Reykjavik Nights
An Inspector Erlendur Novel
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4.2 • 64 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
In this stunning prequel to his critically acclaimed Inspector Erlendur series, Arnaldur Indridason gives devoted fans a glimpse of Erlendur as a young, budding detective.
The beat on the streets in Reykjavik is busy: traffic accidents, theft, domestic violence, contraband … And an unexplained death.
When a tramp he met regularly on the night shift is found drowned in a ditch, no one seems to care. But his fate haunts Erlendur and drags him inexorably into the strange and dark underworld of the city.
The writer whose work The New York Times describes as "having the sweep and consequence of epic story telling" has outdone himself in this multi-layered and masterful suspense story. His latest book in the series, Strange Shores, was nominated for the 2014 Crime Writers of America Gold Dagger Award.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this riveting prequel set in late-1960s Reykjav k, Indridason plumbs the backstory of his series lead, somber Insp. Erlendur Sveinsson. As a young cop, Erlendur patrols at night, writes speeding tickets, and escorts drunks to the station house. When Hannibal, a tramp he's acquainted with, dies of apparently natural causes, Erlendur starts to investigate on his own time. In the process, he learns about Reykjav k's down-and-out population which Indridason presents humanely and without sentimentality and about becoming a detective. His obsession with Hannibal and what happened to him foreshadows the concerns of the more mature Erlendur in books set years later, such as 2014's Strange Shores. Erlendur connects Hannibal's case to that of a missing woman and a criminal enterprise that may strike readers as amateurish (one tactic is stolen from the then-new TV detective show Ironside). The investigation slowly but surely gathers powerful, page-turning momentum. This installment stands on its own, but it's all the more impressive for giving new insight into Erlendur.
