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marny_h96Title: Arctic Chill
Author: Arnaldur Indridason
Number of Pages: 352 pages
Book Number/Goal: 7/40
My Rating: 4/5
Review: This Icelandic author and his mystery series continue to be my favourites. As with his previous books, Arnaldur Indridason delivers a plot with a straight-forward solution. What makes this story so interesting are the issues Iceland's society has with immigration and immigrants because those are, of course, issues other countries have as well. And I, at least, had never thought of Iceland as an immigrant country in the first place (what I know about Iceland is basically what I read in Arnaldur Indridason's books so if anyone can recommend a book about Iceland and its history, please let me know).
Elias, a boy with an Icelandic father and a Thai mother, is found stabbed to death close to his home while he was on his way home from school. Is his murder racially motivated? Did it happen because the family lives in an impoverished neighbourhood in Reykjavik? There are many suspects: drug dealers, paedophiles and professed racists as well as some of the children at Elias' school. Detectives Erlendur, Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg must deal with all of this as well as Elias' mother Sunee, who speaks only Thai; her estranged husband who has engaged in a series of "marriages" to Asian women whom he brings to Iceland and then abandons; Elias's older half-brother who is fully Thai and who wants to life in Thailand which makes his adjustment to Icelandic life even more difficult.
This is a depressing story set in a rapidly changing society. I still enjoy Indridason's books because a) they provide a glimpse into Icelandic life and b) I like the characters Erlendur, Sigurdor Oli and Elinborg who all have their own problems which sometimes interfere with their job.
I recommend this and all other books by Arnaldur Indridason.
Author: Arnaldur Indridason
Number of Pages: 352 pages
Book Number/Goal: 7/40
My Rating: 4/5
Review: This Icelandic author and his mystery series continue to be my favourites. As with his previous books, Arnaldur Indridason delivers a plot with a straight-forward solution. What makes this story so interesting are the issues Iceland's society has with immigration and immigrants because those are, of course, issues other countries have as well. And I, at least, had never thought of Iceland as an immigrant country in the first place (what I know about Iceland is basically what I read in Arnaldur Indridason's books so if anyone can recommend a book about Iceland and its history, please let me know).
Elias, a boy with an Icelandic father and a Thai mother, is found stabbed to death close to his home while he was on his way home from school. Is his murder racially motivated? Did it happen because the family lives in an impoverished neighbourhood in Reykjavik? There are many suspects: drug dealers, paedophiles and professed racists as well as some of the children at Elias' school. Detectives Erlendur, Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg must deal with all of this as well as Elias' mother Sunee, who speaks only Thai; her estranged husband who has engaged in a series of "marriages" to Asian women whom he brings to Iceland and then abandons; Elias's older half-brother who is fully Thai and who wants to life in Thailand which makes his adjustment to Icelandic life even more difficult.
This is a depressing story set in a rapidly changing society. I still enjoy Indridason's books because a) they provide a glimpse into Icelandic life and b) I like the characters Erlendur, Sigurdor Oli and Elinborg who all have their own problems which sometimes interfere with their job.
I recommend this and all other books by Arnaldur Indridason.