Reykjavík setting makes for an interesting, worthwhile tale

books:


	• Jar City: A Reykjavik Thriller Arnaldur Indridason Picador, 2005 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 33 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Jar City Review

great suspense. all sites mentioned are authentic providing a sense of realism. Characters are believable.

Reykjavík setting makes for an interesting, worthwhile tale

I'm by no means an expert of the police procedurals genre, but Arnaldur Indridason's 'Jar City' caught my eye. It did not disappoint. It's a crisply told tale that I found enjoyable, fascinating and well-plotted from start to finish. What was especially intriguing for this US-based reader was the Reykjavík setting. Imagine an investigation in a country where there are only 300,000 people. As the Publishers' Weekly review aptly states, you have a land where "(e)veryone is related to everyone else...and refer to one another by first name, even formally." You feel that proximity and closeness. And, indeed, that inter-relationship ends up figuring very heavily - and quite plausibly - in the plot and its denouement. Highly recommended. You can pair this one with another Icelandic-themed book I recently completed: "Bobby Fisher's War," a great blow-by-blow account of the epic Fisher-Spassky match in Reykjavík.

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Jar City

Very interesting to get an insight to Iceland, its people, customs, terrain as well as a good mystery. Hope to get more of his books!!

My 2 cents

This is a well written book on police investigation. Though the book has been translated from icelandic, the narration style is simplistic enough to keep the plot engrossing. What starts a investigation into a murder with no clues soon turns the issue wide open and many skeletons start tumbling out. I liked the way the author builds the case step by step by going back on the life of the victim. He has managed to infuse some wit into the phlegmatic protoganist inspector Erlendur too. I think I'm going to read other works of Arnaldur. You will love this book....

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a jarring thriller

among scandinavian thriller-writers, this young icelandic novelist is one of the most promising. the plot is interesting, and raises important questions about scientific data bases and many other issues. but the novel is best for its bleak atmosphere and melancholy characterization. not really fun, but it grabs you and won't let go.

reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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