Already two weeks ago I finished this book on holiday in Austria. I found it in the bookcase of our apartment, and since the two books I brought myself weren't going to be enough reading material for the week, I threw myself onto this thriller by Arnaldur Indridason, an Icelandic author. Why is it that all these Scandinavian authors write thrillers or detectives? Is it the landscape of these countries that inspire them to write about awful deaths?
Title: Jar City
Author: Arnaldur Indridason
First published: Mýrin, 2000
My edition: Noorderveen, 2016 by Q (in Dutch)
Cover: Not bad for a Dutch cover, great image of the Icelandic scenery. The blurb on the back was awful though. It said that the book was about a murder which could not have been solved without the modern DNA-technology. Well, that really distinguishes this book from others...
Innerwork: Can't really remember, so must have been fine, otherwise I would have remembered ;)
Compatibility with reading on the train: Haven't read this one on the train, but it was a light, flexible paperback, so I have no doubt that it will be quite compatible.
Synopsis: This is the third book in the series starring inspector Erlendur. A man is foud murdered in his apartment, and nothing links him to his murderer but a note found on him. Inspector Erlendur leads the investigation and has to go through many lengths to find out who the murderer is, while also dealing with the troubles of his own daughter. The initial very normal and lonely dead man turns out to have raped a woman and possibly more. The question who has murdered him says unanswered. Although several options come up, none of them fits. In the end the solution lies in the genetic research that is carried out in Iceland.
My opinion: If I would judge this book as a thriller (as the cover indicates it is), it would score significantly lower than when I would judge it as a detective. As a detective it is really good, with some good leads that turn out to be a dead end. It is surprising, the right amount of details are shared, the sidestory about Erlendur and his daughter is interesting and leads back to the main story. The story is put really well together. But it is not a thriller. A thriller needs a certain amount of suspense, and there is not enough of it in this book to make it a good thriller.
Title: Jar City
Author: Arnaldur Indridason
First published: Mýrin, 2000
My edition: Noorderveen, 2016 by Q (in Dutch)
Cover: Not bad for a Dutch cover, great image of the Icelandic scenery. The blurb on the back was awful though. It said that the book was about a murder which could not have been solved without the modern DNA-technology. Well, that really distinguishes this book from others...
Innerwork: Can't really remember, so must have been fine, otherwise I would have remembered ;)
Compatibility with reading on the train: Haven't read this one on the train, but it was a light, flexible paperback, so I have no doubt that it will be quite compatible.
Synopsis: This is the third book in the series starring inspector Erlendur. A man is foud murdered in his apartment, and nothing links him to his murderer but a note found on him. Inspector Erlendur leads the investigation and has to go through many lengths to find out who the murderer is, while also dealing with the troubles of his own daughter. The initial very normal and lonely dead man turns out to have raped a woman and possibly more. The question who has murdered him says unanswered. Although several options come up, none of them fits. In the end the solution lies in the genetic research that is carried out in Iceland.
My opinion: If I would judge this book as a thriller (as the cover indicates it is), it would score significantly lower than when I would judge it as a detective. As a detective it is really good, with some good leads that turn out to be a dead end. It is surprising, the right amount of details are shared, the sidestory about Erlendur and his daughter is interesting and leads back to the main story. The story is put really well together. But it is not a thriller. A thriller needs a certain amount of suspense, and there is not enough of it in this book to make it a good thriller.
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