Furðustrandir (urspr publ 2010; utgåvan 2010)

Taphophobia is the key to this story which is gruesome and gripping. You can feel the cold and the hypothermia setting in. It is difficult to put down. ( )

The moving and powerful conclusion to the original Erlendur series (there is now a Young Erlendur series from his early years with the police). Erlendur, a very private and morose detective in Reykjavik, has great empathy for others but is so haunted by the childhood death of his little brother that he is incapable of forming lasting personal relationships. Every few years he takes off for the rural area in which he was raised and where his 8-year old brother disappeared in a sudden blizzard forty years ago, and there he wanders the hills, no longer expecting to find bones but compelled to at least be present. On this trip, he gets involved with solving an even older disappearance and in the process inadvertently finds some evidence of his brother's fate.

The last three Erlendur books take place simultaneously, weeks after the events detailed in the fourth-from last volume. These four (Hypothermia, Outrage, Black Skies, and Strange Shores) can be read as a single unit. "Hypothermia" is last case on which the 3-person team work together, and then each of the final three books focuses on one member of the team. Those of us coming to the series now have the pleasure of reading them as one story instead of awaiting new publications a year or two down the road. ( )

A young woman walks into the frozen fjords of Iceland, never to be seen again. But Matthildur leaves in her wake rumours of lies, betrayal and revenge.

Decades after Matthildur’s disappearance, Erlendur is investigating in the same wilderness. He is looking for clues to Matthildur’s fate, but also for his long-lost brother, Bergur, who was lost in a violent winter storm when the two of them were young children – a loss that has tainted Erlendur’s entire life. Slowly, as the past begins to surrender its secrets, the detective realizes that these may have been better left buried.

Indridason once again delivers with a strong crime story, and great secondary characters: Ezra, part of Matthildur’s past, is particularly memorable. But my favourite parts of this final Detective Erlendur novel are the personal insights into the detective himself. While the memories of Beggi’s loss have haunted him forever, he does recall life with his parents and brother before tragedy struck, when they were a happy family of four:

"Occasions like Christmas: his father wearing an Icelandic Yule hat; the tree they had decorated together; listening to a radio serial on a winter’s evening. The images glimmered before his mind’s eye like the dim flickering of a candle ... Summer days. Sitting on a horse; his mother’s hand on the leading rein. The hay harvest. Men drinking coffee and smoking outside the house. He and Bergur playing in the sweet-scented hay in the barn." (Ch 26)

Indridason is my favourite Scandi-Crime writer. This entire series is highly recommended. ( )

With this irregular 'investigation ' inspector Erlendur tries to uncover the case of someone went miss half a century ago meanwhile fighting with his own past. ( )

persoonlijk verhaal over de verdwijning van zn broertje in de bergen. Tevens een verdwijning van een vrouw in de storm op de bergen. ( )