Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indriðason

INSPECTOR ERLENDUR RETURNS IN THIS ICY, INTENSE REYKJAVIK THRILLER

On an icy January day, the Reykjavik police are called to a block of apartments where a body has been found in the garden: a young, dark-skinned boy is frozen to the ground in a pool of blood. Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation and soon unearth tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland’s outwardly liberal, multicultural society. Meanwhile, the boy’s murder forces Erlendur to confront the tragedy in his own past.

Master crime writer Arnaldur Indridason's Arctic Chill renders a vivid portrait of Iceland's brutal, little-known culture wars in a taut, fast-paced police procedural.

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. In Indridason's stellar fifth Reykjavik thriller (after The Draining Lake ), police detective Erlendur Sveinsson and his team investigate the murder of a dark-skinned Asian boy, found frozen in his own blood one midwinter day outside a rundown apartment block. The author imbues the self-doubting Erlendur with enormous depth, as an insecure father unable to show his love for his errant son and daughter as well as a troubled professional who's made pain his constant companion. Indridason also lays bare the plight of Thai women brought to Iceland, married and soon divorced by Icelanders, left to raise their children alone in a culture, a climate and a language they don't understand. On top of this national tragedy is the universal problem of bored, unsupervised youth, raised with no respect for authority and awash in fast food, rock music and violent computer games. Indridason has produced a stunning indictment of contemporary society. (Sept.)

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Review "A remarkable series."— The New York Times Book Review

"This Icelandic tale is delivered with exquisite sensitivity, in a moody translation."—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times

"A solid police procedural . . . well-constructed and certainly unflinching in its with of the human condition."—Patrick Anderson,* The Washington Post

" Arctic Chill is most reminiscent of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander series."—Jessica Moyer, Booklist

"Delving into the prejudices and inequalities of Icelandic society, this novel has great clarity, emotional depth, and resonance."—Katie Owen, The Daily Telegraph* (UK)