The Prey

'Mesmerising and atmospheric, with entrancing descriptions of landscape' A SUNDAY TIMES CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR

THE FIRST PHONE CALL SHOCKS A FAMILY

A box of photo albums is found in the attic of a house in Hofn, a small fishing village on the south coast of Iceland. The new owners return it to the man who sold them the house, along with a muddied child's shoe with a name written on the sole: Salvor. The man is baffled; they never knew anyone called that. Shortly after, the phone rings - it's the nursing home where his mother, an Alzheimer's patient, lives. She's suffered a heart attack and the doctors don't expect her to live much longer. The nurse asks him to let his sister, Salvor, know as well. Their mother has been asking for her.

THE SECOND TRACKS TWO MISSING COUPLES

Johanna is a member of a search and rescue team in Hofn and she's searching for two couples from Reykjavik. Their phones' last location has been pinpointed as the road leading up into the highlands. It's far from clear why these people would have made such a risky trip in the middle of the harsh winter, and they soon find the first dead body. More troubling, Johanna senses her team is being tracked out in the snow.

A THIRD FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE?

Hjorvar works at the Stokksnes Radar Station in the highlands. He is alone when the phone connected to the gate rings. It's the first time it's done so since he began working there five months ago. He picks up the phone but can hear only interference and what sounds like a child's voice asking for her mother.

How are these events connected? And what may be searching for its prey out on the ice?

'A nail-biting, ice-cold tale of horror. Twisty, twisted and scary as hell' C.J. TUDOR

'Sigurdardottir is a skilled hand and ties all her threads and twists together neatly, but it's her thrilling tale of a struggle to survive in freezing temperatures, under a sky that never seems to lighten, that provides the real chill factor here' OBSERVER

'Atmospheric, twisty' HEAT

'An extraordinarily creepy mystery. Sigurdardottir can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up whether describing the weird and wintry terrain of southern Iceland or the odd behaviour of a cat called Puss. The outer darkness reflects that within the characters. One of the doomed hikers asks herself: "Was there no end to the wretchedness and cruelty of the world?" The answer she receives will make your blood run cold' THE TIMES

'Dark, creepy, and gripping from beginning to end' STUART MACBRIDE

Yrsa gets better with each of her gripping novels.