The Doll is the fifth story in the Icelandic Freyja and Huldar series. The cover instantly had me at hello. I am a huge fan of the creepy and intriguing and that cover came from the horror gods. The Doll is discovered after being trawled by a fishing net in Faxafloi Bay by Rosa Thrastdottir. Five years later bones have been discovered in the same place as the Doll, is it a coincidence or is this more to this story than meets the eye? Also, serious sex abuse allegations have been made against Bergur Alvarsson. Three different stories and timelines but just how do they knit together?

The premise of the story is intriguing but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me, unfortunately. I’m unsure if it was because I came into it mid-series or if it just was too slow for me. I usually love stories set in Iceland and in Scandinavia, the atmosphere and the landscape were fantastic but I struggled to find myself amid the story. There is so much happening in the story, I felt the author had a lot of balls to juggle that I did find myself losing focus with the events occurring.

Child Psychologist, Freyja, and Detective Huldar are investigating just how all three events connect. The only constant they have is a girl called Rosa. After discovering the barnacled doll they took it home, her mother took a picture of it and posted it on Facebook. Her mother was found dead the next morning and no sign of the doll or the picture posted on Facebook. Rosa is connected to the boy making accusations of sex abuse but she is now missing. Could she have all the answers to make the events make sense?

You might think that this book is a horror from the front cover but it is not. The Doll isn’t a supernatural element to the story, it’s more a side note or coincidence. The writing was brilliant and the landscape was atmospheric, I just think that some things didn’t click for me, it certainly won’t stop me from reading future books written by Yrsa.