Icelandic Author Tops German Bestseller Lists

Ragnar Jónasson’s ‘Hidden Iceland’ has made history by occupying three of the top places on the German bestseller list published by Der Spiegel, RÚV reported this morning.

The latest installment, The Mist, which came out in June this year, currently stands at fourth place. The series’s first book, The Darkness, stands just before it in third place, whilst The Island stands in eleventh, having recently moved down from tenth place. Der Spiegel’s bestseller list can be viewed here.

Ragnar’s success is historic: he is the first Icelandic author ever to have three books in the top ten. He was also the first Icelandic author to reach the top of the chart. The Darkness has now been in the top ten for eighteen weeks in a row and The Island for eleven.

Ragnar has sold over 1.5 million books worldwide and has been described by The Times as “nothing less than a landmark in modern crime fiction.” His books have been published in 40 countries and translated into 27 languages. His debut, Snowblind, went to number one in the Amazon Kindle charts shortly after its publication in the UK, as well as being selected by The Independent as one of the best crime novels of 2015.

Ragnar also co-founded the Reykjavík international crime writing festival Iceland Noir, which is currently scheduled to take place between the 18th and 21st of November this year. Due to Covid-19, the team is currently making “some difficult decisions” on if and how this will take place. An announcement is expected to take place on Wednesday.

Edit: The Mist now ranks at number one on Der Spiegel’s bestseller list.

In addition to the individual books from our shop linked in this article, you can also buy whole collections of Ragnar Jónasson’s works here and here.

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