Book Review: The Absolution

THE ABSOLUTION | Yrsa Sigurdardottir
(Children’s House #3)
02.11.2020 | Minotaur Books
Rating: 5/5 stars

Social media has taken over as a source of spreading news throughout the world. Now Icealandic police are finding it as a source for discovering a crime has occurred. Videos of a terrified young teenager are being spread across Snapchat, leaving those that have viewed the videos to wonder if the girl is alive or dead. The young teen’s body is eventually found. She has been marked with the number 2. 

Detective Huldar and child psychologist Freyja are paired up yet again to get to the bottom of this murder investigation, starting with interviews this girl’s friends. Who would do this? What are her friends hiding? As signs start to look towards bullying as a motivator and that more victims are to come, the police must race to find the truth.

Yrsa Sigurdardottir continues to blow me away with her Children’s House series! I have loved the previous two installments and THE ABSOLUTION was no different!

This book centers around a muder investigation that keeps eerily close to a realistic possibility across the globe. Each day bullying is becoming more and more of a problem thanks to the ease of social media. Rumors have the ability to spread much further and at a quicker pace in this day and age. Sigurdardottir smartly uses the reality to craft one of her most devious cases within the pages of THE ABSOLUTION. Could you imagine logging into Snapchat to view your friends stories only to be met with videos of them being abducted and possibly murdered? The premise is completely unnerving and one that instantly makes it relatable to the reader. 

Never to shy away from a dark story, Sigurdardottir has not written THE ABSOLUTION for those faint of heart. The gore factor is high within this book, but not taken to a level where I would deem it unnecessary or overly done. I believe Sigurdardottir always includes these gory scenes to remind the reader just how brutal the events that are happening within the pages of her books truly are. This knowledge then works to engage the reader into continuously binge reading these books in an attempt to solve the cases at hand.

I was coming up with some wild theories about who had committed the crimes within THE ABSOLUTION while reading, however, Sigurdardottir managed to floor me with her ending! I never saw the level of detail that was given as an option, but it works so perfectly that I was simply stunned. I loved every last bit of this book, but it was truly the devious ending, which will solidify this one as an all-time favorite!

THE ABSOLUTION is the third book in a brilliant series and while they have the potential to work as standalones, I highly recommend reading them in order.

This book is available to buy from: Amazon | Book Depository

A huge thank you to Minotaur Books for sending me a free copy of this book!

Disclosure: What Jess Reads is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way influences my opinion of the above book.