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52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Demon Seed, July 4, 2006
I've never come across an Icelandic murder mystery before, and wasn't sure what to expect. But this tightly drawn police procedural turned out to be a rare treat. Reyjavik police inspector Erlendur Sveinsson is called to investigate the apparent murder of "Holberg", an elderly man found lying dead in his basement flat with his skull bashed-in. Erlendur has little to go on - Holberg led a solitary life and there were no witnesses. But an obscure three-word note apparently left behind by the murderer, and an unidentified photo of the grave of a child long since buried, lead Erlender and his CID team down a complex path of murder, rape, and, surprisingly, genetically transmitted oncological diseases. Holberg, as Erlendur partner Sigurdar Oli dryly points out, "was no model citizen."
In a setting sure to dismay The Icelandic Bureau of Tourism, "Jar City" features bleak urban settings with apartments built on swamps and more rain than "Blade Runner". Combined with a Scandinavian brand of stoic fatalism, the end result is a deeper shade of noir uncommon in standard pop fiction. Absent from "Jar City" are the annoying comic book cardboard super-characters with super model looks and Ph.D. brains quipping witty one-liners. Author Arnaldur Indridason's Erlendur, the grizzled and crime-hardened cynic, leads a solitary life only a step away from the criminals he pursues, bringing to mind Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko or Ian Rankin's John Rebus. And like the best of Rankin or Smith, "Jar City" is an intelligent, skillfully crafted murder mystery, well paced, well plotted, and well read. Take a step off the well-beaten track and give this little jewel a try.
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Nordic crime thriller, December 8, 2006
Iceland native Arnaldur Indridason's "Jar City" is an outstanding police procedural written in a style reminiscent of the superb Scandinavian crime authors Mankell and Wahloo & Sjowall.
Indridason's protagonist Reykjavik police inspector Erlendur is summoned to investigate the bludgeoning murder of a reclusive old man named Holberg is his foul smelling basement flat. Aided by his colleagues Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg they discover a mysterious note on the corpse and a black and white photo of a gravesite.
Erlendur meticulously begins to unravel clues that enable him to gain insight into the identity of the victim. It is determined that Holberg, a truck driver had a sordid past, being accused by not convicted of rape many years ago. As Erlendur peels away more layers of Holberg's past he realizes that there are connections to other unsolved and unreported`criminal acts. Following these leads he is able through modern genetic techniques in criminology to navigate his way towards solving this atypical case.
Indridason sucessfully endows a sense of believability to his characters with a considerable degree of developement to their personnae. Eldendur is portrayed as an "everyman" not a superhero. He's a fiftyish long divorced father of two in declining health, who struggles with the fact that both of his kids are drug addicts.
Indridason creates a sense of reality in his portrayal and gives us a taste of the lifestyle in the remote confines of Iceland.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Solid Series Debut, April 10, 2006
One of my major problems with many police procedurals is that the plots often go completely off the deep end and become wildly improbable messes (among Scandinavian authors, I think Henning Mankell is frequently guilty of this). So, it's somewhat refreshing to come across a relatively straightforward story like this award-winning series debut from Iceland. In it, we are introduced to Detective Inspector Erlendur, a classic 50ish, divorced, rumpled, morose, tactless, and running-to-seed character who nonetheless possesses the requisite instinct to be a top detective. Although he lacks some of the perfunctory traits often assigned to such characters (for example, he isn't a gourmand, or jazz aficionado, or anything like that), he's very much in the mold of Sejer, Rebus, Resnick, and other such policemen protagonists.
We meet Erlendur as he is called in to investigate the apparent murder of an elderly man in Reykjavik. It doesn't take long for the police to discover that the old man was a nasty character who had been accused of rape almost 40 years ago. With little to go on, other than the possibility that it was a random break-in gone wrong, Erlendur leads his team deep into the past, to try and uncover who might have had a motive for killing the old man. The further they dig, the more nasty secrets they uncover, and the more they must engage in very uncomfortable interviews that dredge up hidden pain. The plot and solution hinge on an aspect of Icelandic society that is rather unique, and it's nice to see the author taking advantage of this to good effect. Another subplot (which is rather extraneous) involves a runaway bride, and meanwhile, Erlendur must also try to deal with his drug addict daughter who flits in and out of his life. Their relationship is quite interesting, and possibly the most compelling reason to seek out the next book in the series (Silence of the Grave).
In terms of supporting characters, Erlendur's two main colleagues fail to leave much of an impression: there's the yuppie Sigurdur ?li, and El?nborg, whose main trait is that she's a woman. Hopefully they will be developed a good deal more in subsequent books, as will Erlendur's mysterious mentor Marion. Having been to Iceland for a few days several years ago, I certainly recognized the bleak weather and its constant presence in the lives of the characters. However, it would have been nice to get a little more description of Reykjavik, which is a very interesting looking place, and its people. There's not a lot of local color, and the result is a setting that is at times rather anonymous. The overall tone of the book is somewhat sad and bleak, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone who has lost a child at an early age (this is a key thread in the story). Overall, an solid and interesting debut, but not anything that's going to blow you away.
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