Title in translation: Arctic Chill
Series detective: Erlendur Sveinsson and co.
No. in series: 7
Year of publication: 2005
Type of mystery: Murder, police procedural
Type of investigator: Police
Setting & time: Reykjavík, 2005
Number of murders: 1
Some themes: Immigrants, racism, child abuse, missing persons
Story: On a frosty January morning a young boy, half Thai, half Icelandic, is found stabbed to death outside the building where he lived. Most people assume that the crime was racially motivated, but Erlendur is not so sure. He and his team patiently sift through evidence and question suspects, and other cases intrude. When the murder weapon is finally found it leads the investigators down a disturbing path.
Review: When I reviewed the last book I mentioned that the reiterations of the police officers' personal lives and problems was getting boring. Fortunately it is not so in this story. Arnaldur only uses very brief summaries to ensure new readers know what's going on, but does not repeat the whole story like he has in the previous couple of books, which is good. The murder case is disturbing and utterly realistic, and the motive (or non-motive) is quite Icelandic. There are two very good red herrings included in the plot, and the ending is completely unexpected.
The Icelandic winter (at its worst) is described in such detail that it almost becomes a character in the story, and the weather descriptions serve to make the story dark and gloomy.
Rating: A very good addition to the series. 4 + stars.
Series detective: Erlendur Sveinsson and co.
No. in series: 7
Year of publication: 2005
Type of mystery: Murder, police procedural
Type of investigator: Police
Setting & time: Reykjavík, 2005
Number of murders: 1
Some themes: Immigrants, racism, child abuse, missing persons
Story: On a frosty January morning a young boy, half Thai, half Icelandic, is found stabbed to death outside the building where he lived. Most people assume that the crime was racially motivated, but Erlendur is not so sure. He and his team patiently sift through evidence and question suspects, and other cases intrude. When the murder weapon is finally found it leads the investigators down a disturbing path.
Review: When I reviewed the last book I mentioned that the reiterations of the police officers' personal lives and problems was getting boring. Fortunately it is not so in this story. Arnaldur only uses very brief summaries to ensure new readers know what's going on, but does not repeat the whole story like he has in the previous couple of books, which is good. The murder case is disturbing and utterly realistic, and the motive (or non-motive) is quite Icelandic. There are two very good red herrings included in the plot, and the ending is completely unexpected.
The Icelandic winter (at its worst) is described in such detail that it almost becomes a character in the story, and the weather descriptions serve to make the story dark and gloomy.
Rating: A very good addition to the series. 4 + stars.
Comments
On another note: is there an edition of the Icelandic sagas in English that you'd particularly recommend?
However, I have heard good things about the "The Sagas of Icelanders" from Penguin, a paperback edition with a selection of Sagas from a recent luxury edition "The Complete Sagas of Icelanders" which is apparently the first coordinated translation of all the sagas. If you like the first, you can always invest in the second.
Here's a link to a list of more Saga translations: http://www.squirrel.com/asatru/translations.html
I read more than 200 books last year. The 52 is merely a convenient number for a challenge. You know, 52 weeks in the year = 52 books a week you wouldn't have read otherwise. And people are allowed to have different tastes. Todays popular junk might be tomorrow's classics (think Dickens, Dumas, Austen).