This review is part of the Literature World Tour.
Bleak, introspective, gritty — Arctic Chill, an Icelandic police procedural examines the racial tensions in this liberal but ethnically isolated country.
Detective Erlender Sveinsson and his team are called in to investigate the death of a young boy, of Icelandic/Thai descent. The boy’s body is found frozen to the ground outside a rundown apartment house. The fragility of life is constantly brought home in this harsh Nordic climate but this boy’s life wasn’t taken by the elements.
An uncooperative mother, an urgent need to find the boy’s missing half brother Niran, and an increasing number of suspects confronts Erlender and his team. The search takes the reader down dark alleys, around unexpected corners and into the lives of the suspects and the investigating team. What is ultimately revealed is a depressing truth about society.
This is a tight police procedural that balances suspense and human emotion. Complicated characters and an unfamiliar landscape will have readers wanting to read other books in this series. Recommended for fans of Colin Dexter’s introspective Inspector Morse and Henning Mankell’s Inspector Wallander.
This review was previously published on Murder, Mystery & Mayhem.
Previously in Iceland: Spex reviews The Fish Can Sing
Next in Iceland: Jim Murdoch reviews Stone Tree
Next stop on the Literature World Tour: Ireland!
