1974: Aldís swears her job at Krókur, a group home for delinquent boys, is only temporary. In fact, she’s counting the days until she’s saved enough to move to the city. But until then, she bides her time cleaning and doing pretty much any job asked of her by the home’s unpleasant owners.
When a new boy arrives who doesn’t quite fit the mold of the home’s other residents, they strike up a tenuous friendship. And it comes as something of a relief, considering their remote location. But Aldís has grown more and more uncomfortable at the home, especially as odd noises and occurrences start to become more commonplace.
Present day: After the death of his ex, Ódinn has become solely responsible for his eleven-year-old daughter. Which means he’s had to leave some of his bachelor life behind, including his demanding job working for his brother.
He doesn’t enjoy office life, but the agency he works for has been tasked with investigating the histories of various care homes to determine whether their residents were mistreated. When a colleague passes away in the midst of investigating Krókur, Ódinn is given the assignment.
Unlike others, the home doesn’t have a history of complaints, though it has been closed for some time. And though two boys did die while in care there, the incident was deemed an accident at the time. Ódinn is excited about the added responsibility and something he can focus some energy on. But as his investigation goes on, he becomes more certain that things weren’t right at Krókur. And while he’d consider himself a level-headed person, ever since taking over the case, he’s heard—and even seen—increasingly strange things.
One of the things I have always loved about Yrsa Sigurdardóttir‘s work is her way of weaving strange and possibly supernatural events into stories that have otherwise logical explanations. It something that adds a really fabulous and eerie undertone to her fiction. It’s a hallmark of her first series and it’s prevalent in The Undesired.
The story is told in two separate timelines—1974 and present day—with narrators Aldís and Ódinn.
Aldís has left her home and is living on her own, trying to save for better days. Ódinn has new responsibilities as a single father after his ex dies suddenly in a tragic fall. Their connection is Krókur, a home for boys that operated in the 70s.
Krókur is located in a fairly remote area. Aldís and the others rely on the owner if they want transportation into town (unless they want to spend the day walking). Any inclement weather leaves them essentially cut off. Aside from the boys, the home’s only other residents are the owners, Aldís, and four men who can’t get work elsewhere. So it’s a pretty lonely existence. Especially for a young woman with no one to call a friend.
In his own way, Ódinn is also cut off. Many of his friends have fallen away and his free time is spent with his daughter, who is still grieving the loss of her mother. Ódinn is at a loss, considering he’s never had to be much more than a weekend dad and he has no clue how to help with his daughter’s emotional state.
And she seems fine, most of the time. But she swears her mother’s spirit is angry.
As Ódinn digs further into Krókur, he becomes all too aware of how cut off he and his daughter are. Strange noises plague their home, a condo building with just one other resident. But is it connected to the investigation? Or the death of his wife? Or is it all his imagination?
As Aldís’s story unfolds and Ódinn’s look into the home progresses, the real truth about the goings on at Krókur draw closer and closer to being revealed.
The Undesired is perfect reading for a late and chilly night! Just the right amount of suspense and mystery. And an added bonus of creepy undertones!
Order a copy from your favorite indie via Bookshop! (Note, I do have the UK edition. The Undesired was released in the States from Minotaur in 2018.)
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