(hb; 2014, 2015: fourteenth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb)
From the inside flap:
"It is 1979, a few years after Reykjavik Nights closed, and Erlendur is now a detective, already divorced, and is working for the shadowy Marion Briem. A body of a man has been found in the blue lagoon, which has not yet become the tourist spot it is today. Apparently the victim fell from a great height, and at first the police investigate the possibility that he has been thrown out of an airplane.
". . .Erlendur is also asked to investigate the cold case of a young girl who vanished into thin air on her way to school forty years earlier. . ."
Review:
Oblivion is an excellent novel, one worth owning. As a police procedural, the true villains of the book and their motives are easy to spot (given the milieu-reflective sparseness of characters), but this is not a criticism of Oblivion: rather it is the journey, tinged with political intrigue, the haunted emotional resonance of the characters and masterful writing and editing, that made Oblivion difficult to set down. Like the rest of the Reykjavik Thriller series, this is worth your time and cash.
(hb; 2014: thirteenth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb)
From the inside flap:
"As the book opens, Erlendur is a young officer assigned to traffic duties. He is not yet a detective. He works nights. Reykjavik's nights are full of car crashes, robberies, fights, drinking, and sometimes unexplained death.
"One night a homeless man Erlendur knows is found drowned. Few people care. Then a young woman on her way home from a club vanishes, and both cases go cold.
"But Erlendur's instincts tell him that the fates of these two victims are worth pursuing. He is inexorably drawn into a world where everyone is either in the dark or on the run."
Review:
Reykjavik is a crisp-prosed, engaging police procedural. There are plenty of twists, solid characters and effective mood-setting in this waste-no-words Reykjavik Thriller novel, a prequel to Jar City. This, like all the other books in this series, is worth your time. Check it out.
Followed by Into Oblivion.
(hb; 2010, 2012: eleventh book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb)
From the inside flap:
"In this latest puzzle, Inspector Erlendur learns of the baffling story of Matthildur, a local woman who went missing years earlier on the night of a violent storm. A frequent visitor to his birthplace, Erlendur has spent his whole life searching for his brother, Beggi, who was lost in a snowstorm when they were both children. As he begins to ask questions about the fateful evening when Matthildur disappeared, Erlendur begins to suspect what may have also befallen his long-lost brother.
"Can Erlendur possibly solve the disappearances of Matthildur and Beggi after all these decades? Or are the forces that want him to stop investigating stronger than he is?"
Review:
Strange is a mood-effective (wintry, stark, moody), reader-hooking disappearance - possibly murder - mystery, one worth checking out from the library. There's a nice mention of the events of the sixth Erlender book, The Draining Lake, which adds a thematic layer to Strange.
The twists in Strange aren't surprising, but with Indriđason's work it's often about the journey not the destination. The ending is a promising lead-in to the next book in the series, a loosely linked side-prequel, The Chess Match, as well as another prequel, Reyjavik Nights.
(hb; 2009, 2012: tenth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb)
From the inside flap:
"A man is making a leather mask with an iron spike fixed in the middle of the forehead. Meanwhile, a school reunion has left Inspector Erlendur's colleague Sigurdur Óli unhappy with life in the police force. While Iceland is enjoying an economic boom, Óli's relationship is on the rocks and soon even his position in the department is compromised. When a favor to a friend goes wrong and a woman dies before his eyes, Óli has a murder investigation on his hands."
Review:
More of why-they-did-it than a whodunit, this is a good, solid police procedural from a consistently excellent, crisp-prose penning author. Some readers, like myself, may pick up on who the killers are, but the writing and the characters - many of them ongoing - are (still) interesting and the story doesn't lag.
Black Skies is worth your time. Check it out.
Followed by Strange Shores.
(hb; 2008, 2011: ninth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Anna Yates)
From the inside flap:
"Haunted by personal demons, Detective Erlendur decides to take a short leave of absence, putting a female detective, Elínborg, in charge while he is gone. When a troubling case lands on Elínborg's desk, she's quickly thrust into a violent and volatile situation with extremely high stakes. Soon, her investigation uncovers a twisted tale of double lives that may be connected to the unsolved disappearance of a young girl. The clock is ticking to solve the case before a serial rapist strikes again. . ."
Review:
Adroit, reader-hooking police procedural, this. Indriđason has, once again, crafted a kick-butt, difficult-to-put-down detective novel that is one of my favorite Reykjavik Thriller works thus far.
Early on, I figured out many of the events that took place at, or before, the scene of the (initial) crime - it's inevitable, given how structured and tightly written Outrage is - but some of the twists and the characters' interactions, well foreshadowed, were impressive and unexpected.
This is a book - and a series - worth owning.
Followed by Black Skies.
(hb; 2007, 2009: eighth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb)
From the inside flap:
"Inspector Erlendur has spent his entire career struggling to evade the ghosts of his past. But ghosts are visiting him, both in the form of a séance attended by a dead woman and also in the reemerging puzzle of two young people who went missing thirty years ago. And there's the ghost of the detective's disastrous marriage, which despite the pleas of his drug-addled daughter, he is unwilling to confront. In addition, he's still obsessed with the disappearance of his brother, who vanished without a trace when they were boys.
"He can only run from his ghosts for so long, and when they finally catch up with him, Erlendur is forced to face the heart-shattering truth of his past."
Review:
Structurally ambitious, entertaining and character progressive entry in the Reykjavik Thriller series.
As with previous Erlendur Sveinsson novels, the mystery element doesn't necessarily extend to the identity of the perpetrator(s) or the victim(s), but, rather, the hows and wherefores of the case(s).
Worth owning, this series.
Followed by Outrage.
(hb; 2005: seventh book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb)
From the inside flap:
"On an icy January day, the Reykjavik police are called to a block of apartments where a body has been found in the garden: a young, dark-skinned boy, frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood.
"Erlendur and his teams embark on their investigation and soon unearth tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland's outwardly liberal, multicultural society. Meanwhile, the boy's murder forces Erlendur to confront the tragedy in his own past. And before long, facts emerge from the snow-filled darkness that are even more chilling than the Arctic night."
Review:
Good, entertaining and character progressive entry in the Reykjavik Thriller series, as worthwhile as the previous Erlendur Sveinsson books.
Worth owning, this series.
Followed by Hypothermia.
(hb; 2004, 2007: sixth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder)
From the inside flap:
"Following an earthquake, the water level of an Icelandic lake suddenly falls, revealing a skeleton that is weighed down by a heavy radio device bearing inscriptions in Russian. Inspectors Erlendur, Elinborg, and Sigurdur Oli's investigation takes them back to the Cold War era, when bright, left-wing students in Iceland were sent to study in the 'heavenly state' of Communist East Germany.
"But one of the students went missing, and her friends suspected that her 'heavenly state' was all too real. Erlendur follows a long cold trail that leads back to Iceland, international espionage, and murder."
Review:
Absorbing, fast-paced and worthwhile entry in the Reykjavik Thriller series. The mystery isn't so much who the killer is, but how the pieces fit together, made even more interesting by its settings, past and present, and its series-progressive characters (ongoing and new).
Worth owning, this series.
Followed by Arctic Chill.
(hb; 2003, 2006: fifth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder)
From the inside flap:
"The Christmas rush is at its peak in a grand Reykjavik hotel when Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson is called in to investigate a murder. The hotel Santa has been stabbed, and Erlendur and his detective colleagues have no shortage of suspects between hotel staff and the international travelers staying for the holidays.
"But then a shocking secret surfaces. As Christmas day approaches, Erlendur must deal with his difficult daughter, pursue a possible romantic interest, and untangle a long-buried web of malice and greed to find the murderer."
Review:
Voices, like its predecessor novels - Jar City and Silence of the Grave - is a fantabulous, focused police procedural with engaging (and succinctly drawn) characters, wry humor, riveting writing, and equally riveting case-based revelations.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by The Draining Lake.
(hb; 2002, 2005: fourth book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder)
From the inside flap:
". . . a corpse is found on a hill outside the city, and Detective Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson and his team think the body may have been buried for some years.
"While Erlendur struggles to hold together the crumbling fragments of his own family, slowly but surely he finds out the truth about another unhappy family. Few people are still alive who can tell the tale, but even secrets taken to the grave cannot remain hidden forever."
Review:
Silence of the Grave is a high-quality, pins-and-needles Jar City follow-up that balances the warm, succinct humanity and humor of the characters and the wince-evincing facts and action relating to the mysterious bones.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Voices.
(hb; 2000, 2004: third* book in the Reykjavik Thriller series. Translated from the Icelandic by Bernard Scudder. . . *The first two books, Sons of Dust [1997] and Silent Kill [1998], haven't been translated from the Icelandic to English yet.)
From the inside flap:
"When a lonely old man is found murdered in his Reykjavik flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl's grave. Inspector Erlendur, who heads the investigation team, discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, though not convicted, of an unsolved crime. Did the old man's past come back to haunt him?
"As the team of detectives reopen this very cold case, Inspector Erlendur uncovers secrets that are much larger than the murder of one old man - secrets that have been carefully guarded by many people for many years. As he follows a fascinating trail of unusual forensic evidence, Erlendur also confronts stubborn personal conflicts that reveal his own depth and complexity of character."
Review:
Jar City is an excellent, focused police procedural with engaging (and succinctly drawn) characters, riveting action and equally riveting case-based revelations.
Comparisons between Indriđason's Reykjavik Thrillers and the ten-book Martin Beck Mysteries have been repeatedly made, and rightly so: both are reader-grabbing-from-the-git-go, character-progressive and humane reads.
Worth owning, this.
Followed by Silence of the Grave.
#
The first film version was released in Iceland on October 20, 2006.
Ingvar Eggert Sigurðson, billed as Ingvar E. Sigurðson, played Erlendur. Áugústa Eva Erlendóttir played Eva Lind. Björn Hlynir Haraldsson played Sigurður Óli. Ólafía Hrönn Jónsdóttir played Elínborg. Þorstenn Gunnarsson played Holberg. Theodór Júlíusson played Elliði. Kristbjörg Kjeld played Katrín. Þórunn Magnea Magnúsdóttir played Elín. Guðmunda Elíasdóttir played Theodóra.
Baltasar Komákur directed and scripted the film.
#
An American remake is scheduled to hit theatrical screens sometime in 2012. Michael Ross is set to script the film.
When more remake information becomes available, I'll update this book review.
