28. Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason

Category: 50 Books

I think this is book #5 in the Erlendur series, but don’t hold me to that. It’s the first one I’ve read. It’s Icelandic crime fiction. I didn’t feel lost reading this even though I hadn’t read #1 – 4.

I loved the three detective characters. I liked that they were just coworkers and not best friends, no love-interest involved, just straight-up police procedural.

I know next to nothing about Iceland, but this book kind of educates one in some of Icelands social concerns. Immigration, for one. The book took it from all sides from racism to peaceful coexistence to the ones who don’t have a problem with immigrants really, but who are afraid that their Icelandic culture will disappear (this seemed to be older people). It was fascinating. Plus: murder mystery.

Another thing I was fascinated with the the whole Missing Persons thing. According to the book, people go missing in Iceland so much that it’s not a big deal to the Icelanders, it’s just a part of life. I guess their terrain is all fjords and bogs and avalanches and blizzards and volcanoes or whatnot. They weren’t nonchalant about it, but it seemed like they would suffer the loss quietly or something. Very interesting.

I will say this for the solving of the crime, I was disappointed in the who dunnit. It comes pretty close to breaking the You Can’t Just Make Up New People at the End and Be All, “They did it.” Rule. So boo on that.

Also, the Icelandic names were much harder to deal with than say, the usual Swedish stuff I read. Part of it was that the names were kind of similar so it was difficult for me to keep up with them at first. There was Erlendur and Elinborg. Sigudur Oli and Sigirdur. You know it’s confusing when the immigrants’ names (Thailand) were easier to keep up with.

I can’t wait to read the next book, Hypothermia.

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