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A review by kikiandarrowsfishshelf
Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indriðason
4.0
Full disclosure: I won this via Firstreads giveaway. I haven't read much Icelandic literature except for the odd short story.
One of the really good things about Goodreads and the giveaway program is that you are exposed to wrkt hat you wouldn't otherwise read or, at the very least, exposes you to such work faster. This is yet another case of Goodreads fulfilling that function one.
Hypothermia is one of those books where the author trusts the reader. Any person who has seen at least two films (one American, one French) will be able to figure out the mystery before the end of the novel. In truth, however, the mystery does not seem to be the focus of the novel. Or at the least the death doesn't seem to be focus of the novel.
Erlendur, the detective probing the case, is just as much as a mystery to this first time reader of this series as the mystery mentioned on the back cover. It is not so much mystery of who did that, but more of what makes us who we are. If anything the focus is on human motive and not motive for a killing.
The book also deals with how we come to terms with loss, how each person comes to terms with such a loss in a different way. Perhaps this is why the book has a chill to it, a forboding that isn't present in the Wallander novel or the Stieg Lawson's [b:The Girl Who Played with Fire|5060378|The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2)|Stieg Larsson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255570680s/5060378.jpg|6976108]. Yet, despite this, there is something that speaks in this thriller, though I hesitate to use that term.
It avoids being simple, easy, and even stupid because it confronts humanity. As I was reading the book, I was struck by how a modern television show such as Law & Order, Hawaii Five-0 or any of the C.S.I.s would goof it up and make it some emotionally cheap clap trap. It is on par with the great shows, like The Wire or Homicide:Life on the Street. Serieses that could take such a plotline as a death of a little girl and present as something more than a reason for a detective to indulge in a self rightous monologue or stare moodily at the picture of the children lost in the divorce.
In the wake of a suicide and a missing person's case, Erlendur and his creator take the reader on an exploration of the human pysche in terms of the big issues - love, death, and marriage.
One of the really good things about Goodreads and the giveaway program is that you are exposed to wrkt hat you wouldn't otherwise read or, at the very least, exposes you to such work faster. This is yet another case of Goodreads fulfilling that function one.
Hypothermia is one of those books where the author trusts the reader. Any person who has seen at least two films (one American, one French) will be able to figure out the mystery before the end of the novel. In truth, however, the mystery does not seem to be the focus of the novel. Or at the least the death doesn't seem to be focus of the novel.
Erlendur, the detective probing the case, is just as much as a mystery to this first time reader of this series as the mystery mentioned on the back cover. It is not so much mystery of who did that, but more of what makes us who we are. If anything the focus is on human motive and not motive for a killing.
The book also deals with how we come to terms with loss, how each person comes to terms with such a loss in a different way. Perhaps this is why the book has a chill to it, a forboding that isn't present in the Wallander novel or the Stieg Lawson's [b:The Girl Who Played with Fire|5060378|The Girl Who Played with Fire (Millennium, #2)|Stieg Larsson|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255570680s/5060378.jpg|6976108]. Yet, despite this, there is something that speaks in this thriller, though I hesitate to use that term.
It avoids being simple, easy, and even stupid because it confronts humanity. As I was reading the book, I was struck by how a modern television show such as Law & Order, Hawaii Five-0 or any of the C.S.I.s would goof it up and make it some emotionally cheap clap trap. It is on par with the great shows, like The Wire or Homicide:Life on the Street. Serieses that could take such a plotline as a death of a little girl and present as something more than a reason for a detective to indulge in a self rightous monologue or stare moodily at the picture of the children lost in the divorce.
In the wake of a suicide and a missing person's case, Erlendur and his creator take the reader on an exploration of the human pysche in terms of the big issues - love, death, and marriage.