J.L. Merrow’s Fall Hard is an atmospheric romantic mystery set in Iceland, with lots of local colour and enough uncertainty and suspicion to keep me guessing right up until the reveal.

Eight months before the story begins, Paul Ansell, an English academic working and studying in Iceland, had a terrible accident which left him badly injured and his lover, Sven, dead. Paul has now recovered sufficiently – physically, at least – to return to his job and his studies at the university in Reykjavik, but he still has no memory of Sven, the accident or of his previous time in Iceland. He’s decided it’s time to pick up the pieces of his life and resume his work and studies, hoping that going back will kick-start his memory and help assuage his lingering uncertainty about the accident.

He is met at the airport by Mags, a colleague who was clearly a good friend to him and who seems vaguely familiar – although Paul remembers nothing about her. The next morning at the university building, Mags introduces him to Alex Winter, an American scholar who tells Paul he’s in Iceland for the summer to study Icelandic sagas and then – almost immediately after offering his condolences on Paul’s loss – asks him out for a drink. Paul, somewhat unnerved by Alex’s quick shift from one thing to the other, makes his excuses and leaves.

That weekend, Paul goes into central Reykjavik for the Pride festival and as he’s making his way back to his car at the end of it, he’s hailed by a deep voice coming from behind him. He turns to find himself facing a modern-day Viking – all tanned muscle and sun-bleached blond hair – and is temporarily tongue-tied. The man in front of him is seriously hot and obviously knows him, but Paul is at a loss; it turns out they met when Paul and members of his department had taken a ride in the jetboat on the Hvita River with Viggo at the helm. Some vague recollections of fast moving spray and high stone walls come to the surface, as does a flash of a half-smile and ice-blue eyes, crinkled at the corners. Excited at remembering something – even something that small – Paul is eager to take the trip again, but turns Viggo down when he suggests they have a drink and spend some time together. Paul is unsettled by the encounter for reasons he can’t explain, but meeting Viggo has stirred up… not memories as such, but vague feelings he’s not sure he can trust.

I really liked the set up and the underlying sense of disquiet that permeates most of the story. Being constantly around people who know more about his life in Iceland than he does is both frustrating and intimidating, especially as it seems the people Paul feels closest to aren’t being completely honest with him. Mags is obviously a good friend, but is strangely reluctant to answer Paul’s questions about Sven and their relationship, and Viggo is equally evasive, side-stepping Paul’s questions about how they know each other and whether they had been involved before the accident. Paul’s instant, charged attraction to Viggo is another thing that fazes him – he doesn’t think he’s ever been so captivated by anyone before, but while he might not remember Viggo, he knows, instinctually, he’s important somehow. He just doesn’t know why.

Fall Hard is compelling and the sense of foreboding doesn’t let up as Paul’s memories remain frustratingly elusive and he becomes increasingly convinced that there’s information being withheld from him by people he’d thought he could trust. But I ended up knocking grade points off because the ending is weak and the characters aren’t all that well fleshed out. I liked Viggo, but other than that he’s hot, sexy and important to Paul in some way, we know little about him. We never see anything of their previous platonic friendship, so when they start hooking up it feels like insta-lust (a few flashbacks showing how they became friends could have fixed that) and because we haven’t seen their relationship develop, we don’t really know why they’re attracted to each other apart from the physical. I also didn’t understand why Viggo felt the need to be so cagey when Paul asked him about their prior relationship and about how he – Paul – had been with Sven.

Talking of Sven… He’s not physically present in the novel, but I couldn’t help wondering what Paul saw in him because he sounds like a total dick. The author does a fairly good job of keeping us guessing about how the accident went down, but the reasons are anticlimactic, and the stuff about Sven’s book and why Paul needed to stay with him until he finished it just don’t make a lot of sense.

The Icelandic setting is so well done that it’s almost another character in the story. The author has clearly spent time there and the descriptions of the often bleak landscapes – the dark lava fields, fantastical rock formations and scrubby grasslands dotted with wildflowers – are vivid, enabling the reader to get a detailed mind’s-eye picture of the locations. The topography, culture and history of Iceland are integral to the plot (Paul’s area of study is the Sagas, with a particular interest in the figure of Egil Skallagrimsson); and while his academic knowledge is intact, he can’t remember anything else about his life in Iceland, it feels natural that he should comment on what he’s experiencing so the reader (re)discovers it alongside him without info-dumps or the story becoming a travelogue. I will say, however, that there were a couple of occasions the history/saga detail could have been trimmed because it slowed the pacing and wasn’t entirely relevant to this story.

Fall Hard is a quick and engaging read and I enjoyed it despite my reservations. The mystery is taut, the sexy times are hot and the setting is superbly done – I just wish the romance had been developed a bit more.