Although Jón Atli Jónasson isn’t a household name, if you’re a Scandi-phile or love Nordic noir you may have come across his work. Together with Baltasar Kormákur, Jón Atli wrote the screenplay for The Deep, the excellent Icelandic film which dramatised the story of a fisherman whose vessel sank in snowstorm and who miraculously survived six hours in the frigid Atlantic. He’s also written several other film scripts, and is renowned as one of Iceland’s leading playwrights.
No Jón Atli has turned his hand to crime fiction and penned a hardboiled thriller set in Reykjavik. Only here you’ll get to see a different side of the city, away from the wooly jumper shops, Viking statues and smoked puffin tacos. It’s the tale of two broken cops – one’s been shot in the head, the other is tarred by his family’s supposed crimes – and by default they’ve landed the case of a missing teenager. Dóra and Rado have plenty deal with, let alone the investigation or the gang war brewing in the city’s underworld.
We absolutely loved The Deep, and so it’s with great pleasure that we welcome Jón Atli Jónasson with his debut crime novel Broken to the site…
Let’s start with some background. How did you become a writer and find your way into crime fiction?
My mother is a trained actress but having four kids made it impossible for her to have an acting career. She did work as a prompter in the theatre for years and she always had these scripts laying around. At some point I started reading them. My father was also a writer and a painter and there was a study in our house that was essential a small library. So I grew up surrounded by books.
My interest in writing crime fiction came from doing a serialised radio play about Iceland’s most notorious criminal case from the 70s. My interest was mainly on the politics surrounding the case and the justice system. I’ve always read a lot of crime fiction but never really saw myself as having the skillset to write in that genre. There was obviously a learning curve but now I mainly see myself as a crime fiction writer.
What are crime fiction lovers going to love about Broken?
I hope they’ll like the characters and get an insight into Icelandic society.
Who is Dóra, what inspired the character and how have you developed her for the book?
Dora is my homage to people that don’t have a filter. I have an older brother who’s autistic and will blurt out whatever comes to mind. My wife is also a brutally honest person. Dora refuses to accept logical fallacies and speaks up for the truth, however painful that is. As a result she’s become an outsider.
And the same for Rado?
The history of immigration in Iceland is relatively short. Rado belongs to the refugees that came to Iceland during The Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. He’s someone who grew up in Iceland with a vague idea of his own homeland and desperately wants to intergrate into Icelandic society. But he too becomes an outsider.
It starts as a missing persons case but what are they up against?
I hope I’m not giving too much away when I say that the missing persons case is just a catalyst for a bigger story about neoliberal values in Iceland and the antagonists subscribe to that value system. We have a saying that doesn’t really translate into other languages where we divvy things up into what we consider the old and the new Icelandic ways. Icelandic society is small and has a tendency to shapeshift rapidly as a result. I make the argument that it’s inherently tribal. When you meet old Icelanders they don’t ask you how you are doing. Instead they’ll say, “Who are your people?”
Tell us a little more about the setting and the side of Reykjavik we’ll see in the novel.
I felt that it had been a while since we had something in the vein of a State of the Nation crime novel. I wanted to present a multi-layered portrait of Icelandic society that somehow spoke to the immigrant experience and gave an authentic update on the underworld. The story starts in Thingvellir National Park, which is deeply connected to Icelandic identity and independence. It’s where the republic was declared in 1944. Nowadays it’s more famous as a location from Game of Thrones and that’s what attracts the tourists. From there we go to Reykjavik and its less famous places like junky apartments and the walled-off high-rises of the rich.
You’ve written screenplays and for theatre, and you’re known for some political and experimental works. How have you approached telling a crime story in Broken?
For me the characters are vital. I have to believe in them. I guess that’s the big lesson from the theatre. I write Nordic noir in a similar way as Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö did. Nordic noir is first and foremost an examination of society by believable characters that the reader can relate to in some way.
There’s a bit of humour in the book as well. How does it sit within the story and what role does it play?
I know a lot of cops but also a lot of criminals. Most of them have an excellent sense of humor.
What are some of the bigger themes you wanted to explore in the novel?
The increasing divide between the rich and the poor in society is an underlying theme in the book as well as the exploitation and abuse of immigrants and refugees.
Which other crime authors and/or books have inspired you, both Icelandic and from around the world, and why?
Arnaldur Indriðason is an inspiration. A great writer and a super nice human being. My idols are Richard Price, George V. Higgins and Jo Nesbo.
What’s next for you, Dóra and Rado?
I decided to write at least three books about these characters but nothing is set in stone. I’m working on the third one now and if I feel I have more to say about them I’ll just keep on writing about them.
Translated by Quentin Bates, Broken is on sale from 12 June 2025. Grab your copy using the links below.
