Every once an awhile in the midst of the new onslaught of Scandinavian mysteries, you start to wonder how these purportedly peaceful countries survive. Men seem unusually violent, politics are messed around with murder and rape and not just "normal" rape, but horrendously violent assaults. It becomes a bit like violence porn - reading and seeing these stories for the gruesomeness. I remember watching the "dragon" series during a summer where I was dealing with anger and finding them cathartic in a totally sick way.
That said, a lot of these stories are just plain good.
Among the good ones is "Outrage" by Arnaldur Indridason. The setting here is Iceland, but the people are like people everywhere, bound by traditions and shame, grudges and secrets, love and hatred. The author's description of small seaside towns and the secrets they hold is both intensely creepy and familiar to anyone who has visited a small isolated town where most of the young people have moved away.
Detective Erlendur is human an linked to her long-suffering family, conflicted between her job and her feelings of failure as a parent because of it. Yet she works away, chewing at her various hunches, gradually pulling together a case.
In the end, everything isn't tied up with a tidy bow. That, in itself, makes the book worth reading. Unlike most mysteries, who close the case with a satisfying thump, in this case you see, and feel, the frustrating and persistent nature of police work, where cases overlap into the next one and mysteries pull us on, wanting to read more.
I'll be looking for the next book in the series. I care about these characters and want to see how things progress. And isn't that what we authors hope for?
Definitely an author worth spending time with, though I confess a difficulty with the names... ( )

Interesting but not particularly enjoyable. Nordic noir to the max. ( )

Okay police procedural. Nothing really wrong with it, but only mildly compelling. I'll have forgotten it by tomorrow. The normal character, Erlendur, is out of town, so the female detective Elinborg takes center stage in this. That wasn't a problem, her character was one of the better things about this book, it was a nice change of pace though I did miss the dour presence of Erlendur. It's just that a few of the recent installments have been marred by a by-the-numbers, going through the motions quality. The Icelandic translation seemed fine, so I conclude it is the author himself. I may consider abandoning this series, I've got a lot of Scandi crime series to get to, by the likes of Fossum, Nesser, Lackberg, Edwardson, Larsson, Kallentoft, Sjöwall-Wahlö, Kaaberbol, etc, etc, in addition to the great Jo Nesbo and Henning Mankell series I'm currently working my way through. But I'll probably go to the next one eventually. Strangely, the even numbered ones have been all of my favorites, so will need to see if the next one, Black Skies, book 8 based on books available in English, continues this trend. ( )

Written entirely from Elinborg's point of view this was the most intriguing of murders that had me interested to the very end. Erlendur has all but disappeared which I guess will be taken up later in the series. ( )

Indridason's usual Reykjavik detective Erlendur is absent in this book, his side kick Eilinborg has to take up the case. She equips herself well. Much of the book is given over to her cooking and her family details. ( )