A review by april_golden
Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason

3.0

This is the first Indridason published in English featuring Detective Inspector Erlendur, but it isn't his first Erlendur novel, and I could tell. I felt through most of the novel that I was missing some important part of Erlendur's character. That there was something about him that made him the way he was (distant, bad at communicating, a bit of an oddball), but I wasn't privy to what it was. I wonder if it is revealed in one of the first two novels about this character?

Despite that, I enjoyed the novel. It definitely has a good sense of space and location. I felt the cold and dreariness of Iceland throughout the pages. What I didn't feel was a connection to the characters. They all seemed to be acting and reacting in ways that felt odd to me, and like I said, I just felt I didn't have the whole story.

The plot, about what appears to be a "simple" (the character's words) murder of an old man in his home, is interesting enough, but I was waiting for a climax, and it never really got to that point, IMO. Rather, the story just seemed to meander along and you figured out the hook rather early in the experience.

I will likely give this author/character another chance, because I see potential here, but I'm in no hurry.