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A review by ridgewaygirl
Jar City by Arnaldur Indriðason
4.0
This is Arnaldur Indridason's first installment in his excellent crime series. Erlendur is an aging detective in the Reykjavik CID. He's a solitary man with a bad divorce behind him and a drug-addicted daughter with whom he has a difficult relationship, although they are both trying very hard. In this series debut, Erlendur investigates the case of an old man who is found bludgeoned to death in his basement apartment. It seems to be a case of random violence, until Erlendur delves into the man's history and discovers a violent and unsavory past.
The series portrays daily life in Iceland, a unique place where a relatively small population is isolated from the world by their location and culture. Indridason's descriptions are vivid and his characters are interesting. The case was as bleak as the Atlantic storms battering Reykjavik throughout the book, which has the characteristic feel of a Scandinavian crime novel, albeit in a unique setting.
The series portrays daily life in Iceland, a unique place where a relatively small population is isolated from the world by their location and culture. Indridason's descriptions are vivid and his characters are interesting. The case was as bleak as the Atlantic storms battering Reykjavik throughout the book, which has the characteristic feel of a Scandinavian crime novel, albeit in a unique setting.