Customer Reviews

Hypothermia

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been a big fan of Mr. Indridason's writing since his debut Jar City, and Hypothermia didn't disappoint - if anything, it further reinforces his reputation as one of the best crime fiction writers today. Police Inspector Erlendur's latest case centers around a bereft young woman who commited suicide, apparently still grieving her mother's death. Something about the case doesn't make sense to Erlendur so he launches his own informal investigation. While trying to unravel this mystery, he is also plagued with doubts about two unsolved missing persons cases (his specialty) from decades before. This is Erlendur's most personal and intense journey - as he comes to grips with his own past, present and future. Erlendur is a fascinating character and I devoured the book in one day. Here's hoping Mr. Indridason continues with this excellent series!

Having enjoyed all six books in Indridason's Reykjavik murder mysteries - 1. Jar City (2004) aka Tainted Blood, 2. Silence of the Grave (2005), 3. Voices (2006), 4. The Draining Lake (2007), 5. Arctic Chill (2008) and 6. Hypothermia (2009) - I would say that the last may indeed be his best story.

Since previous reviews have provided a synopsis, let me simply say that I found the narrative extraordinarily engaging and the conclusion completely satisfying. The dogged detective Erlendur has never been better. (And perhaps the same can be said for the author.)

We are getting to know our friend Erlendur quite well by now. He has this obsession with missing people and old cases, coming from his childhood trauma of the brother lost in snow. On the other hand, he is unwilling to treat his own broken marriage with the same curiosity. What is done is done. But who says we need to be consistent. Neither does Erlendur.

Volume 6 in the series (I have not read 5, Arctic Chill, yet) is a rather slow and meditative addition. I like it for that. Erlendur moves a bit outside his real job and investigates the background of a suicide, which is no case at all, officially. At the same time he is talking to people related to stone cold disappearance cases.

Erlendur does not believe in ghosts, but this non-case pulls him into esoteric worlds. Near death experiences, dreams, hallucinations, a book dropped from a shelf, séances with one medium and then the other, a haunted house, voices of the dead. These are the stuff that some worlds are made of. Not really Erlendur's world, nor mine, but he handles them like we would expect him to: with curiosity and mistrust. He does well. He has grown further in my respect.

Another question is, is it a good thriller? I would suspect that the thriller habitué might be a bit dissatisfied. Too slow, too ponderous, too unsurprising.
For us Erlendur pals, it is a good one. Good for friendship. The man is rounding out, his edges are getting smoother. His social intelligence seems to grow somewhat. He doesn't always behave like a bull in the china shop. Only sometimes.

Literature wise, the novel signifies a departure. The central book reference in this novel is not Laxness, for a change, but Proust. Indridason himself is neither a Laxness nor a Proust, but he comes closer. `Du cote de chez Swann' is the key book for the story.

Hypothermia: An Icelandic Thriller (Reykjavik Thriller) is an absorbing detective/crime story. Set in Iceland, this is a multi-layered story about the suicide of a woman whose death is investigated by Erlendur, the somehow typical detective who is struggling with his own demons in the process.

Beautifully portrayed images of the country's landscape permeate all the way through the story. This, together with satisfying psychological insights into the people involved with or touched by the suicide and the disappearance of other people tell the reader much about the isolation of the Icelandic landscape.

Recommended!

Christine Maingard, Author of 'Think Less Be More:Mental Detox for Everyone'

Another fine Erlendur mystery from Arnaldur. Two friends and I are so addicted to these Reykjavik mysteries, we couldn't wait till this one was available in the US. This novel was different in that it does not center around a specific police case. Instead, Erlendur goes it alone in trying to ferret out the truth about a suspicious suicide. I missed Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg, but the nterviews/dialogues were, as usual, fascinating. It's not really a "thriller", but a psychological study.

This terrific installment in the Reykjavik Murder Mystery series deals with different forms of hypothermia.

In the past, there is the tradgedy Inspector Erlunder suffered as a child during an accident where his brother was lost. In the present, the apparent suicide of a clinically depressed woman may have links to a series of experiments her husband had been involved with whereby human subjects were frozen to stop their hearts and then revived. This "Flatliners" act was an attempt to connect with the after-life. In the case of the suicidal woman, she was haunted by her mother's death and sure that there was a message she needed to get from her in the great beyond.

Arnaldur Indridason deftly weaves all of these characters and storylines together to make a compelling read that goes beyond that of ordinary mystery genre.

A young woman is found at her summer house by a lake. She has hung herself from one of the beams. There is no foul-play involved according to the coroner. But something is bothering Erlendur. Something is tickling the back of his neck. An old man comes to see Erlendur. His son disappeared thirty years ago. He comes to see Erlendur on his sons birthday. His wife has died and he is terminal. He has come to say goodbye. Erlendur decides to give the disappearance one last look.

So begins this amazing novel. The plotting is so well done that you feel that you are with Erlendur every step of the way. Sometimes you could be one or two steps ahead or behind. But he never looses the thread and keeps plugging away. There's a side story that involves his daughter, son, ex-wife, current girlfriend and his long lost brother. We learn a lot more about the 'gloomy' and taciturn detectives' life.

Arnaldur has a way of presenting information to the reader that is at times subtle and other times brutal. But nothing is ever talked about or mentioned for no reason. Every piece of information is a building block in the story or the characters. This was a well thought out story, without any extraneous plotting.

There are two more books to the series (as of 2009) that are yet to be translated. Here's hoping they are anywhere as good as this one.

Zeb Kantrowitz

Another great book by Arnaldur Indridasson: the story is well crafted and the pace is kept throughout the whole book.

moody and bleak, the inspectors thoughts and dreams parallel those of the current case. Author draws a vivid, harsh winter scene in Iceland

...although others may enjoy Indridason's style of writing I found it to be a dark, slow, ponderous, and predictable meditation on death and the afterlife. Not my cup of tea and I put this book down after 80 pages of slogging through it. Just not for me though others may enjoy his Scandanavian mystery more than I.