Olaf Olafsson (One Station Away) delivers a spellbinding mystery in his sixth novel, The Sacrament.
The story follows Sister Johanna, a French nun who is called to Iceland years after she investigated alleged abuse at a Catholic school there. Present-tense narration depicts her journey as she leaves behind her convent and travels to Paris, which brings back memories of her formative youth. Flashbacks reveal her relationship with a young Icelandic woman named Halla, and the machinations of an overbearing deacon named Raffin, who eventually becomes a cardinal and is the one to dispatch her to Iceland. Further flashbacks reveal her first trip to Iceland, her investigation and the dramatic death of the school's headmaster, August Frans.
Olafsson writes as sparely as the Icelandic landscape he describes, with a muted lyricism that carries the novel forward. Sister Johanna has rich memories, and she is a complex character, expertly drawn, who questions God and her mission. At the center of the novel is a story of forbidden love between two women, and the power struggle between Sister Johanna and Cardinal Raffin. Raffin discovers the nun's secret and uses it against her. This backstory is carried to Iceland, where Sister Johanna must confront the report she wrote decades earlier and the persistent mystery of the schoolmaster's death. She also yearns to visit Halla although she's been warned not to.
Pulling all these threads together, Olafsson creates a moody noir piece with religious overtones. The Sacrament is quieter than the average thriller yet still provides some riveting plot twists. Above all, Olafsson has created dynamic and memorable characters. --Scott Neuffer, writer, poet, editor of trampset