I pick this series up every once in a while, and it's never as good as I expect it to be. I can't even put my finger on what's not right. Still enjoy the setting, though. ( )

In Oblivion, Indridason continues his exploration of Erlendur's early career. Now he is a detective, working under his mentor, Marion.

Marion and Erlendur are called to investigate a body found in a lava pit. The dead man seems to have fallen from a great height. He also appears to have links with the nearby US military base.

While Marion leads that investigation, Erlendur investigates the long-ago disappearance of a schoolgirl. This continues his fascination with missing persons, which readers of the series will be familiar with. As he talks to people involved, he also turns up links to the military base.

While this is a good entry in the series, it's far from my favourite (which would be Strange Shores). I guess I prefer the crusty, world-weary Erlendur of the earlier novels; I'm just not that interested in his formative years. ( )

Erlendur enquête sur le meurtre d’une jeune fille il y a 25 ans en même temps que les 2 enquêteurs travaillent sur un meurtre commis dans un hangar de la base de l’armée américaine. Ils trouvent les auteurs des 2 crimes ( )

Young Erlendur in the Icelandic CID
Review of the Random House audiobook* (2015) narrated by Seán Barrett & translated by Victoria Cribb from the Icelandic language original "Kamp Knox" (2014)

* Not to be confused with the Recorded Books audiobook (2016) narrated by [author:George Guidall as Into Oblivion which is the same book under a slightly different title.

This continues my catch-up of the final Inspector Erlendurs which are actually prequels from a Young Erlendur (2011-14) series. Oblivion takes place a few years after Reykjavik Nights and finds Erlendur now a part of the Icelandic CID during the mid-1970s Cold War era (he was a traffic cop previously) and working with senior detective Marion Breim. He is already divorced from the marriage which was hinted at in the previous book and is continuing his obsession with the cold cases of people who disappeared.

The current main case though is the investigation of a dead Icelander whose body is found in a thermal spring but whose fatal injuries can only have been caused by a fall from a great height. Clues lead back to the U.S. military installation at Camp Knox but the detectives find themselves stone-walled until someone in the U.S. military police reluctantly decides to help them behind the scenes. Meanwhile, on his own time, Erlendur is investigating a 25 year old case of a teenage girl who disappeared. This case also has a connection to Camp Knox as the girl and her friends were using their contacts with U.S. soldiers to obtain black market items such as American pop records and jeans, otherwise unavailable to Icelanders back in the day.

See photograph at https://i0.wp.com/afangar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Kamp-Knox.jpg?w=800&amp...
Huts at Camp Knox, Iceland (Undated photo). This photograph is presumably from the time when Iceland had bought out the WWII era US Army huts to use for low income housing. Image sourced from Afangar.

Despite the rather apocalyptic titles used for the different English translation editions, and the atmospheric cover photo used for this Oblivion edition, this is a mostly standard police procedural which consists of re-interviewing the same witnesses over and over again, until something or someone finally cracks. There is a noirish Cold War era subplot which the detectives are mostly prevented from following up on due to the US authorities.

The narration by Seán Barrett was excellent in all voices.

Other Reviews
Into Oblivion by Mary Whipple at Seeing the World Through Books, March 20, 2017.
Into Oblivion at Kirkus Reviews, December 8, 2015.

Trivia and Links
You can read more about translator Victoria Cribb at The Loneliness of the Icelandic Translator, Publishing Perspectives, January 6, 2012 and at One of These Eccentrics Who Came to Iceland and Fell in Love with the Language, Icelandic Literature Centre, October 30, 2018. ( )

Icelandic Detective Novel....Narration in English by an Icelander. A little plodding. Takes place on and near the Air Base with the International (Kevlick?) Airport on it. ( )