Arctic Chill is likely one of the first detective stories I have picked up. I will read more by this author and this genre. I enjoyed the book. It was interesting to read a novel based in Iceland - gave a new perspective on the country. I enjoyed the story. I didn't feel, however, I learned very much about the characters. Probably as much the genre as the nature of the characters (mentioned several times how the various detective know nothing about their co-workers). I found the translation a bit rough in places. Overall, an easy read that captured my attention. ( )

The latest Erlendur book, this may be the best one yet.

Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson is already struggling with a missing person case - the type of case that he has the greatest feeling for. We know from earlier books about how Erlendur, when he was 10 years old, was caught out in a blizzard with his 8-year old brother. They became separated and lost. But while Erlendur was soon found unharmed, his brother never was - nor have any remains ever been located. That experience continues to haunt him, and he has been obsessed with accounts of missing persons ever since.

The main case in this book, though, is not the missing person. This book opens with the discovery of the body of a young Asian boy, lying on the frozen ground in a pool of his own blood near his Reykjavik home. The boy, 10 years old, was the son of a Thai immigrant mother and Icelandic father. With no other leads, Erlendur and his team pursue the theory that the killing was racially motivated. There is a sizable Asian population at the neighborhood school, and not everyone is pleased to have an increasing immigrant community in Iceland.

While the murder investigation continues, Erlendur begins receiving anonymous phone calls - from the woman who has gone missing, he is sure - but she refuses to give her name or location.

Also, his grown children are calling and coming around. Due to a messy divorce when they were young, Erlendur and his children never had a warm relationship, and now he doesn't know how to deal with them. Even more uncomfortably, they are wanting to talk about the long ago incident with the blizzard and the disappearance of the brother.

This story takes place in January - the coldest and darkest time of year in Iceland. Arnaldur conveys the sense of cold isolation so effectively that I continued to pull a blanket around me while reading, even though it was warm in my room. Erlendur is a stoic, private man. Yet he is gradually being revealed without making him seem weak or broken down. I think this series just keeps getting better and better. Highly recomended. ( )

Bleak, introspective, gritty this Icelandic police procedural examines the racial tensions in this liberal but ethnically isolated country.

Detective Erlender Sveinsson and his team are called in to investigate the death of a young boy of Icelandic/Thai descent. The boy’s body is found frozen to the ground outside a rundown apartment house. The fragility of life is constantly brought home in this harsh Nordic climate but this boy’s life wasn’t taken by the elements.

An uncooperative mother, an urgent need to find the boy’s missing half brother Niran and an increasing number of suspects, confronts Erlender and his team. The investigation takes the reader down dark alleys, around unexpected corners and into the lives of the suspects and the investigating team. What is ultimately revealed is a depressing truth about society.

This is a tight police procedural that balances suspense and human emotion. Complicated characters and an unfamiliar landscape will have readers wanting to read other books in this series. Recommended for fans of Colin Dexter’s introspective Inspector Morse and Henning Mankell’s Inspector Wallendar. ( )

I've now read both his latest and (I think) his first book to be translated into English. "Arctic Chill" is definitely more complex than the first (Jar City), however, the ending isn't. I have learned more about the country of Iceland by reading these two. And I'll probably read more by this author. However I have found books in this genre by other Nordic authors more satisfying - Karin Fossum and Henning Mankell, and especially Steig Larsson. ( )

Arctic Chill is the seventh book in the Inspector Erlendur series from award-winning crime fiction novelist Arnaldur Indridason. Erlendur is a detective with the Reykjavik police. His introspection borders on morose, but then he’s a lousy father (he has two troubled – or is that troubling? - adult children), he obsesses on his 8-year-old brother’s death many years ago, and after all, he lives in Iceland. It can be confusing to keep track of time of events because it is always dark.

A 10-year-old Thai immigrant is murdered on his way home from school. Erlendur and his sidekicks meticulously pursue numerous angles, interviewing many witnesses and possible suspects. The victim’s half-brother disappears for a day and when he turns up his mother hustles him into hiding. (The Icelandic cops take this rather better than most American cops would do.) Why? Is the brother also in danger? Is he a witness to the ghastly crime? Or maybe's the perp? Among other suspects there’s the neighborhood pedophile, the raging racist teacher, the school-yard bullies, and the drug-dealing gangs.

Underlying the story and giving it depth is an examination of racial tensions between the largely homogeneous Icelandic population and the growing immigrant presence, especially from Asia.

Arctic Chill is a fine police procedural with a surprising, but not unfair ending. I enjoyed it less than the superb [[ASIN:0312428588 The Draining Lake: A Thriller (Reykjavik Thriller)]], but it was easily good enough to draw me back for more Erlendur. ( )