REVIEW: 'Strange Shores' by Arnaldur Indridason

For some background, this book was given to my family by a beautiful and loving Icelandic family whom I used to babysit for. I had not realized that it was a series until I searched for its primary title via its secondary; 'Murder In Reykjavik', and did not find it much use beyond jogging my memory. That said, if you like this kind of tale and Indriðason's writing, which I very much do, to know that it exists in such vast volumes is entirely fantastic news.

Strange Shores is a thrilling tale of two missing persons wrapped into one, and as a reader you are never quite sure which is the protagonist's primary interest. Though the book obviously focuses on the missing-presumed-dead cold case of a young woman, there are significant enough twists and turns into separate cases, such as the loss of the protagonist's brother in a snow storm, that adds to the narrative in a way one would not initially realize.

Like any good missing persons tale, there are several lines of inquiry sought after and worked through. The best part about this author compared to the writing of others, however, is that his characters are all humanly flawed. The detective is unashamed and brutal in the way he extracts information from people. People interviewed frequently lie, miss lead and have their own agenda, to the point where you are side tracked and trusting alongside the detective. There is no clear winner with the outcome of the case, other than perhaps the story itself, and this leaves the reader with a feeling of emptiness of fact distinctly contrasting with the passion that drove the narrative through to its end.

Hard copy / Audio book