Review: Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason
by Teri Duerr
December 23rd, 2009
Arctic Chill
by Arnaldur Indridason
Minotaur Books, September 2009, $24.99
Chilling as an Arctic wind describes the murder scene that opens Arnaldur Indridason’s newest Icelandic police-procedural mystery. A 10-year-old, mixed-race boy is found stabbed and frozen to the ground in the garden behind his apartment home.
When his Thai mother arrives, she tells the police through an interpreter that her 15-year-old son is also missing. However, when the older brother is found, mute from shock, she whisks him away into hiding before the police can question him.
As Inspector Erlendur and his team of seasoned detectives question and re-question the boys’ neighbors, relatives, teachers and schoolmates, their only clue to the murder is the growing animosity between native Icelanders and the many Asian immigrants flooding their country. Woven into the investigation of Elias’ murder are two fascinating subplots, unsolved cases that haunt Erlendur and distract him. Or does wrestling with their knotty unknowns help him zero in on the boy’s killer?
Indridason’s writing is lean, even staccato at times, uncluttered with adjectives or adverbs. And yet his depiction of the bleak, sub-zero landscape is vivid. His crisp, interrogative dialogue, often without tags, never confuses the reader. His detectives investigate like the cops on Law & Order, following leads, questioning, carefully examining each piece of evidence. His multi-main-character point of views allow the reader glimpses into his character’s personal lives and unique crime solving techniques. The conclusion, although a surprise, is somewhat disappointing, but the “meat” of the story is so engrossing that the reader won’t mind.
Reviewed by Jackie Houchin
More from Mystery Scene and this author
- Jar City (Oct. 2005), Arnaldur Indridason, reviewed by Derek Hill
- “Arnaldur Indridason’s Jar City on TV” (MS Blog, Aug. 2009), by Oline Cogdill
- “Northern Light” Arnaldur Indridason feature (MS Holiday Issue #206), by Oline Cogdill. Back issue available here.
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