OUTSIDE
Standalone Thriller
UK & USA - 2022
Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions has optioned the rights to Outside from for feature adaptation. Ridley Scott, Tom Moran, and Vera Meyer of Scott Free Productions will produce alongside Leifur Dagfinnsson and Kristinn Thordarson of Truenorth Productions. Henrik Hansen is in talks to direct the project.
In the swirling snow of a deadly Icelandic storm, four friends seek shelter in a small abandoned hunting lodge. Miles from help, and knowing they will die outside in the cold, they break open the lock and make their way inside, hoping to wait out the storm until morning. But nothing can prepare them for what they find behind the door . . .
“Lord of the Flies for grown-ups.” – Mariella Frostrup, Times Radio
“the atmosphere of paranoid claustrophobia he creates is so intense you can’t help gripping the book as tightly as possible.” – The Times
“Jonasson and translator Victoria Cribb do a fine job of setting the scene, developing the characters, and keeping readers in suspense with a tight, clean, noir prose style.” - ABC News
“the Icelandic version of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs” - Bookreporter
“[Ragnar] is in top form” - Toronto Star
“Nordic Noir master Ragnar Jónasson doesn’t disappoint with latest claustrophobic thriller.” - Canberra Times
“A shivery delight.” – Kirkus Reviews
“Jonasson offers an intense standalone, taking to new heights his unrivaled skill for using winter as an unpredictable plot-twister … There is so much to like here: the complexity of the quartet’s relationships, Jonasson’s powerful, streamlined writing, and the parallels between an unforgiving setting and the characters’ seething grudges. Readers will be drawn into Jonasson’s forbidding Iceland landscape, where it’s anyone’s guess who will make it out alive.” – Booklist (Starred Review)
”Yet another humdinger from Iceland’s finest crime writer.” - Irish TV presenter Ryan Tubridy
“Outside … may just be his best yet … [Here] is an author at the top of his game … it seems there’s no limit to where Jonasson can go.” - On Magazine UK
“Chilling thriller by the king of Icelandic noir … so gripping I can’t put it down.” – Author Fiona Cummings
“entertaining, suspenseful and twisty. Overall, highly recommended for fans of Ragnar Jonasson and suspense thrillers in general.” – Mystery Tribune
“It is so atmospheric, I am immediately transported to the Icelandic moors, feeling the cold all the way to the bones. I read with a bated breath …” – Author Sara Blædel
“A superb page-turner, Outside breathes fresh and unsettling life into the classic locked room mystery. – Author Kevin Wignall
“Raw with cold and rich in atmosphere, Outside is an Arctic Inspector Calls for a new generation.” - Author Matt Wesolowski
“A stunningly original take on the looked-room mystery ... Tense. Very tense.” – Author Michael Ridpath
“Jónasson's twisting, elegantly crafted story will keep you hooked till the very last page.” – Author William Ryan