Book Review: Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indridason

Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Arnaldur Indridason is an author I discovered last year almost accidentally due to my A-Z of authors, and I'm so glad. The story opens with a toddler chewing on a bone, a human bone, which leads to the discovery of a body.
As always, the author keeps the reader gripped on every page with twists and turns aplenty. The story switches between the main character, Detective Erlendur and a family in the midst of World War II.
I personally preferred the parts about the family in the 40's. I found their story to be interesting and I felt and wanted to fight for every character. I found myself willing the mother of the family in question to succeed, to win, to stop being abused by Grimur, probably one of the most horrible characters I have ever had the pleasure of reading.
But similarly, the investigative side of the story and the complexities of Erlendur and his family also providing interesting reading and a longer narrative over the series of books.
As always, the setting of Iceland, creates a brilliant atmosphere. I often felt that the location in this novel was another character, integral to the plot. But the one thing that sold this book for me more than anything else, was that the identity of the victim wasn't revealed until very near the end of the book. The suspense and the genius of the author for keeping the reader interested and eager to find out who the victim was and how they were killed is excellent. I can't wait to read more by Arnaldur Indridason.

View all my reviews