Snare

Icelandic author Sigurdardóttir makes her English-language debut with this unpleasant crime novel, a series launch. Shortly after Iceland’s huge 2010 volcanic eruption and the financial crash that nearly bankrupted the nation, Sonja, a Reykjavík divorcée who has always gone with the flow but also likes to take risks, starts smuggling cocaine. She wants to establish a secure home for her nine-year-old son, Tómas, who’s currently in the custody of Adam, her powerful ex-husband. Adam and Tómas caught Sonja in flagrante with her lover, Agla, a bank executive who’s the target of a special prosecutor investigating a gigantic fraud scheme. Sonja must concoct increasingly complex ruses to escape detection by customs official Bragi, including poisoning two government sniffer dogs, while her relationship with Agla increasingly unhinges both women. Meanwhile, Bragi strives to extricate his ill wife from a poorly funded and understaffed nursing home, where she’s being abused. The main characters, sketchily developed, often act in contradictory ways, and the unnecessary, premeditated killing of the canines will outrage dog lovers. (Apr.)