DP54Cover - Deadly Pleasures

the classic signs of abuse and the effects it has on her family
are both heart-wrenching and truly compelling.
The slow, inexorable progression downward of
the poor abused family makes for addictive reading. The
intertwining of the modern tale and the old is both clever
and ingenious. In a sense, Indridason has combined the
modern British style detective novel minus needless
complexity with the psychological suspense novel to create
one of the finest books of the year. It is so good it demands
to be read in a single sitting.
VOICES (St. Martin’s Minotaur, $22.95; Harvill,
£12.99, 2006). Rating: A [Reviewed by Ali Karim] It
should also be noted that Indriðason has won three years
consecutively The Martin Beck Award [from Sweden] for
best translated crime fiction novel for VOICES in 2005
and the two previous books, SILENCE OF THE GRAVE
in 2004 and JAR CITY / TAINTED BLOOD in 2003.
The latter two also won the Glass Key Award from the
Crime Writers of Scandinavia.
The third in the Reyjavik series, VOICES, is a
dark tale, set in a classy Reykjavik hotel, where Gudlauger
Egilsson, the doorman-cum-handyman, is found stabbed
viciously to death in his basement room. Summoned to
investigate, Erlendur and his police colleagues Sigurdur
Oli and Elínborg, converge on the bristling hotel. As the
festive season approaches, Erlendur can not face spending
Christmas alone in his flat, even though his daughter
Eva Lind implores him to return, as she has successfully
kicked her drug habit after the still-birth of her child.
Despite this, the world-weary inspector takes a room in the
hotel to blot out Christmas and focus on the murder
investigation. He is not the only one lonely in this melancholic
time, for his mentor [and former boss] Marion Briem
calls him, wanting to help in the investigation.
Elinborg, as well as helping Erlendur and Sigurdur
Oli, is still preoccupied with a concurrent case of a
schoolboy who was badly beaten by a gang of school
bullies, but she senses something sinister about the boys’
father, a business man (facing bankruptcy). The theme of
family conflict is again mined for the plot, as everyone in
the world of Indriðason has fractured and dysfunctional
relationships with those who share their genes. This includes
Erlendur, who is reminded about the tragedy that
lurked in his past, and shaped his world view.
VOICES, like the preceding books, virtually
drips with sadness and melancholy. This makes the setting
of a hotel at Christmas the perfect backdrop for this tale.
As the Icelandic detectives delve into the case, they have
to piece together the fragments of Gudlauger’s tragic life.
The hotel-staff closes ranks, but soon cracks in the wall of
silence appear as talk of large scale thefts, as well as
organized prostitution surface. Gudlauger’s sinister relatives
appear and they reveal just enough to pique Erlendur’s
suspicions.
At last Indriðason shows a little compassion for the
lonely Erlendur by making him and one of the female
forensic officers – the middle aged Valgerdur – start what
appears to be a relationship of sorts. It is about time
Erlendur had a little happiness.
Deadly Pleasures
I can not recommend
VOICES highly
enough, because to be uplifted
in life we sometimes
must drink from the well of
the melancholic and fractured.
If you crave more
than a cursory glance at the
lives of the damaged and
dysfunctional, then head toward
Indriðason's tales of
contemporary Iceland
This is the best
work in the police procedural
genre currently being
published.
THE DRAINING
LAKE (St. Martin’s
Minotaur, $24.95, September, 2008; Harvill Secker,
£12.99, 2007). Rating: A [Reviewed by George Easter]
In the wake of an earthquake, the water level of an
Icelandic lake drops suddenly, revealing the skeleton of a
man, which has clearly been there for many years. There
is a large hole in the skull. And even more mysteriously, a
heavy communication device is attached to it, possibly
some sort of radio transmitter, bearing inscriptions in
Russian.
The police are called in and Erlendur, Elinborg
and Sigurdur Oli begin their investigation, which gradually
leads them back to the time of the Cold War when bright,
left-wing students would be sent from Iceland to study in the
“heavenly State” of Communist East Germany. The story
line focuses on two star-crossed lovers and the tragic end
of their relationship.
On the personal front, we see glimmers of
rapproachement between Erlendur and his son and the
beginnings of a romantic relationship for this damaged
soul. Yes, it is about time Erlendur found a little happiness.
Indriðason writing is the epitome of excellence.
I'm right in line behind Ali and Larry as a big, big fan of his
work.
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