Jar City
An unsettling Icelandic police procedural where past crimes haunt the present, from the CWA Gold Dagger Award Winner
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3.6 • 37 Ratings
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
The dead don’t talk - unless you know how to listen.
In Reykjavík, an old man is found murdered with a cryptic note left on his body. Detective Erlendur begins unravelling a decades-old case that never closed. As he follows a fascinating trail of strange forensic evidence, Erlendur uncovers secrets that are much larger than the murder of one man - dark secrets that have been carefully guarded for many, many years...
‘A chilling Icelandic saga of the DNA age’ Independent
‘A fascinating window on an unfamiliar world as well as an original and puzzling mystery’ Val McDermid
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
When a lone septuagenarian is murdered in his apartment in the Nordurm ri district of Reykjav k, detective inspector Erlendur Sveinsson is called in, along with partner Sigurdur li and female colleague El nborg. Everyone is related to everyone else in Iceland and refer to one another by first name, even formally. Erlendur is about 50, long divorced, with two kids in varying degrees of drug addiction. The victim, a man called Holberg, turns out to have been a nasty piece of work, and Erlendur is disgusted by the series of rapes Holberg apparently committed. The rapes and the deaths of a number of young women may be connected, and the search brings Erlendur to the forensic lab, whose old "jar city," since disbanded, held research organs. Meanwhile, Erlendur's daughter, Eva Lind, is pregnant and still using; she flits in and out of his life angrily, but may be crying out for help. Reykjav k's physicality, and the fact that crimes are relatively rare in Iceland, gives things a defamiliarizing cast. The writing, plot and resolution are nicely done, but remain fully within genre boundaries.
Customer Reviews
Jar City
Probably one of the most boring books I have read for a while. I could not bring myself to care about any character. Forced, paint by number.