Reviews

A Mulher de Verde by Arnaldur Indriðason

afield's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

berlin78's review against another edition

mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

momsense03's review against another edition

5.0

I absolutely loved this book. I felt so many emotions while reading it. It made me angry, there were parts where I cried a lot... especially when Grímur was beating his wife. That was hard to read. I enjoyed this book, but I don’t think I will be able to read it one more time.

sanok's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

poleksya's review against another edition

3.0

“He knew at once it was a human bone, when he took it from the baby who was sitting on the floor chewing it.”
It's quite a first sentence, don't you think?

Silence of the Grave continues where Jar City left of with Inspector Erlendur working on a new case. As Reykjavik expands new construction sites are popping up everywhere, but on one of these construction sites a skeleton was found, a skeleton that is 50-60 years old. This takes Inspector and his team on journey of discovering what happened to this person, digging deep into the past. As they try to solve this cold case, Inspector Erlendur tries to find with his drug addicted daughter as
he deals with issues from his own past.

I'm really glad that I decided to continue with this series, because I liked this one a lot more than Jar City. Not only the case is more interesting and really heartbreaking, but we also learn a lot more about the Inspector. In the first book he was a really cold and distant character, without anything that would make him seem like a real person. Not only we find out more about his life, but you can actually see that he's actually human.

The book is split into two timelines, one in the present as the Inspector is trying to solve the case and the other one set 50-60 years in the past where we follow the events that lead up to the murder. Having this past story line makes everything feel more real, then if the police was just solving some cold case. The whole book has a greater impact when you get to witness
these past events, but it also keeps you guessing who this skeleton might be and what really happened.

I forgot how much a like reading Nordic Noir. I thoroughly enjoyed Silence of the Graves and I'm definitely reading the next next book too. One more thing I have to say that it's not the easiest of books to read, it's dark, violent and definitely not for everyone. Don't go into this one if you are sensitive about graphic scenes of violence.

marilynsaul's review against another edition

1.0

I was immediately disappointed when the gravesite was located and the authorities started prying the bones out of the side of a trench. I kept screaming (silently) "you've got to come down from the top or you lose all the information!!!". Thankfully, they brought in the archaeologist, but that turned into a nightmare of bad archaeology - no grave pit discernible because it was removed by construction excavation? ("well, except for the undisturbed part, you idiots"); takes 5+ days to excavate down to the remains, examining every tiny bit of soil for clues ("oh, for heaven's sake!"); they bring in a geologist to determine from the trench profile the age of the burial ("In what world do you live? Have you ever even TALKED to a geologist??? They look at much bigger pictures than the subtle stratigraphy of a gravesite!") Ok. You guessed it. I'm an archaeologist; I specialized in burials; I'm also educated in forensics. I thought I could overlook this heinous excavation, but the hundreds of pages of a man beating up on his wife, along with the story of the drug-addled daughter of the detective just wore me down. Who finds this stuff interesting? There are much better books, much better writers out there to explore. I've moved on.

dzhill's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

livingawayfromreality's review against another edition

reflective sad medium-paced

4.5

He writes depressing reality. I was hooked. 

elisala's review against another edition

4.0

Impressionnant comme un livre à l'écriture plutôt plate, au rythme régulier sans à-coups, aux héros plutôt anti-héros voire limite losers, peut être aussi prenant. Bien sûr, il y a deux histoires en parallèle, ce qui anime un peu tout ça. Mais ça ne suffit pas à expliquer. Il faut croire que c'est ça, du talent de conteur. Egalement un grand plus: le lecteur est toujours un peu en avance sur les policiers, mais juste un peu, ce qui ajoute du piment, juste ce qu'il faut pour avoir envie de lire plus loin, j'ai donc dévoré ce livre en très peu de temps.

zaisgraph's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Im surprised this won an award. My book has a sticker that says this was a CWA Golden Dagger awardee, so my expectations were quite high. The thing is, this novel wasn't compelling at all. Silence of the Grave read like a series of interviews with misdirects and cliffhangers anyone with half a brain can see coming. I did not develop any connection or kinship with any character. The decades old murder being investigated was just soooo boring. Rating this a 2.5, thumbs-down!

Oh one good thing, this book is part of a series and I can say with confidence that even if this isn't book 1 you can absolutely start with this one. If any prior book was referenced, I guess I totally missed it.