Raises what used to be seen as "only" a subgenre to a literary form

books:


	• Voices: A Thriller (Reykjavik Thriller) Arnaldur Indridason St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 7 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Third time the charm

As with all good noir, the protagonist solves the crime and also solves something about himself. Building on his two earlier works, the third manages to do just that. It is easy to say, hard to do. But Indridason does it deftly, never laying it on too thick, and(unlike the first two books) manages it all with some humor. Erlendur still grieves his brother, lost due to childhood accident years ago, for which he blames himself and feels the guilt that has ruined his life. But he has been complicit in the ruin, a willing voulunteer. He investigates the murder of a man, like him haunted by his childhood. In doing so, he understands more about himself and takes---no matter how slowly, how tenatively---the first steps to forgive himself. A fine work.

for more information click here

The best one yet!

The third of Indridason's mysteries to be translated, this novel is the best of the bunch. The absurd situation that opens this novel (a dead Santa discovered in a compromising position) provides for fantastic moments of humor, but the story as a whole is sad and compelling, drawing out the dysfunctional family history of the dead santa, and the painful memories of the investigator. Pick this book up when you've got lots of time to spare-- you will not want to stop until you've finished it.

for more information click here

A Christmas Tale

A few days before Christmas, a murder takes place in the basement of an upscale hotel in Reykjavik. The body of the doorman, who had just been made redundant after 20 years, is found in the small room he was allowed to occupy, stabbed to death with his pants pulled down around his ankles and wearing a condom. The victim had been a famous boy soprano who had made two records and was about to embark on a tour of Scandinavia at the age of 12 when his voice changed, ending his career. Subsequently, he became estranged from his family.

Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson conducts the investigation. Few clues, if any, are apparent. The inspector, facing a bleak Christmas of his own, decides to take a room at the hotel while continuing the probe. There is no shortage of suspects, only clues. Meanwhile, he battles his own ghosts--his survival at the age of 10 from a fierce snowstorm in which his 8-year-old brother disappeared; his abandonment of his wife and two children 20 years previously; his difficult daughter who has just reunited with him (she is a recovering dope addict whose habit resulted in a stillborn daughter).

This excellent translation of the author's third novel is on a par with his earlier books. The language and plot flow smoothly, moving the reader forward effortlessly. Winner of the Gold Dagger Award, the author's previous books were Silence of the Grave and Jar City. I look forward to the fourth book in the series with great anticipation.

for more information click here

Raises what used to be seen as "only" a subgenre to a literary form

VOICES by Arnaldur Indridason is set in a crowded hotel, one of the largest in Reukjavik, Iceland, during the Christmas season. Gudlaugef is the hotel's doorman, the most recognized employee, but nobody "knew" him or anything about him. A congenial fellow while wearing his uniform, he is a very private man who lives in a closet-sized room in the basement of the posh hotel. He feels safe there and works hard at keeping everything about his life a secret. Ironically, while his job forces him to work with people, he is invisible and of little importance to his co-workers, which suits him just fine. So why is he mysteriously murdered in his Santa suit before he is about to entertain children as he has done every year?

When the police are called, they gather to try to coordinate a strategy. At the head of the team of detectives is Erlander, a divorced, tortured man whose daughter is a drug addict and whose son is estranged from the family. With him on the scene is his loyal team: Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg. Their mission is to investigate Santa's strange and brutal murder, especially since he was found in a compromising position.

The hotel manager is a huge man who is outraged at having to cancel the establishment's traditional children's party. He feels that Gudlaugef's murder is an inconvenience and worries only about the reputation of the hotel. His crudeness and insensitivity rankles the investigative team, especially when they learn that he is not being completely honest with them. Why? What is he covering up?

As the investigation slowly takes shape, the detectives unearth the fact that as a boy, the victim and his younger brother had been caught in a ravaging snowstorm. The boys tried to hold on to each other, but the conditions beat down so hard they were separated. Gudlaugef was the son who returned home alone. His father didn't forgive him until, as a choirboy, he was found to have a "golden voice." His father took over his life and spent all of his time and energy grooming him to be a child star. Gudlaugef released two records, which had done very well in Iceland and beyond its borders. Now they were collector's items and worth a great deal of money.

Gudlaugef had been scheduled for a singing tour and was very confident as he took the stage. Then, as he opened his mouth, his voice betrayed him; he no longer was able to produce the velvety sound that moved people to tears. Unfortunately, he was at the age when his voice began to change, and that night nature made its entrance --- he could no longer sing. He knew his father had more reason to hate him. Just about this time, his mother died, and in his grief his sister saw him dress up in his mother's dresses, jewelry and even her makeup. By accident his father caught him with a boy and considered him an abomination. The two fought at the top of the stairs, and Gudlaugef pushed the older man down the steps. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.

Gudlaugef cuts himself off from the world. But as the years pass, his loneliness becomes intolerable. He still has the key to his former home and would sneak into the living room in the middle of the night just to sit there all alone. He went undetected for years. VOICES moves through the twists and turns of its page-turning plot, and readers soon recognize the depths that Indridason mines to tell the story. Far beyond the mystery on the surface, he has a deep understanding of what happens to people who lose everything, including themselves. For example, in an interview he said, "I want to really understand Erlendur. How can Erlendur deal with other people's family tragedies --- in every sense but can't help himself? What makes him who he is?"

These questions and others resonate in VOICES, a complicated amalgam of Icelandic culture that adds a bit of universal codes in the other countries where his books are read. In the same discussion he said, "I write from an Icelandic perspective. I don't write for anyone else. So I was a little surprised that coming from Iceland seems to have added to the appeal for readers from abroad. It is a tremendous thrill that this tiny language can be spread." Anyone with a taste for crime stories in the spirit of Karen Fossum, Val McDermid or Peter Hoeg will be riveted by VOICES. Like them, he raises what used to be seen as "only" a subgenre to a literary form.

--- Reviewed by Lipkien Gershenbaum

for more information click here

Dreaming of a Black Christmas

"Voices", the third Icelandic crime mystery written by Arnaldur Indridason and translated by Bernard Scudder, is as dark, brooding, and fatalistic as the two that preceded it.

But hey, if this were Tahiti, they wouldn't call it "Iceland".

And if one were to select a "Mr. Iceland" based on a personality most representative of this barren landscape of volcanoes and endless winter nights, Indridason's irascible police detective Erlander Sveinsson would leave the competition far behind.

In this installment of gloom, it is the Christmas season, and Erlander is called upon to investigate the murder of Gulauger Egilsson, a 50-ish doorman of one of Reykjavik's better hotels, found in his hotel basement room with his Santa Claus suit around his ankles and fatal knife wounds in his chest. What follows would be a rather pedestrian whodunit - a standard crime drama of turning up clues and connecting the dots - were it not for the talented Indridason and his penchant for painting with a palette of despair what could have been a Currier and Ives Scandinavian Holiday card. Unbeknownst to hotel management or staff, the reclusive Gulauger was once a child star - a choirboy of international fame, who at twelve had two records published, destined for fame and the Vienna Boys' Choir. But not content to rely solely on poor Gulanger's sordid tale, the author deftly weaves together parallel threads, each apparently competing to see which can be more depressing. We have Erlander's partner Elinborg chasing down a case of parental child abuse, while his daughter bounces from thoughts of suicide to drug addiction, pining over her complicity in the death of her own infant daughter. And Erlander, his own solitude no longer an effective shield under the tidal waves of grief and murder that surround him, reflects on and nearly confronts his own unresolved guilt following the death of his younger brother decades before. These threads wind tightly together in a tapestry of pain, lurching and stumbling, taking more twists than a pretzel factory in reaching a bitterly ironic, while fitting, climax.

So by now, you're probably wondering how this smörgåsbord of sorrow could rate five stars. The answer is Indridason's prose, the magic of a straightforward and unapologetic slice of life - not the way we'd wish it or the way Hollywood would have us believe it - but the way it is. Depressing - maybe - but there is also strength and nobility in the grit of real people confronting real adversities and struggling, or failing, to simply survive. This is tough stuff, but in its own way powerful and, if not redeeming, certainly memorable. But if all of these psychological mumbo jumbo ramblings of desperation are still putting you off - take heart. For at it's core, "Voices" is simply a darn good mystery wrapped around a cleverly inventive - if sad - plot. So if you want smiley, happy, beautiful people obsessed with fashion trends and trendy relationships, fire up the tube and surf over to the "Friends" re-runs. But if noir served up cold is your midnight snack, let the cagey Mr. Indridason take you on this tour of Iceland you'll never find in the travelogues.

for more information click here

reviews: page 1, 2

Arnaldur Indridason took the international crime fiction scene by storm after winning England’s CWA Gold Dagger Award for Silence of the Grave. Now, with the highly anticipated Voices, this world-class sensation treats American readers to another extraordinary Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson thriller.

The Christmas rush is at its peak in a grand Reykjavík hotel when Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson is called in to investigate a murder. The hotel Santa has been stabbed, and Erlendur and his detective colleagues have no shortage of suspects between hotel staff and the international travelers staying for the holidays.

But then a shocking secret surfaces. As Christmas Day approaches, Erlendur must deal with his difficult daughter, pursue a possible romantic interest, and untangle a long-buried web of malice and greed to find the murderer.

One of Indridason’s most accomplished works to date, Voices is sure to win him a multitude of new American suspense fans.

for more information click here

hot