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afield's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
leavingsealevel's review against another edition
3.0
Good option for police-detective mystery/crime fiction (which I realize I *just* said isn't my thing). The Icelandic setting is cool, the translation seems good, and it's not too graphic/gross/etc. I was concerned that I would feel like I was missing a lot of backstory (this is not the first book in the series, but the first to be translated into English), but that wasn't an issue.
sage3's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
Finally
Holy hell
Felt like it took ages to finish
I didn't love it
I just didn’t care
I didn’t like the way it was set up or told
Or maybe I just didn’t care enough about the plot to like it
It was fine
But I didn’t enjoy reading it
Holy hell
Felt like it took ages to finish
I didn't love it
I just didn’t care
I didn’t like the way it was set up or told
Or maybe I just didn’t care enough about the plot to like it
It was fine
But I didn’t enjoy reading it
minneapolismerk's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
poleksya's review against another edition
2.0
After finishing The Silent Patient, I was in a crime, thriller, mystery mood and needed something quick and short for a long bus ride, so Jar City was a perfect choice.
A body of a lonely man was discovered in his basement apartment. At the first glance it looks like a robbery, but Detective Erlendur Sveinsson thinks otherwise. As he starts to dig into this case more details from the victim's past start to surface.
I don't think police procedural are my thing, I much prefer when thrillers don't focus on a detective and police work, but this one was really well done. It's not something I'll go back to and re-read it, but I enjoyed it and also I've never read a book on Iceland before, so that's a plus I guess.
The crime is very well done, dark and heartbreaking, but after two thirds of the book you can easily guess the ending. After that point, I got a little bored by it and took me a while to get back to it and actually finish it.
My other problem with this book are the main characters, the detective and his assistants. It's hard to connect to them, they appear cold and distant. Detective Erlendur is a really closed out person in general, but still it would be nice to be able to connect to him on some level.
All in all, I enjoyed it enough to pick up a sequel. If you love Nordic Noir, check this one out and don't worry about this being a third book in the series, it's stands alone pretty well on it's own.
A body of a lonely man was discovered in his basement apartment. At the first glance it looks like a robbery, but Detective Erlendur Sveinsson thinks otherwise. As he starts to dig into this case more details from the victim's past start to surface.
I don't think police procedural are my thing, I much prefer when thrillers don't focus on a detective and police work, but this one was really well done. It's not something I'll go back to and re-read it, but I enjoyed it and also I've never read a book on Iceland before, so that's a plus I guess.
The crime is very well done, dark and heartbreaking, but after two thirds of the book you can easily guess the ending. After that point, I got a little bored by it and took me a while to get back to it and actually finish it.
My other problem with this book are the main characters, the detective and his assistants. It's hard to connect to them, they appear cold and distant. Detective Erlendur is a really closed out person in general, but still it would be nice to be able to connect to him on some level.
All in all, I enjoyed it enough to pick up a sequel. If you love Nordic Noir, check this one out and don't worry about this being a third book in the series, it's stands alone pretty well on it's own.
relf's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
First in a series of mysteries featuring Detective Erlendur of Reykjavik. Erlendur is called in to solve the murder of an older man who, it turns out, had been accused of rape decades before. Dark and tense—though some answers may be more easily predicted by readers today than when the book first came out in 2000.
anti_formalist12's review against another edition
3.0
There’s something about Scandinavian noir and issues surrounding paternity. They really fixated on that shit there. Also weird genetic disorders originating in confusing paternity.
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review against another edition
5.0
Really fantastic book, both the plot and the writing.