8 December 2014

Review #98: Jar City (Inspector Erlendur #3) by Arnaldur Indriðason




My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Hannah Kent, a contemporary Australian writer, has commented about "Iceland" as:

In Iceland, you can see the contours of the mountains wherever you go, and the swell of the hills, and always beyond that the horizon. And there's this strange thing: you're never sort of hidden; you always feel exposed in that landscape. But it makes it very beautiful as well.

Arnaldur Indriðason, a very famous author of Iceland, has spun a mind-blowing thriller story, Jar City, which has sold over 6 million copies in the world and has been translated in more than 20langugaes. The original Icelandic version of this book is called, Mýrin and has been turned into a film by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur. Moreover, this is the third book in the series with Detective Erlendur.

Synopsis:
When a lonely old man is found murdered in his Reykjavík flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl’s grave. Inspector Erlendur, who heads the investigation team, discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, though not convicted, of an unsolved crime. Did the old man’s past come back to haunt him?


As the team of detectives reopen this very cold case, Inspector Erlendur uncovers secrets that are much larger than the murder of one old man--secrets that have been carefully guarded by many people for many years. As he follows a fascinating trail of unusual forensic evidence, Erlendur also confronts stubborn personal conflicts that reveal his own depth and complexity of character.


Inspector Erlendur is back yet with another brainstorming mystery. An old man found dead in his flat in Reykjavík. His head bashed in with an ashtray. More digging about this man's past reveals that he has once raped a woman and never convicted of the crime. The woman conceived a child and gave birth to a daughter who died terribly young due to a rare kind of brain tumor. Inspector Erlendur begins his investigation and eventually starts opening all the closed doors unlocking the mystery step-by-step. Moreover, Inspector Erlendur, a divorced man, has to face his troubled drug-addict daughter, Eva Lind, who shows up on his door with all her problems. Therefore, this story also features Inspector Erlendur facing with his own troubles from the past and his present life.

The story of the term 'Jar City' is very fascinating. When Inspector Erlendur goes to investigate about the little girl's tragic death from brain tumor in the morgue, he learns story behind 'Jar City'. When human organs preserved with formalin inside a jar and kept in a room, then it called 'Jar City', used specifically for the medical training purpose in Iceland.

The story is well told by the author from his protagonist Inspector Erlendur, who is not only a lonely soul fighting with his own ghosts from the past, but is also brave, intelligent and very determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Not only well-told, but the story is also very well laid out for the readers. As you turn the pages of this book, you drown more in the depth of the mystery. Each page welcomes us with a new twist, and the author skillfully kept his whole mystery tightly under-wraps until the very end.

The author has a deep psychological grip on his characters that portray as multifaceted, flawed and sympathetic human beings and all are achingly vulnerable, wracked by fear, need and guilt. I love how his characters, being all flawed, managed to strike my mind and soul so strikingly. Especially with this Holberg character, although he is dead in the story, but while reading about his ordeals in his past, made me creep out of my own skin.

The whole atmosphere of this compelling mystery will draw you into the depth of this story. Moreover, the setting of the plot will capture will mind vividly. Moreover, you can easily feel the darkness eventually surrounding you. Arnaldur Indriðason gave me a free trip to Iceland! I get to see the landscapes, culture, the society, and the people of Iceland from the author's eyes very distinctively. The Icelandic picture that Arnaldur Indriðason has painted is truly spectacular.
P.S: I admired the Icelandic Police procedurals, which are very fast and effective in action.

Verdict: The book is already a huge hit in the whole world. By according to me, this book is going to make you feel like inside a Stieg Larsson’s novel.

Courtesy: Thanks to the TripFiction team for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book. 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author Info:
Arnaldur was born in Reykjavík on 28 January 1961, the son of writer Indriði G. Þorsteinsson. He graduated with a degree in history from the University of Iceland in 1996. He worked as a journalist for the newspaper Morgunblaðið from 1981 to 1982, and later as a freelance writer. From 1986 to 2001, he was a film critic for Morgunblaðið.
His first book, Synir duftsins (Sons of Dust) came out in 1997, the first in the series with Detective Erlendur. Arnaldur is considered one of the most popular writers in Iceland in recent years — topping bestseller lists time and again. In 2004, his books were 7 of the 10 most popular titles borrowed in Reykjavík City Library. In 2006, his Erlendur novel Mýrin was made into a film, known internationally as Jar City, by Icelandic director Baltasar Kormákur.
Arnaldur's books have been published in 26 countries and translated into at least 20 languages
Visit him here 

Book Purchase Links:

View all my reviews

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for your feedback!