The Darkness, The Island and The Mist (Dunkel, Insel, Nebel) are all on the top ten official German paperback bestseller list (Spiegel Bestseller list). This is the first time ever that an Icelandic author has three books in the top ten. The Darkness has been on the top ten 17 weeks in a row, and The Island 10 weeks in a row. The books were published two months apart in Germany, from May to September.
The French edition of The Island - L’Ile au secret - has been longlisted for prestigious Prix of Festival Cognac, for the best international novel.
NÀTT (Myrknætti/Blackout) is currently the no. 1 best selling crime novel in France. NÁTT was published in paperback by Editions Points in February. The top ten list also includes authors such as Camilla Grebe, Arnaldur Indridason, Stephen King, A.J. Finn and Peter May.
Marsilio Editori in Italy has acquired Italian rights to books no. 4 and 5 in the DARK ICELAND series - Andköf (Whiteout) and Náttblinda (Nightblind). Marsilio have already published the first two books in the series, Snjóblinda (L’angelo di neve) and Myrknætti (I giorni del vulcano). The next one for publication is Rof (Rupture).
Nightblind has won the 2016 Mörda Dead Good Reader Award for Most Captivating Crime in Translation. Nightblind, translated by Quentin Bates and published by Orenda Books, is is the second book in the Dark Iceland series to be published in the UK.
Nightblind has now been published in Poland, as Milczenie Nocy, by Amber Publishing House. This is the second book in the Dark Iceland series to be published in Polish, following Snowblind (Milczenie Lodu) in 2015.
NIGHTBLIND was published in Iceland in October 2014.
From Iceland's two largest newspapers: Morgunbladid newspaper said: "A surprise ending in Ragnar's best book." and Fréttabladid newspaper said: "A well plotted crime novel about things which concern all of us."
Leading literary show on Icelandic national TV, Kiljan said "very well done", noting also that the ending was a surprise.
Vikan magazine said: "A great thriller … The story is well constructed, the characters interesting and the ending a surprise. Yet another great book from Ragnar."
Menningarvitinn.is said: "I simply could not put the book down …"
Snowblind and Nightblind, from the Dark Iceland Series, will be published in English by Orenda Books in 2015 (Snowblind) and 2016 (Nightblind). Both books will be translated by crime writer Quentin Bates. Snowblind and Nightblind are both set in the northernmost village in Iceland, Siglufjordur, in wintertime.
Nightblind (Náttblinda), the latest book in the Dark Iceland Series, went straight to No. 1 as the best selling hardcover fiction on the Icelandic Eymundsson Bestseller List in October 2014.
ABOUT NIGHTBLIND:
Iceland – a country of no crimes, no murders and no weapons?
A policeman in the small and isolated northern Icelandic village of Siglufjordur is shot with a shotgun at point blank range in the middle of the night.
A patient is compulsorily committed to a psychiatric ward in Reykjavik.
A young woman moves to Siglufjordur, escaping a violent partner.
Together, these threads form the plot of Nightblind, a powerful crime novel where the roots of the crimes lie in a tragic past under the sophisticated surface.
Nightblind is due in the UK from ORENDA BOOKS in 2016.