Ragnar Jonasson's new novel is Nightblind. From his Q&A with Mike Yawn for the Houston Chronicle:Q: "Nightblind" has been a hit overseas, but it makes its North American debut this month. Tell us about the book.--Marshal Zeringue
A: This novel is part of my Dark Iceland series, but I try to write each novel so that it can stand alone, permitting first-time readers to enjoy them. "Nightblind" features Ari Thor, a young, recently graduated policeman who moves to a town, Siglufjörður, that is isolated and mostly uneventful. Thor establishes himself in this town, and he has a new boss who, in the first chapter of "Nightblind," is shot. Thor has to investigate, and it becomes one of the highest-profile cases in Iceland.
Q: Any time a police officer is shot, it's going to be news, but this is particularly true in Iceland.
A: Yes, no police officer has ever been killed in the line of duty in Iceland. Conversely, in the entire history of Iceland, the police have only fatally shot a suspect one time.
Q: Though the novel addresses a fatal shooting, it also focuses on domestic violence.
A: Iceland doesn't have many murders — maybe two to three per year — so I didn't want that necessarily to be the focus of my novel. But domestic violence...[read on]