A review by lbrex
Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indriðason

5.0

Another exciting volume in Indridason's series, this one focused on the afterlife and attempts to learn about it that sometimes try to cheat death (think of the movie _Flatliners_). Readers of Indridason's earlier Erlendur novels will be surprised to find Erlendur cut off from his colleagues in this volume, largely solving crimes that resonate with his own losses as a child and, at times, cutting corners and avoiding regulations in pursuit of the truth. The bizarre coherence of the story, while some might attribute it to a lack of craftsmanship, actually signals a shift in Erlendur's thinking such that all of his interests have morphed into obsessions; the professional has become indistinguishable from the personal. At points I started to wonder how stable he was as a main character and investigator, leading to comparisons with Ishiguro's _When We Were Orphans_.

The topic of this mystery was more exciting than the last books in the series, with a mysterious suicide and reports of seances, but the book also signals Erlendur's continued (worrisome) evolution. I recommend it.