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Arctic Chill
Arctic Chill
Arctic Chill
Audiobook9 hours

Arctic Chill

Written by Arnaldur Indridason

Narrated by George Guidall

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

The only author to win the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel two years in a row, Arnaldur Indridason has sold more than five million copies of his novels in more than 25 countries. A detective whose inner turmoil threatens to consume him, Erlendur Sveinsson is charged with investigating the death of an Asian boy-and confronting forces colder than Iceland's frigid clime. "A remarkable series."-New York Times Book Review
LanguageEnglish
Release dateNov 4, 2011
ISBN9781461847939
Arctic Chill
Author

Arnaldur Indridason

ARNALDUR INDRIÐASON won the CWA Gold Dagger Award for Silence of the Grave and is the only author to win the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel two years in a row, for Jar City and Silence of the Grave. Strange Shores was nominated for the 2014 CWA Gold Dagger Award.

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Reviews for Arctic Chill

Rating: 3.6626106778761063 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the 1st Inspector Erlendur novel I have read. Set in Iceland a little boy called Elias half Thai has been found murdered, his older brother Niran is missing. Erlenedur and his team are desperate to find the missing brother.The Police question everyone from the School and Neighbourhood. They think it might be a Racist attack. Erleneedur has his own demons he cant forget about the time when he was young him and his brother got lost in a blizzard. His Brother has never been found.It turns out it was 3 young boys from Elias school who stabbed him then the Parents tried to cover it up. Good book this well written and flows nicely.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Really liked this. It's very fragmented but somehow that just adds to the mood without causing confusion so I think it must have been well constructed. Yes a boy dies - and sets off cascades of actions and feelings in everyone - but otherwise an oddly gentle book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson is back. This time to solve the mystery of a murdered a ten year old Thai boy found outside his apartment on a freezing cold day in January. As Erlender and his team dig deeper into the lives of the victim and his family they uncovers Iceland's dirty secret of an intolerant and prejudiced community. Because the victim is the same age as Erlendur's brother when he went missing the personal memories for Erlendur resurface. One of the best things about an Arnaldur mystery is that while there is a thin plot line of commonality running through every story, it isn't necessary to read one to understand the next. In this installment, Erlender is trying to solve a whole new crime. His last mystery, about the body in the lake, is mentioned but not central to the current plot. Converse to that, the building of each character happens gradually from book to book. I was disappointed to leave Erlender before he had solved his most personal cold case, the fate of his missing brother.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Arctic Chill, Arnaldur Indridason's 7th in the Erlendur series, is quite similar to others I've read by him: a bit boring, interesting descriptions of Icelandic terrain, lots of introspection, competent but slow-motion police work, and a satisfying ending. It's a decent mystery that took a lot longer to solve than expected.As is often the case in this genre, there are actually 2 investigations undertaken by Inspector Erlendur: a missing person case and the murder of a Thai immigrant child. He and his team focus on the child's murder and eventually crack the case, but the difference in police tactics between there and here (Chicago) continues to be interesting to me. Unfortunately, the fact of life in our part of the US is that there are so many murders that the police really know how to work them efficiently. A lot of the investigatory work in this book, and others in the series, seems to be sort of ad hoc and slow by comparison. I think the reasons I like the Erlendur series are the procedural differences as well as its exotic Iceland location. It's certainly not the exciting writing. In due course, both mysteries are solved and the inspector returns to his brooding about his messed up family life and the long ago accidental death of his brother.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another chilling crime story from Reykjavik, Iceland. Good to get acquainted again with well-known characters Erlendur, Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg. A boy of Thai descent is found stabbed to death - and racism is suspected as the motive, specially after knowing about problems with bullying in the school and a teacher very hostile towards immigrants. While the investigation seems to go nowhere for a long time there's also focus on inspector Erlendurs private life, where he finally seems to open up more on the issue of his brother who died in a snow storm as a child. Pressed by his two children who are curious to know why this has haunted Erlendur so much over the gears.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Freezing cold Icelandic winter and murder of a Thai teenager. For a long time the investigation goes nowhere but eventually Inspector Erlender figures it out. Atmospheric and brooding
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    While not quite up the quality of the Wallander series, I do enjoy these Icelandic thrillers. This book focuses on the issues and attitudes surrounding immigration in a country that is trying hard to hold on to its culture and its language. An interesting bit in the book was when police search a suspect's for hate propaganda and "...found a carefully folded Confederate flag and another bearing a swastika...unearthed articles...inciting hatred..." This, in a book written in 2005 by an Icelandic author, a decade before the fight over the Confederate flag re-emerged.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This the fifth novel about detective Erlendur Sveinsson set in contemporary Reykjavik that I have read and it is satisfying both in the crime story in this book and in progressing the personal stories of two of the the three main detectives in the novels, Erlendur and Sigurdur Óli.For this latter reason I would recommend that you first read the earlier four Erlendur novels that have been translated into English.However the crime story in this book revolves around the seemingly senseless murder of a ten year old boy of mixed parentage (Icelandic and Thai) and the search for the murderer. The bleakness of Reykjavik itself in winter is brought to life, especially the darkness and cold weather. The mixed parentage means that issues of racism and the integration of ethnic minorities into Iceland (or lack thereof) are explored.However, for me, the novel is raised above the previous ones in the series (which are all good) as it realistically portrays Erlendur's encounters with his estranged children, Eva and Sindri, his new partner, Valgerdur, and the slow death of his old boss, Marion Briem. The personal story of Erlendur's colleague, Sigurdur Óli and his wife, Bergthora, also advances, although not happily. The current case also brings to the fore Erlendur's memories of his brother's death at the age of 8, lost with Erlendur in a blizzard, where only Erlendur was found.All-in-all, a very satisfying read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Arctic Chill is the second of Indridason's Reykjavik mysteries I have read. In fact, the second one I read today. After finishing Silence of the Grave I was debating which of the many library books I have checked out I should read next. I decided to sample the first page of each before choosing; I was on page 80 before I came up for air. And I spent the rest of the day buried in the book.I really like this series. Everyone of the characters in the two books I have read has become real. The plot flows effortlessly. In this book a young Thai boy is killed and it seems that there is no reason anyone would have to kill him, so the police suspect it is a racial crime. Finding the guilty party in a motiveless crime is one of the most difficult things a policeman faces and it is only by the sheer determination of the detectives that the truth is found out.As well, each of the detectives has their own personal issues that they are dealing with. I'm glad I checked out four of these (in case I liked them).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "I am felled to the ground, frozen and cannot be freed ... " (Ch 1)Ten year old Elias, stabbed on his way home from school, is found face down on the ice mere blocks from his Icelandic home. His mother, Thai immigrant Sunee, fears for her other son's life and sends Elias' half-brother, Niran, into hiding. Sunee is divorced from Elias’ father, Odinn, an Icelandic man whom she met and married in Thailand some years ago. But there were things the husband and wife did not know about one another: Odinn did not know that Sunee had Niran from a previous relationship; and Sunee was unaware that she was not Odinn's first Thai wife. Sunee decided to stay in Iceland with her sons, but they do not have an easy time of it. Odinn is unhelpful financially, and racism is a problem at Elias' school – a prominent problem, in fact, with at least one staff member. Erlendeur and his team, Oli and Elinborg, are leaving no stone unturned, but progress in the case is slow. What motive might one possibly have for murdering a ten-year-old? Arctic Chill is the fourth novel in Indridason's Erlendur series, and I continue to enjoy these immensely. The mysteries are well written, and I like that a number of familiar characters reappear in each, allowing us a glimpse into the off-duty lives of the investigators. Here we meet Erlendur's children, Sindri and Eva, once again, as well as his love interest, Valgerdur. And Oli and his wife, Bergthora, have seemingly reached a crossroads. “The cold had intensified by the time Erlendur drove away, his eyes reflecting the frozen grief at the morgue.” (Ch 20)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Ordinary, mundane, no great drama. Sad people, lonely people, struggling people, annoying people, and thus rather like real life. A ten year old boy is stabbed, and in a stroke of very bad luck, instead of stitches and tetanus shots, he bleeds to death. Ordinary. The neighbors are shocked, the teachers are shocked, the schoolmates shocked, how very ordinary. Thus, I think of the author as a master of the mundane, a portraitist of a working class world where passions and sex exist, but are distinctly off the center stage. Ordinary tensions, cowardice, meanness, nosiness, and same old same old comments form most of the book. The inadvertent, unplanned, unexpected killing of a little boy changes whole courses of multiple lives, and exposes whispered undercurrents in Icelandic society. The murder which is the crux of this book is far more ordinary than one would like to believe. For me, the ordinariness of this killing, should be enough to make any parent cringe at how treacherous the world can be for children.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When the body of a young thai boy stabbed to death was found, detective Erlendur had to learn about the world of immigrants of Iceland and face the hatred against them.... Not as good as the previous ones, but still a good read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Murder of son of a Thai immigrant. Excellent. Read on Kindle.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A young Thai boy, aged 12, is stabbed to death. Erlendur, Elinburg and Sigurdur Oli investigate teachers at the boy's school, friends, etc. Meanwhile Erlendur's friend Marion Briem dies of cancer.A typical Inspector Erlendur mystery.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This book was an arctic chill. It had little or no suspense. The characters weren't fully fleshed out. It was difficult to distinguish between some of them. Many weren't introduced until very late in the story. I almost stopped reading it because I was bored. I should have quit while I was ahead and spent my time on something better.  
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Arctic Chill is a pretty basic police procedural set in Iceland. This was my first encounter with a book set in that country, and I have no familiarity with the language, so the names were a tad challenging. I started reading this in print, then got hold of the audiobook, which was good and bad. Good because I didn't have to fumble over the names in my head; bad because some of the names sounded very similar, and I sometimes had trouble distinguishing who was who. But, in the end, I don't think that mattered for my understanding of the book.

    In the very first chapter we are confronted with the murder of a 10-year-old boy of Thai descent, and the rest of the book covers the murder investigation, with a sideline into another investigation that has some relation to the main investigation. We meet all sorts of characters that you think could have "done it."

    Without giving too much away, the book brings home the randomness of life, and the realization that some things, even horrific things, have no deeper meaning. They just are.

    I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys police procedurals, and wants to take a trek to frozen Iceland.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In January a young boy's body is found behind the apartment block he lived in with his mother and step-brother. He was stabbed in the stomach and bled to deat before he could get home. He is half Thai because his mother came to Iceland after meeting an Icelander in Thailand. His mother and father have been divorced for some time and he and his step-brother started a new school in the past year. The investigating police, Erlendur, Sigridur Oli and Elinborg, immediately wonder if the killing is racially motivated. The boy's half-brother is missing and the police think he must know something about the murder. The investigation takes a long time to uncover any information; even the step-brother takes quite a while to find. Then his mother spirits him away before the police can question him. Is this because he is guilty, because he knows something that may put him at risk or because she is afraid he may be killed?Erlendur is still preoccupied with a missing person case he was working on. A woman disappeared from her home just after Christmas and has not been heard from since. Erlendur takes a special interest in missing persons cases because when he was a young boy he and his brother were caught in a blizzard and his brother's body was never found.Erlendur is similar to Ian Rankin's John Rebus to my mind. He is a loner, devoted to his work but knows he should have a social life. He is somewhat estranged from his children and he is obsessed with Icelandic tales of disappearances and murders.It took me a while to get interested in this book. The tension builds slowly but by about half way through I was reading it every chance I got. I'll be looking out for more books by this author.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Arctic Chill. Arnaldur Indridason. 2005. Wikipedia says Indridason is the most popular writer in Iceland. This title is the seventh in a police procedural series that I really wanted to like. This was an interesting book, but I’d hoped that it would include more information about Iceland. Maybe the earlier books in the series did. A Thai school boy is stabbed to death and the police eventually find the murderer. This plot allows the author to discuss the immigrant situation in Iceland. I’ll read some more of this series if I accidentally find them, but doubt I’ll go out of my way to look for them.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Arnaldur Indridason has written another Reykjavik mystery featuring Erlendur, a moody police detective haunted by a childhood experience that makes him unable to be at peace if a child is missing. Here, a young boy is killed, apparently on his way home from school. The son of an immigrant Thai woman and native Icelandic man, his older half-brother is missing as well. Erlendur searches for the older boy, hoping he holds a key to why the younger boy was killed. Iceland's mulitcultural society plays a role in defining the way the detectives examine the crime. A fast-paced thriller that opens up this island nation.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Iceland, harmoniously multicultural ... or is it? When a mixed Icelandic Thai boy is found murdered, hidden prejudices against the immigrant community surfaces against the investigation that ensues. Without any apparent clues as to motive or even suspects, Inspector Erlendur's team find themselves floundering. It doesn't help that the mother has spirited her other son away ostensibly to protect him, before they can interview him. He starts to receive strange phone calls from a woman and mistakes the identity of the caller for a missing woman in another mystery he's working on.We learn more about the pain that Inspector Erlendur still carries around with him, although in this book, it appears that his relationship with his son is making positive progress, although the one with his daughter remains fraught with peril. What's enjoyable about the series is not only is there a mystery to solve, but in each book, we are introduced to yet another aspect of Icelandic society and culture.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a book to be read during the summertime--not in January in Wisconsin. It was a fast read and held my interest to the point that I didn’t want to put it down. The police in Reykjavik, Iceland, attempt to solve the murder of a 10-year-old Asian boy who was stabbed on his way home from school. The story follows each step of the investigation, focusing on the activities of Erlunder, the lead detective. In the course of searching for the boy’s identity and interviewing (and re-interviewing) everyone possible, the police become aware of a child abuser living in the same building as Elias, the victim. The man disappears after being interviewed and appears to have a connection to the case.Detective Erlunder and his colleagues, Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli, interview students and teachers at the boy’s school. In spite of Iceland’s reputation as a liberal, multicultural society, they discover racism and harrassment of mixed-race children like Elias. Some students and even teachers are under suspicion before too long.Many aspects of Icelandic society, attitudes towards immigrants, and life in a dark, cold winter world are discussed throughout the book, which was fascinating to me. There are many subplots that are frustrating to the police and the reader, while also providing background information about the individual detectives in some cases. I liked the book a lot, but reading Scandinavian mysteries can be a downer in general. Erlunder at the end “stood over the grave in the freezing cold, searching for a purpose to the whole business of life and death…Life was a random mass of unforeseeable coincidences that governed men’s fates like a storm that strikes without warning, causing injury and death.”
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Make that 3.5...Arctic Chill is part of a series of police procedurals by Arnaldur Indridason. Set in Iceland, the cold climate plays its own role in the mysterious death of an eight-year-old boy. Three detectives, each complicated individuals on their own, combine their efforts to search for the murderer amidst the suspicion that the murder was racially motivated.Suspense was present throughout, and many of the characters involved are not the typical detective novel stereotypes that often show up in a successful series. The case doesn't have an easy resolution, and the detectives are not the Hercule Poirot-type of mentalist who seem to rely on hunches. Instead, real detective work, involving tedious interviews, re-analyzing evidence, and following leads is the way the murder is solved. You don't often see this much focus on the little repetitive details of detective work in crime novels, as some authors may think it's too trivial to be of note. Yet in this, it really works. In fact, the very unspectacular and terribly unglamourous procedural work is what creates the suspense.I enjoyed the novel immensely-it was a great cold weather read. And since I've been reading so many Icelandic novels recently, some of the descriptions of the locations felt familiar and made the story more personal. I haven't read any of the other books in the series, if I had, I may have even enjoyed it more. Because for me, one distraction was in the beginning of the novel when the three detectives begin the case. I was confused as to who was in charge, and it seemed like equal weight was given to each of the three. I'm not sure why, but it felt disorienting, like I really need to know who the 'lead' was to get involved. And by half-way, I understood. But until then, it nagged at me a bit. Those familar with the series obviously wouldn't have this problem.Other small details bugged me: one was that there seemed to be several threads of storyline that were irrelevant to the story but were probably far more important in the series. That's fine if each reader knows that it's part of a package; for me, there wasn't enough substance to the threads to make sense of why they were present, and they seemed to slow down the narrative. Finally, one especially obvious blunder (eventually set right) seemed easy to spot...it foreshadowed far too much and made me question one of the detectives capabilities. Lastly, while the detectives were interesting, I didn't find any personal draw to any of them...their hard work and intelligence was apparent, but nothing about them made me really care about them as individuals.In all, this was an absorbing read, and I do plan to read more in the series. A special comment has to be given to the beautiful way in which he describes the landscape and light that remains in the background of the scenes. I'm curious to see if my take on the detectives will change after I read more of the titles. The next one after this is Hypothermia, which I've heard nothing but good about.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    "Arctic Chill" is my first experience with Arnaldur Indridason’s police procedurals, so I do not have the earlier novels in the series to use as a yardstick. "Arctic Chill" is, in fact, the fifth of six “Reykjavik Thrillers” (if, that is, they were translated and published here in the order in which they were written) to be translated from the original Icelandic for publication in the U.S. And I am intrigued enough by the book’s main characters, atmosphere, and attention to detail that I will be seeking others in the series.When he sees the little Asian boy frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood, Erlendur fears the child has been the victim of a hate crime. What he sees, however, deeply disturbs him for an additional reason; it reminds him of his own little brother, lost to a blizzard decades earlier. Erlendur soon discovers that the mixed-race child is the son of a Thai woman who had the courage to move to Iceland to begin a new life in her husband’s home country. Worryingly, the woman also has an older son who has not been seen since before his younger brother’s body was found not far from the apartment they share with their now divorced mother.Detective Erlendur and his Reykjavik police colleagues, in their effort to find the boy’s killer, begin their enquiries, naturally enough, at his school. There, they learn of the day-to-day racism and harassment mixed-race immigrant students suffer at the hands of fellow students, and perhaps even a teacher or two. Interview by interview, clue by clue, one discovery leading them to the next, Erlendur and his crew begin to close in on the killer. "Arctic Chill" is an excellent police procedural but the book is about much more than solving one murder.Author Arnaldur Indridason takes a hard look at what immigrants, especially those from Asia or Africa, face when they come to Iceland. As in every country, native citizens have mixed emotions about immigration. On the one hand, they appreciate the willingness of the immigrants to work at the low paying jobs that have to be done. On the other, they fear that their country’s culture will be forever corrupted by people who make no effort to assimilate into the dominant society. This is especially true in a country, like Iceland, that has a relatively small population through which to defend its cultural heritage. As Detective Erlendur himself says at an early stage of the investigation, “This is all so new to us. Immigrants, racial issues...we know so little about it.”Indridason gives the reader a good feel for life in modern Iceland, a way of life still largely influenced by the demands of the country’s harsh climate. Long, cold winters with very short days do not encourage neighbors to spend much time getting to know each other and Detective Erlendur and other characters in the book seem to have developed a rather fatalistic attitude as a result of the forced lifestyle. This portion of a paragraph from near the end of the book (a scene in which Erlendur stands alone over a grave in freezing weather) says it best: “There were no final answers to explain the life-long solitude of the person in the urn, or the death of his brother all those years ago, or why Erlendur was the way he was, and why Elias was stabbed to death. Life was a random mass of unforeseeable coincidences that governed men’s fates like a storm that strikes without warning, causing injury and death.”"Arctic Chill" won’t cheer you up - and that’s the point. This is a highly atmospheric book with a message and some characters I want to get to know better.Rated at: 4.5
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Arctic Chill is the fifth in Indridason's Reykjavik Thriller series, but it is the first I've read. Before I had even finished reading this book, I had placed an order for the first four. This novel has much to offer the mystery aficionado: a well-crafted police procedural, an unflinching indictment of modern culture, and a glimpse into Iceland's racial tensions and changing demographics. Erlendur and his two detectives, Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli, investigate when a young Thai boy, Elias, is found stabbed to death, his blood freezing his body to the ground outside his apartment complex. Elias's mother, Sunee, had been brought to Iceland as a bride in a marriage that ended in divorce, partly because of Sunee's insistence on bringing her older son to Iceland as well. Niran's difficulties in adapting to Icelandic culture provide the backdrop for a fascinating discussion on assimilation versus preserving one's own culture. Was this crime racially motivated? There is an abundance of liberal Icelanders whose hackles have been raised by the influx of immigrants who don't learn Icelandic and whose children scoff at learning Icelandic history in school. One of Elias's teachers is full of hateful rhetoric about "those people." Hints of a possible pedophile in the area, tensions between Icelandic and immigrant children at Elias's school, the disappearance of Niran, and whispers of a boyfriend for Sunee complicate the investigation. Iceland itself is almost its own character in this novel. This is not a culture with which I was terribly familiar, and the insight was fascinating. In Iceland, disappearances are accepted as part of life in a country with an astronomical suicide rate. The Icelanders are welcoming of immigrants, but fear losing their dwindling culture. The climate is forbiddingly harsh, and it makes me wonder what keeps people there.Subplots supplemented the central murder investigation. A second mystery, the disappearance of a woman, slips into the storyline as Erlendur receives strange phone calls. Erlendur broods on the disappearance of his brother decades before while awkwardly dealing with his son and daughter turning up, and his mentor is on his deathbed. The plots altogether added up to one of the bleaker mysteries I've read, but even a clunky translation can't diminish its compelling appeal.Source disclosure: I received a copy of this book from Picador through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The boy’s body lay face down on the ice. As the wind tore down from the arctic and snow swirled across the surface of the playground in the center of the apartment complex, Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson stared at the cold form of the 10-year-old and thought of his younger brother who had died in a blizzard on the moors when they were children and Erlendur had let go of his brother’s hand. The body had never been found. Now here was another boy out in the storm who would not be going home to his mother. Only this boy had been stabbed. Who would do this to a child? Arnaldur Indridasson’s Artic Chill is the fifth in his Inspector Sveinsson series, which is very much in the tradition of the Scandinavian police procedural. Like Henning Mankell’s Wallander, Erlendur is an introspective detective, divorced, with a terminally ill colleague who reminds him of his own isolation. There is also the usual commentary on the problems fostered by a socialist society as well as the cultural divisions caused by immigration. The victim in Artic Chill is half Thai and half Icelandic, and Indridasson uses the murder investigation to present arguments both for and against the influx of immigrants into what had been a very closed society. The question of whether or not the murder was racially motivated plays heavily in the plot. In the end the crime is solved by dogged police work. Erlendur and his team close this case and move on to their next one. But Erlendur has left us with this haunting question from Iceland’s most famous poet:Am I the one, who lives on,Or the other, who died?Steinn Steinarr, In a CemeteryFor now, this seems to be a question Erlender cannot answer.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I received this book from Picador (Publishing) through the Library Thing Early Reviewers program. It has been translated from Icelandic for English readers.It is labeled as a crime thriller, but I personally didn't feel like this was a fast paced novel. At 344 pages long, I only really began to get pulled in at halfway. The translation seemed well done, but was definitely more geared towards the European reader as some of the slang and terminology as well as the spelling where British English. This did not deter from the overall story for me but I feel like it must be mentioned.This novel starts out with the murder of a Thai boy in Reykjavik. Erlandur is the main detective in this series of crime stories, and you follow him through his discovery of information. There are many different threads coming together at the same time so this can be confusing at first. This story is also told mainly through dialogue; as the interaction is almost all through interviews. I enjoyed the book, once I began to really be invested in the characters. Well written, great cast, but not very intriguing from the get-go.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have a great fondness for noirish crime novels set in the north, so when I snagged Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason from the Early Reviewers program I was enormously pleased. Indridason is an Icelandic author and this book, one of a series of police procedurals, is set in Reykjavik in the winter. In Arctic Chill, the body of a boy is found near the apartment building in which he and his mother and brother live. His mother is Thai and although his father is Icelandic, the suspicion of the police is that this was a racially motivated murder.The investigation is led by the dour and unfriendly Erlender, a man who is less lonely and wounded than asocial. He's an interesting variation on the usual loner detective and although his behavior is partially explained by events in his childhood, he is an unpleasant guy. He is haunted by an earlier missing woman case and can't let it go.The novel's setting is an integral part of the story and, in the course of the investigation, Indridason explores the impact of immigrants, primarily from Asia, on the small Icelandic population. In comparison to events in the United States (where I am) the racism is mild and calmly addressed, but what really struck me about Indridason's Iceland is the isolation in which people choose to live. Marriages break up with very little thought and children are abandoned by their fathers who leave without having to support their offspring in any way and people live next to neighbors they never get to know. All this is amplified by the early dark and relentless cold of the Icelandic winter.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This latest in the Inspector Erlendur series doesn't have a great deal of action. Most of the mystery concerns whether a murdered Icelandic/Thai child was targeted because of his race, a question the main characters spend most of the book considering. There is a secondary mystery which interferes with Erlendur's focus but doesn't add too much to the suspense. All-in-all, somewhat ho-hum.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have not read the preceeding books in the series, but Artic Chill, as a stand-alone compares favorably to Mankell's Wallander series. The main character, Erlendur, is an introspective inspector who is attempting to unravel life and Iceland, as much as the presented crime. The central plot revolves around a murdered young boy and his missing brother, whom are Thai immigrants to Iceland. I found both the plot and the characters to be compelling. Although it is a crime book/police procedural; it is much more substantial than most. Whereas the Wallander series' crimes had an occasional tendency to drift into the fanciful; Artic Chill resides within reality -- making Erlendur's observations even more poignant. Larsson's Girl series, although immensensly entertaining, feels comic bookish compared to Artic Chill. I would like to see the individual characters expanded slightly more. I would tend to agree with others that the translation was awkward in several instances; and, particularly in the beginning of the book, I wondered if the translation was capturing the full flavor of the original. All and all I was very impressed and believe Indridason deserves a spot next to Mankell and Larsson.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Indriðason is so skillful at conveying that soul-penetrating chill that a dark Icelandic winter murder causes. In this book he mainly deals with the xenophobia that exists even in such a liberal country as Iceland, which, apart from the weather, seems a utopia for those fleeing poverty in their home countries. The murder is gruesome, not only because it involves a child, and the stakes are high for Erlendur and his team when the potential suspects involve teachers, pedophiles, and even the victim's own brother. The plot gets a little confusing with several story-lines that may or may not have anything to do with each other and when Erlendur inexplicably acts like an idiot and misses a huge clue, but it's still a solid mystery and I enjoyed this as much as the others in the series. A word of caution, though; the translation/editing of the text is truly sub par. There are so many awkward expressions and syntax-oddities that it sometimes slows down the reading noticeably - not a great thing in a thriller.