Strange Shores. Arnaldur Indridason. Victoria Cribb (Translation)Vintage (2014)

Gripping and memorable Icelandic crime story that has deep melancholy heartbeat. Detective Erlendur is staying on his parent's abandoned farm when he hears a story about a woman who vanished in storm from a neighbour. Erlendur lost his younger brother in a storm decades before and the wound has never healed, so he responds to the story be asking questions among those who were alive at the time. Slowly a story emerges as peoples memories are brought to the surface. It becomes clear that there was more going on than had been known and the final unravelling is smart and bitter, exactly as it should be.
This is a very quiet story, the action is mostly Erlendur asking questions and stirring up memories that have long been dormant. The grip of the story lies in the cast and in particular Erlendur  himself. He frequently asks himself why he is pursuing this story, as it becomes clearer that there may have been foul play involved, he wonders what he will do about any information that he finds. It is always apparent to reader that Erlendur is attempting to hide himself from the story of the loss of his brother while being constantly having it brought back to him by his investigation.
The supporting cast are given a tenacious life, they are elderly now but they have a force and depth that bring the reader deeply into the story. As the lives they lived in the small fishing village emerge and the forces that trapped them it becomes increasingly clear that the past has never let them go. As the investigation continues the compromises and stories they have told themselves start to wilt under scrutiny, they become more engaging and vivid. Erlendur is doing something they want and do not want.
The plot mechanics of the story are superb, the pieces of the story that emerge fit together with a strong credibility and slowly lead to a brilliantly set up conclusion. The second story about Erlendur 's brother is masterfully woven into the narrative and the conclusion is deeply sad and and entirely suitable.
A novel about the long term impact of cold, very cold, crime Strange Shores is stunning, the poisonous effects of crime are rarely so carefully considered and revealed. Top class fiction.

Outrage. Arnaldur Indridason. Anna Yates (Translation). Harvill Secker (2011)

A gripping and slow burning crime story that slowly releases its terrible secrets. A man is found murdered in his apartment, there is no sign of a break in, the victim was wearing a t-shirt that did not appear to belong to him and there was a woman's shawl under the bed. Detective Elinborg leads the investigation which very rapidly goes nowhere. The victim was extremely secretive and there were no witnesses. When Elinborg does find a possible witness she is very unreliable. Still a line of investigation that includes the rape of a woman and the disappearance of a young woman many years before starts to emerge. A suspect is identified and the case heads for a bitter and dark conclusion.
The story is very skillfully paced and structured, the story threads lop and flow across each other until they are carefully and sharply woven together. The reveals are very well staged and the dark undercurrent come to the surface in a very satisfactory way. The investigation is orderly, logical and very determined. The final unraveling  is done with considerable and quiet force.
Arnaldur Indridason  does a number of unexpected things in this story, he gives the victims of sexual assault a chance to be fully rounded characters rather than be locked into victim hood. They have been battered by the appalling crime they were subjected to, they are not defined by it. This care for the person is equally evident with Detective Elinborg, she is pressed hard by her job and the demands that it makes on her. She has a credibly mixed home life with a loving husband and some strife with one of her sons. She is never the cliche of a hard worn police officer, she is doubtful and dedicated, trying to make the correct decisions. She also has a strong professional care and strength, she is open minded enough to trap an elusive and vital clue.The rest of the cast are given the same care and attention and as the coils of the plot tighten around themselves respond in credible and engaging ways.
The murder victim remains a shadow at the heart of the book until the investigation starts to stir up long hidden actions and he starts to come into dreadful focus. The final portion of the book is a triumph of storytelling as the past is dragged into the present and the dangling threads are tied up. Arnaldur Indridason has an unflinching eye for responses to evil, they way that it can be easier to look away and pretend and then how maintaining the pretense becomes and end in itself. This is a very unsettling and engrossing book, a pleasure to read. The translation is transparent, there Icelandic context is vivid and direct, there is no sense that it is being filtered in anyway.

Hypothermia. Arnldur Indridason (Writer), Bernard Scudder (Translator). Vintage Books (2009)

A quietly effective crime story that delivers a considerable punch. Icelandic police detective Erlendur is approached by the friend of a suicide victim who has doubts about the death and he agrees to investigate it further. At the same time a thirty year old missing person case is weighing heavily on his mind. As he steadily pursues his investigations into both cases it becomes clear that there are significant questions regarding both that need to be answered. The reveals are quiet and superbly staged, the apparently irrelevant investigations into the two cases starts to reveal unexpected turns. The conclusion is as cold and gripping as the hypothermia of the title.
Arnaldur Indridason has taken an interesting route in this book, the investigations are shrouded in questions of memory and loss and how they can overshadow the the present. Erlendur is conducting the investigations as a private crusade, there is no official reason for them and the question of why he is undertaking them is nicely woven into the story. The Icelandic context is strongly drawn in the story and adds to the flavour of the book.
The structure of the narrative is clever, the suicide victim emerges as someone looking for answers all her life and seeking them in increasingly strange places. the way her search to understand her past collides with the present is subtly and effectively woven together. The missing person case stirs a dark pool of memory and long term loss with skill and a melancholy grip. Thoughtful and gripping, a great read.

Arctic Chill. Arnaldur Indridason. Bernard Scudder & Victoria Cribb (Translators). Vintage Books (2005)

A compelling police procedural set in Iceland. A young boy is found stabbed to death in the playground of his housing complex. The son of a Thai immigrant, the question as to whether it was racially motivated dominate the investigation. Detective Erlendur and his colleagues, Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg pursue the investigation with care and thoroughness. Erlendur has a second case, that of a missing woman and the lonely dying of his police mentor on his mind as well. The reveals are very well staged, the investigation is thoughtful and very well structured, the conclusion is sharp, unexpected and horribly credible.
In the same way that a racially motivated murder colours the investigation it poses a significant problem for the story also. Arnaldur Indridason has to find a way to complex and social and political issue dramatically convincing without reducing it to blandness or polemic. For the most part he succeeds, while some of the cast are essentially mouthpieces required to provide a point of view, they are in the distinct minority. The non-police cast are given points of view and personalities that work on all levels.
The sub-plots provide a nice counter point to the main story and they give the cast some dramatic elbow room to develop more as characters and to provide a greater depth of context for the story. The setting in integral to the whole story, Reykjavik and Iceland itself are key aspects to the story. The writing is low key, Erlendur and Sigurdur Oli emerge as very engaging principals, they have interesting and unstreotypical private lives that gives them depth and weight. Deeply satisfying, a pleasure to read.

The Draining Lake. Arnaldur Indridason. Vintage (2007)

This is a intriguing and very atmospheric mystery set in Iceland, the fourth in a series featuring the detectives Erlendur, Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli. Like the earlier books this is as much about the detectives, in particular Erlendur as it is about the carefully constructed mysteries that wend their way through the books. In the book a skeleton is found at the bottom of a lake that has started to drain due to the result of an earthquake. The skeleton has an old Russian radio transmitter tied to it and the cause of death was violent as well. The investigation starts with missing persons and slowly centers on one particular case that may well have nothing to do with the skeleton in the lake. At the same time a second narrative is started by the discovery of the body as a man who knows a great deal starts to review this time in Leipzig when it was part of East Germany, he went there as a dedicated Icelandic communist to study. The story of his time in Leipzig winds its way through the story of the investigation into the missing person and the skeleton. The Cold War casts a long shadow over the investigation and the lives it touches.

There is very little action in the book, the investigation is methodical, leads are found and slowly eliminated or developed further. Finally an unexpected conclusion is reached and peace of a sort is finally achieved. This is a quietly gripping book, the cast are engaging and the mystery absorbing, it is carefully laid out and the human dimension is always foremost. The atmosphere is one of resigned patience as the work of resolving the questions is done methodically while the lives of all the characters are illuminated and revealed with sympathy and care. A highly enjoyable, thoughtful read.