages (62)
Showing 1-5 of 52 (next | show all)
did not believe I would enjoy this at the beginning, due to all of the characters being awful, but the mystery itself was compelling enough to have me staying up nearly two hours past my bedtime, and I enjoyed it immensely ( )
  pigeoncube | Oct 29, 2023 |
I started this series by Yrsa Sigurðardóttir earlier this year, but accidentally read book 3 first. Now I followed up with book 1, Das letzte Ritual. The title of the English translation is "Last Rituals". The main character is called Thóra in the English version, but it is Dóra in the German version, so I am sticking to that one because otherwise I will be confused.

This crime novel is set in Reykjavik where a German student is found dead in the university. The body is in a gruesome state, but the murderer is arrested shortly after. However, the wealthy parents of the victim believe that the wrong man has been arrested. Dóra, a divorced lawyer and mom of two children, is asked by them to investigate and find the real murderer. She teams up with their handsome German employee Matthias and dives deep into the history of the Icelandic witch trials. The victim was fascinated by this topic and was researching it for a thesis, and it seems like his death might be connected to this dark topic.

"Das letzte Ritual" was an easy and quick read that kept me interested. I like Dóra as a main character and I enjoyed the mystery and the various twists. The parts involving her private life did not divert from the plot of the book, but enhanced the characterization.
What I did not like (once again - it was the same in book 3) was the constant body shaming and comments on people's looks and figures. Some of the other characters were also rather flat and stereotypical. I cannot comment on the background of the witch trials, but it seemed a little too "Dan Brown" to me and I wonder which parts of it were historical facts and which were fabricated for the sake of the novel. But then, this topic is altogether too dreadful and I am not inclined to dive further, so I will probably not find out. ( )
  MissBrangwen | Sep 29, 2022 |
Very bloody but good characters and interesting setting. ( )
  jennybeast | Apr 14, 2022 |
Last Rituals by Yrsa Sigurdardottir is the first book in her mystery series that features an Icelandic lawyer, Thora Gudmundsdottir. In this first book, Thora is hired to help investigate the murder and mutilation of Harald Guntlief, a German student who was obsessed by witchcraft.

A local drug dealer has been arrested and charged, but the murdered boy’s family is unconvinced that they have the right culprit. They have sent German, ex-policeman Matthew Reich to conduct his own investigation with Thora along to assist. The book moves slowly as Thora and Matthew painstakingly follow through by interviewing the people around Matthew and work through various suspicions until the pieces fall into place and reveal what actually happened.

While I enjoyed the main character and learning of her life and family complications, this mystery, unique as it was, didn’t particularly pull me in. The beginning and the end of the book was good but the middle dragged and seemed unnecessarily dull. As this is the first in the series, I do intend to read on and hopefully the next book will be more to my taste. ( )
  DeltaQueen50 | Jan 16, 2022 |
parts of this were surprisingly funny for the dark topic of the main story (torture/witchcraft/sorcery/black magic). i didn't like this direction the story took, so wasn't super interested in reading the history bits, but i admit that this was an inventive and unusual crime, in a place i don't read much about (iceland). i liked this as i was reading, even as there were a lot of mistakes, missteps, or things that didn't ring true. here or there a word was off, there were a few perspective shifts that were issues of editing, and some writing hiccups that could have been the translator or could have been the author. because of the other issues with the book along the way, i went from thinking it was the translation to thinking it was the author. i would still read another of hers, as this was her first book for adults, but probably wouldn't go further if these problems were in the next book. that said, i did like the main character, thora, and still do like this book in general, in spite of the very real issues with it. ( )
  overlycriticalelisa | Feb 13, 2021 |
Showing 1-5 of 52 (next | show all)
Yrsa Sigurdardottir has done a fine job of writing this mystery. The author does a remarkable job of interjecting much of her knowledge of Iceland into the current story. She grabs the reader's attention from the very beginning with an intriguing storyline, takes them through all the pieces of the puzzle with a tremendous amount of detail and concludes the novel in a way that will not be predictable. If you are looking for a novel that starts off with suspense and keeps right on going, "Last Rituals" is the one for you. I highly recommend this book.

 
LAST RITUALS is an 'academic mystery': that is, the crime takes place in a university department (a student is murdered), and the solution depends on the uncovering and understanding of the victim's research, as well as of the broader mores, religion and witchcraft in medieval Europe. Yet the book is by no means heavy-going; the opposite in fact. LAST RITUALS is an assured novel, ably translated by the late Bernard Scudder. I recommend it very highly.

 

» Add other authors (6 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Yrsa Sigurðardóttirprimary authorall editionscalculated
Daddio, Jennifer AnnDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Flecken, TinaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Kauko, TuomasTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Myklebost, ToneTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Olafsson, Ragnar HelgiCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Scudder, BernardTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Serrano, ErvinCover designersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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Dedication
This book is dedicated to my dear Oli. Special thanks to Harald Schmidt, who lent me his name -- and allowed me kill him.
-- Yrsa.
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The head caretaker, Tryggvi, stood idly by the coffee maker.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Original work (in Islandic): Þriðja táknið

Bulgarian: Tрeтият знaк (Tretijat znak)

Danish: Det tredje tegn

Dutch: Het laatste ritueel

English: Last rituals

Finnish: Kolmas merkki

German: Das letzte Ritual

Greek: O Kyklos Toy Kakoy

Portuguese: O último ritual

Spanish: El último ritual

Swedish: Det tredje tecknet

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At a university in Reykjavík, the body of a young German student is discovered, his eyes cut out and strange symbols carved into his chest. Police waste no time in making an arrest, but the victim's family isn't convinced that the right man is in custody. They ask Thóra Gudmundsdóttir, an attorney and single mother of two, to investigate. It isn't long before Thóra and her associate, Matthew Reich, uncover the deceased student's obsession with Iceland's grisly history of torture, execution, and witch hunts. But there are very contemporary horrors hidden in the long, cold shadow of dark traditions. And for two suddenly endangered investigators, nothing is quite what it seems . . . and no one can be trusted.

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