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Title: The Draining Lake
Author: Arnaldur Indridason
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 7 August 2008
Review Copy

Synopsis

A skeleton is exposed in a drying out lake. The skeleton has an old Russian listening device tied to it. This leads detective Erledur with Elinborg and Siguraur Oli into an investigation into the cold war and what happens to those that are left behind.

Analyse/Comments/Thoughts

I really should read more crime stories, especially if they are anything like The Draining Lake.  Indridason mixes the past and present easily and the effect is quite powerful as you trace the story of the murderer from the events that led to the crime and the solving of the crime itself. This isn’t a fast paced thriller. It’s more reflective and lives up to its tag line of, ‘What Happens to those Left Behind?’ especially when we visit the relatives left behind when people go missing.

The process of detection keeps you reading as Erledur’s obsessions with small details leads to some interesting places. We get to find out about Erledur’s complicated relationships with his son and daughter, his work colleagues, and a woman who hasn’t left her husband.

I enjoyed the mix of flashbacks and present day. In some ways the flashbacks were more insightful as they explored the characters involved in more detail as Erledur is left a bit more of a mystery from beginning to end. Though this could be that this is a part of series and more would be revealed in reading the other books. Not that this spoiled anything as it seems part of his character to be aloof.

It was a bit of a slow read as I’m a little rusty when reading books in translation especially when it came to the names of characters and it took a while to grasp who was who and if they were male or female. The other quirk is some of the more emotional angry scenes that had swearing in them didn’t quite ring true though this is more a quirk in the language/translation rather than something that ruins the scene.

The strongest point for me was not only seeing another country, Iceland, but also getting a small insight into the cold war and its affect.

Summary

The Draining Lake is a reflective and strong crime novel with a clever and thought provoking use of flashbacks, which takes the reader on a journey of a crime from both sides. It also keeps you guessing about who the person in the lake actually is and who killed them. Highly recommended. I’m looking forward to catching up with Erledur’s next investigation.

8/10

Tags: 8/10, Add new tag, crime, Vintag

Title: In The Woods
Author: Tana French
Publisher: Hodder
Published: 14 November 07
Price: £6.99
Bought It

You can never escape your past or so they say. And Tana French plays with this idea in her debut novel, In The Woods. Rob Ryan retells the investigation into death of a small girl found in the same woods where he, but not his two friends, had a lucky escape twenty years ago.

French hasn’t created a conventional detective novel. Ryan’s past comes back to haunt him during this investigation. She pitches it right. Ryan unravels as the case gets tougher. And as you read you wonder if he can solve it before he unravels too far.

It’s a very emotional read. French keeps you reading by playing with you. She builds the connections between the main characters and sparks them off each other. It’s a small world after all.

The strengths of this novel is how well French sets everything up. As I was reading I thought I had a good idea of who did it, if not why, and I was wrong. French, through Ryan’s eyes, gives a lot of leads and clues but these are muddied by Ryan own biases and obsessions. Another strength is how she explores the effect the investigation has on the relationship with his partner DI Cassie.

French foreshadows a lot of the major events, sometimes a little too heavily, and this gives a drive to find out the truth. And it is truthful and a bit brutal in its honesty. It’s an interesting balancing act between keeping plot moving in terms of finding the killer and showing us the emotional tensions surrounding it.

In The Woods keeps you reading as Ryan recounts and explores this investigation from beginning to end. French has created a well-crafted story with a believable, if highly fictional set events, told with strong compelling voice. A strong performing and haunting debut. I’m looking forward to seeing what she does next.

Tags: 8/10, Bought it, crime, debut, debut review, Hodder, New Writers, review