Review: One to keep and re-read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 27, 2013
Eight months after the accident that claimed the life of his lover Sven Halvorson and nearly his own Paul Ansell returns to Iceland to continue his work at the Snorri Sturluson Institute for Icelandic Studies. The physical injuries have almost healed but the accident has left Paul with selective amnesia, he can remember factual things but nothing personal, and nothing at all about his time in Iceland. Paul is hoping that returning to the Institute and picking up the threads of his old life might jog his missing memories, but it soon becomes clear that it’s not going to be as simple as that. As he meets his colleagues, old and new, it seems that while he may sense he knows things, the memories are far out of reach. This leaves Paul increasingly uncomfortable and frustrated so tries to bury himself in his work, resuming his study of the long dead bloodthirsty Viking Egil Skallagrimsson.A chance meeting with Viggo, a tall blond Viking lookalike who seems to know Paul, triggers the first memory Paul regains, leaving him disorientated and unsettled. Anxious to see if he can regain any more memories Paul wants to meet Viggo again. Can Viggo help him unshackle his memories, and just what is Paul’s subconscious trying to prevent him remembering?I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a part of your memory, and in such a horrific manner, but I felt like I understood Paul, could empathize with his frustration at his missing memories, and how unsettled and frankly scared he was, especially as the more he found out about his life before the accident the less he understood, about what he thought he knew of himself, and his relationship with Sven. Viggo was wonderful, I could just imagine him as a Viking warrior of old, tall, blond, strong, but gentle, he was quite the enigma. Right from their first meeting its obvious Paul and Viggo fit together, and they are as hot between the sheets as the springs of Reykjadalur.I’ve never been to Iceland but it’s a country that’s always fascinated me and in Fall Hard JL Merrow brings it to life with her descriptive prose as a life as a land of mystery and wonder overflowing with history, harsh in its natural beauty. I must mention the silent star of the story, Egil Skallagrimsson, I’d never heard of him before but he was fascinating, all the details spread throughout the story brought him and the old Vikings of legend to life.The other secondary characters are well characterized, Mag’s, Paul’s colleague at the Institute was lovely and sweet, and Alex, well he was creepy right from the start. The book is told mainly through Paul’s POV, which works perfectly as it’s his memories that matter, not what anyone else may know, or think they know.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, JL Merrow certainly knows how to write a compelling psychological mystery, and I was hooked watching Paul try to unravel the missing year of his life and the more he remembered the more nervous I got wondering what the answers would reveal. It is a slow moving plot, details and tidbits are gradually revealed, creating quite a suspenseful story which has a very satisfying ending. Definitely one to keep and re read again.