Book description
On an icy January day the Reykjavik police are called to a block of
flats where a body has been found in the garden: a young, dark-skinned
boy, frozen to the ground in a pool of his own blood. The discovery of
a stab wound in his stomach extinguishes any hope that this was a
tragic accident.
Erlendur and his team embark on their investigation with little to
go on but the news that the boy's Thai half-brother is missing. Is he
implicated, or simply afraid for his own life? The investigation soon
unearths tensions simmering beneath the surface of Iceland's outwardly
liberal, multicultural society. A teacher at the boy's school makes no
secret of his anti-immigration stance; incidents are reported between
Icelandic pupils and the disaffected children of incomers; and, to
confuse matters further, a suspected paedophile has been spotted in
the area. Meanwhile, the boy's murder forces Erlendur to confront the
tragedy in his own past.
Soon, facts are emerging from the snow-filled darkness that are more
chilling even than the Arctic night.
ARNALDUR INDRIÃ ASON worked for many years as a journalist and critic
before he began writing novels. Outside Iceland, he is best known for
his crime novels featuring Erlendur and Sigurdur à li, which are
consistent bestsellers across Europe. The series has won numerous
awards, including the Nordic Glass Key (both for
Tainted Blood
and
Silence of the Grave
) and the CWA Gold Dagger (for
Silence of the Grave
). His most recent novel is
The Draining Lake
.
