William Cutter, a police officer, is drowning his sorrows in an Iceland bar. Mourning his wife and on leave while a pending investigation rumbles on against him, he meets an American tattooist, Toni, in the bar. Later that night, he saves her from her ex and his cousin who attack her in an alley. She asks for his help while she is following up on a tale her father. With little else to do and enjoying her company he agrees to help out, little realising exactly what he has got himself into. As their journey starts out across Iceland, trouble soon catches up with them again, and when Toni is kidnapped and Will left for battered, he doesn’t wonder what he is getting into, only how he is going to get Toni and himself out of the problem they have found themselves in, even if it means resorting to the knowledge and skills gained from several years on the beat.

This is a slow paced thriller punctuated with acts of violence that draws the reader in and slowly reveals the twists and turns where nothing is quite as simple as it first appears. The plot is great as the changes of pace keep you hooked and watching it unfurl with all it’s surprises is a guilty pleasure. The characters are a sordid collection that fit the tone of the story and their backgrounds provide yet more impetus to the dealings that occur. The descriptions of their passage through the plot are a delight. You can almost feel the blows as they come as well, both physically and mentally as Cutter finds himself in a situation he is not expecting, but willing to go on through sheer cussed spite.

I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this book as much as I did, but as the pace picked up and the truth behind it all came out, I was left turning the pages eager to see what would happen next.