Behind every golden mask, there is a face someone paid a fortune to hide.

The murder of Daníel Perosi,  a respected lawyer, retired diplomat, and pillar of Reykjavík society, is shocking enough on its own. But the strange detail left at the crime scene turns it into something far darker: a single word, written where no one was meant to find it, that hints at a secret Daníel spent decades protecting.

Detectives Rúna and Hanna trace the victim to an exclusive circle of lifelong friends: a politician, an ethics professor, a doctor, and Regína, a celebrated stage actress on the verge of the performance of her career. For fifty years, this group has been inseparable, bound by a friendship that began in 1974 during a glittering high school theater production that ended in tragedy: the suspicious death of a fellow student, never fully explained.

As Rúna and Hanna dig through Daníel’s past, they uncover a hidden room that has nothing to do with the elegant life he presented to the world, and everything to do with a horror that reaches back decades and crosses borders, hidden for years behind institutional silence and the protection of powerful names.

When a second member of the group is killed in the most public way imaginable, live in front of an audience, Rúna and Hanna realize the killer isn’t finished and that the truth they’re circling is more personal, and more devastating, than anyone could have guessed.

Masked is a chilling, propulsive thriller about the cost of institutional silence, the privilege that lets monsters hide in plain sight, and what happens when the people they hurt finally come looking for them.

“The twist in the book’s plot is incredibly clever and convincing, and the suspense holds you in a tight grip while Rúna and Hanna work their way through the clues of the case. Steindór proves with every book that he ranks among the country’s best thriller writers.”
RAGNA GESTSDOTTIR, DV NEWSPAPER (on Masked)

★★★★★ “A total masterpiece 👏🏻 Exceptionally well-written, a great plot, and a bit of a slap in the face regarding just how sickening people can be.”
STORYTEL (on Masked)

★★★★★ “A fantastic crime novel, just as expected from this author. One of the absolute best.”
STORYTEL (on Masked)

★★★★★ “A truly exciting book, and it was great to follow the main characters. Hoping for more books in this series. Steindór is an absolutely fantastic writer who clearly keeps up with broader world news, not just Icelandic online media. Powerful men in inner circles all over the world commit sickening crimes against children. Horrifying to listen to at times, but one’s thoughts naturally go to the countless vulnerable children subjected to terrible abuse.” STORYTEL (on Masked)

★★★★ “This book kept me so engrossed during the final stretch that the sock I am knitting accidentally became a good 15 cm too long, and now I have to unravel it. I don’t know how much that says about the book to others, but I thought it was great—horrifying in places and absolutely worth reading.”
GOODREADS (on Masked)