Mystery Scene Review

Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason
St. Martin's/Minotaur, October, 2005

In his first novel to hit these shores, Arnaldur Indridason has written a captivating and thoroughly entertaining dark descent through the relatively placid underbelly of Icelandic society.

Nothing much happens in Iceland, especially murder. So when the body of an elderly man is found killed in his Reykjavik basement flat, his head brutally bashed in with an ashtray, Detective Inspector Erlandur Sveinsson is confident that the case will be solved with nary a ripple causing concern. But as Erlandur and his partner Sigurdur Oli begin to ask questions and root deep into the victim’s unsettling past, the case starts to metamorphose into something far stranger and more tragic. Mix in enough sinister revelations to make even the most mentally stable person dive into the nearest volcano, much gallows humor, plus the requisite family problems--the divorced, middle-aged Erlandur is forced to contend with his brash yet troubled twenty-year-old daughter, Eva, who frequently crashes at her father’s place and has a notorious reputation among many of Reykjavik’s most wanted--and you have the extra ingredients for one hell of a page turner.

Fans of Scandinavian mystery writers Henning Mankell and Karin Fossum, as well as anyone who simply loves their crime fiction damp with that peculiar Northern European existentialist gloom, should find Indridason’s American debut worthwhile. But what really elevates this novel into the realm of the truly memorable is its brilliant characterizations and unwavering humanity amidst the spiritual detritus of so many damaged lives. Superb.

- Derek Hill

This review appeared in the Holiday 2005 issue (#92) of the magazine