Nancy S. (avidbookcollector) - , reviewed on 10/20/2009 + 36 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

The story behind Erlendur's Draining Lake investigation begins not with the discovery of bones in a lake bed, but in the 1950s in Leipzig. At that time it was part of the GDR, and students were being recruited to come to the university there to study. Some Icelandic socialist students were part of the recruitment effort -- but many discovered that there was a catch to their free education once they had been there for a while. Flashforward to the present, where a hydrologist examining a lake bed finds bones half buried there and calls police. As it turns out, the body was tied down with an old Soviet listening device, starting Erlendur and his team on an investigation that will take them back to the Cold War years. With very few clues to go on, including the identity of the dead man, Erlendur and his team have their work cut out for them. In the meantime, there's a few hitches in Erlendur's life: seriously drug-addicted daughter Eva Lind has runaway again, and while he's busy worrying about her, his long-estranged son Sindri shows up.

Indridason's writing is excellent, as always, and the fleshed-out back story of the students' years in Leipzig is a nice glimpse into the pitfalls of overzealous idealism. Erlendur is a character who has since the outset of this series been portrayed as very human, with real-life problems that don't seem to ever be resolved. The author is able to inject a bit of wry humor into his writing which is often dark and depressing -- there are no warm fuzzies or nice touchy-feely happy endings where everyone goes home happy and satisfied in this series. If that's what you're looking for, then pass on these novels.

The Draining Lake is not my favorite of Indridason's novels, but it was still a great read. He continues to follow his pattern of the past's connection to the present, which is one of my favorite motifs in a mystery novel. The book is well written, and my only criticism is that at times things seemed to move very slow. But I still very highly recommend not only this book, but the entire series. You'll want to start with the first book in translation, Jar City, and make your way through all of the books before coming to this one if you want the best reading experience. People who enjoy Scandinavian crime novels will want to read this one, as will people looking for a good mystery novel in general.

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