This book has a somewhat shaky start (I almost DNF'd it in the first two chapters) but sticking with it rewards you with a fun, emotional story about the growth of a professional hitman after being forced to go on the lamb and accidentally ending up in Iceland.

A quick read and a nice palate cleanser. ( )

I got sucked in --what a cool premise! A hit man whose job goes badly and he finds himself mistaken for a priest in Iceland--the perfect cover, but can he pull it off? I listened to this as a recorded book and loved the reader's voice. Super.

Things I liked: seemed like a fresh, original story--certainly one where you couldn't predict the outcome. The protagonist is compelling and well-fleshed out. I was torn between being sympathetic but then angry at some of the choices he made. He was darker than I expected, but it made sense considering his past.

The protagonist has a earthy sense of humor I enjoyed and terrific use of language.

Hovered between a four and a five for me... four only because it was dark-ish and I did get a bit lost somewhere in the last third before the ending. Likely my fault as I was driving and listening. Must have missed something.


( )

Funny, crude, thought provoking, tragic and uplifting. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I started this but it definitely wasn't what I actually read. I'm not sure I can actually say much about the book without spoiling it.

But here are some things I can say. It was very well written. It uses first person present POV, which if you're familiar with my reviews, you'll know I usually loathe. It was however the perfect tense here. The main character was more of a narrator than is typically the case when authors use this tense. Toxic was telling you his personal story and the fourth wall was pretty malleable and thin. It wasn't to the level of 'dear reader' though. I greatly enjoyed the main character's voice. He was extremely crude though so if you're easily offended this book is not for you. I laughed out loud in places. I ultimately found myself rooting for him even though he was a very bad guy.

This story dealt with some weighty topics, PTSD, sin, death and redemption. The hero was a man whose life circumstances had made him what he was. The story illustrated how a person's life can slip into unintended paths. Some weighty questions were raised. Who is worthy of redemption? Does turning over a new leaf and becoming Christian get you off the hook for any evil you've done?

Lastly, woven through the action was a lovely description of Iceland. The author's words painted a clear picture of a desolate northern country that never the less was clearly beautiful. It certainly made me want to visit.

This book is marketed as a mystery thriller but it isn't in my opinion. It is straight general fiction and I can see it as being a very interesting book club selection. ( )

This is a variant of a classic formula very popular in Hollywood: the bad guy on the run arrives in a small, peaceful community, and, supported by the Love of a Good Woman and the good advice of wise Father and Mother figures, builds a new life for himself as an honest citizen. But he still has one last, decisive confrontation with the ghosts of his past to deal with before the film ends.

Hallgrímur is clearly interested in this idea mainly by the scope it gives him for looking at Iceland through the eyes of someone as incongruous as possible to Icelandic society, the New York-based Croatian Mafia hitman Tomislav Boksic, alias Toxic, formed by the unspeakable atrocities he took part in as a youngster during the Balkan wars and proud of his professional, detached and efficient approach to murder. He's on the run from the Feds after his 67th hit went wrong, and has somehow ended up in Reykjavik assuming the identity of a televangelist from Virginia.

Needless to say, Hallgrímur — who wrote the book in English first, then translated it into Icelandic — has endless fun letting Tomislav narrate in exaggerated, pastiche Raymond Chandler noir language, in the most impeccably bad taste. In the audiobook, the corny cod-Balkan accent Luke Daniels uses for Tomislav feels exactly right, and enhances the effect. Inevitably, Tomislav also has his own Balkan slant on Hlynur Björn's most tasteless running joke (cf. [101 Reykjavik]) — he gives every woman he sees a score based on the number of nights it would take before he started dreaming about her, if he were stuck in an army camp where she was the only woman.

Tomislav seems so extremely divorced from any kind of moral universe we could identify with that at first it's like looking at Iceland through the eyes of a Martian, but of course Hallgrímur gradually humanises him as we go on through the story, trying to get us to the point where we start asking ourselves whether we would have turned out any differently from him if we'd been plunged into the middle of a civil war in our teens. Perhaps fortunately, he doesn't quite take us along with him that far, but Tomislav does turn out to be a long way from being the cardboard cutout he seems in the opening pages of the book. The other characters also quietly subvert the stereotypes the plot seems to be asking for: Tomislav's ice-princess/anima, Gunnhildur, has all sorts of important character flaws, including the inability to keep her apartment tidy that gives Hallgrímur the hook for his title; the older generation of Icelandic Evangelicals who offer Tomislav salvation all turn out to be very damaged people themselves, but not necessarily the worse for that.

And, what's more, the book contains at least two important life-lessons for anyone intending to visit Iceland: (i) don't even think of keeping your shoes on indoors, unless they cost more than 200 dollars; and (ii) if the doorbell rings during Eurovision you probably shouldn't answer it. ( )

That's 3 stars for the story/writing and 1 star simply for making me laugh. Toxic, Croatian by birth and a killer by profession, is forced to leave the USA when a hit goes wrong. He inadvertently ends up in Iceland and the book follows his new life keeping the LPP (lowest possible profile) and his reflections on his old life. Enjoyable, witty and full of great quotes.

Notable: I think this is the only book I've read where the Eurovision Song Contest features. ( )