Hypothermia

Starred review from July 5, 2010
At the start of Indridason's powerful sixth Reykjavík thriller (after Arctic Chill), the body of María, a woman ravaged by guilt, is found hanging in her holiday cottage, an apparent suicide. As Erlendur, a police detective who works largely alone because he prizes solitude above all else, doggedly interviews those close to María—her husband, her relatives, her friends—in an unofficial effort to understand what might have driven her to take her own life, he unravels an ingenious and sinister plot. Complicating his investigation are the ghosts from his personal and professional past: his failed marriage and his shaky relationships with the son and daughter who grew up without him, as well as unsolved missing-persons cases he still feels morally compelled to pursue. Most scalding of all is his memory of the blizzard that he barely survived as a boy but in which his younger brother perished, the tragic event that shaped Erlendur's later life and lends mythic resonance to Indridason's remarkable novels.

August 1, 2010

A suicide reminds a veteran inspector of previous sad cases—and of ghosts from his own past.

María, a historian, is found hanged in her country cottage by her childhood friend Karen, with whom she'd planned a getaway weekend. María's husband Baldvin, a doctor, is equally distraught by her death. Though his wife showed no signs of depression, flashbacks from her perspective tell a different story. Not only was she melancholy since the death of her beloved mother Leonóra a couple of years ago, she had an intense interest in the afterlife and was consulting with psychics. While not questioning the coroner's conclusion of suicide, grim Inspector Erlendur (Arctic Chill, 2009, etc.) is bothered by several details of the case, not least Baldvin's decision to have María cremated. For many years, an elderly man named Tryggvi has periodically visited Erlendur for news of his son, a university student who vanished one evening. In light of María's death, Erlendur feels compelled to reexamine this case and a handful of others more carefully. At length, he discovers some surprising and significant details. At the prompting of his daughter Eva Lind, clean after years of drug abuse, he agrees to a meeting with his ex-wife and offers a deeply felt account of the childhood death of his younger brother, an incident that has indelibly shadowed his life for decades.

Though series fans may miss sidekicks Elinborg and Sigurdur Oli, relegated to minor roles, they'll welcome another haunting mystery from the Gold Dagger Award winner, whose work transcends genre.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

Starred review from August 1, 2010

Icelandic author Indridason's sixth series entry (after The Draining Lake) is a departure from the previous books: Inspector Erlendur unofficially investigates the suicide of a young woman at her summer cottage. Erlendur is determined to re-create her experiences and find out what could have driven her to take her life. At the same time, he reopens the cases of two young people who went missing decades earlier. Because the father of the missing young man is dying, Erlendur hopes to bring him closure before it is too late. Through these investigations Erlendur may be able finally to come to terms with the tragedy in his past. VERDICT Though not a typical police procedural in which Erlendur solves a crime with his team, this is highly recommended for fans of Indridason's previous mysteries and for lovers of Scandinavian crime fiction. [See Prepub Mystery, LJ 4/1/10.]--Jean King, West Hempstead P.L., NY

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2010
Indridason, Icelands most widely read novelist, once told an interviewer that crime fiction is about so much more than just crime. In his latest mystery, as if to prove his point, Indridason has his series hero, Reykjavik police detective Erlendur, investigate what appears to be the suicide of a young woman. There is no evidence of foul play, and there are numerous indications that the woman suffered from depression due to the death of her mother and the drowning of her father when she was a child. At the same time, Erlendur is trying to solve two cold cases, the disappearances of two young people three decades earlier. For Erlendur, all three investigations resonate like Prousts madaleines, compelling him to continue. Hypothermia is defiantly unconventional crime fiction. No shoot-outs, no car chases, no monstrous villains; only tragedies and the pain they inflict on ordinary peoplelike Erlendur. As he interviews a lengthy succession of people who might shed light on the suicide and the disappearances, the gloomy Icelandic cop continues to wrestle with the tragedies in his own life: his eight-year-old brothers disappearance in a blizzard and the impact of his disastrous marriage on his children. Some crime fans might be puzzled by this novels dearth of action, but it is psychologically astute, beautifully told, and filled with insight into matters of life and death.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)