The next book in the Reykjavik thriller series featuring the morose detective Erlendur centers around a suicide that may not have been a simple suicide and a couple of 30 year old missing persons cases. This is an interesting chapter in the continuing saga of Erlendur because he completely goes off on his own to investigate these mysteries. As it is not part of an official investigation, he has no warrants or the like and has to convince witnesses and authorities alike to even talk to […]
Some destructive force
It’s the middle of January and bitterly cold when Erlendur, Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg are called to investigate a murder. A young Thai boy is found stabbed to death, the blood from his wound frozen beneath him. Not only is there the shock and despair of a young life cut tragically short, they have to wonder if the crime was racially motivated. As it turned out, the real motive was much, much worse. But I am getting ahead of myself. That this case involves a boy […]
How whole societies could be built on brutality alone
I think this is my favorite book so far in Arnaldur Indidason’s Inspector Erlendur series. Everything and everyone is moving forward in this installment, for better or worse. At the heart of the investigation is Erlendur’s personal specialty; the unending mysteries and pain brought on by missing persons cases. An earthquake caused the naturally occurring fissures in Lake Kleifarvatn to enlarge and the lake is draining at an alarming rate. A research scientist is out checking equipment in the dry lake bed and discovers a skeleton. […]
Louder than Orange
“Songs’re weird; they tell the future and they tell the past, but they can’t seem to tell the difference.” Kristin Hersh, a founding member of Throwing Muses, kept a diary during her 18th year and holy cow, a lot happened. This book isn’t just that diary, though. Nearly thirty years later, she discovers the journal and reads it. And while it was difficult to revisit that time in her life, she got the idea to use that material to tell the story of one of the […]




