*Silence of the Grave, by Arnaldur Indridason

Don't pick this one up if you want something warm and fuzzy -- it's definitely the opposite. But then again, it's gloominess somehow seems a propos, considering not only the main story here, but the ongoing story of Erlandur Sveinsson, the main character here. He's not a happy man, nor does he have any reason to be -- his children hate him, his ex-wife lies about him and he's got ghosts from his past that continually haunt him. But as a detective, he's got to let all of that go so that he can do his job.

As the story opens, a baby is discovered playing with a piece of a human rib bone. The baby's mother makes her other child take her to where he found the bone, and an entire skeleton is discovered. It seems that the bones are laying in an area that will soon become a housing development, and archaeologists are excavating in the area prior to this happening. The police are called in, and they have no choice but to wait until the archaeologists slowly and carefully work through the excavation to be able to even determine the sex of the bones. All that's known is that the skeleton is probably quite old, rather than recent, anywhere from 50 to 70 years old. While they wait for the archaeologists, Erelendur and his team begin trying to figure out just who may have lived around the area in the past, and to see if anyone may have gone missing around the time whoever it is laying in the ground was put in there. As the police begin their investigations, they become aware that a young woman went missing, presumed a suicide, and that the man to whom she was engaged was the owner of the property years ago, when the area was shared with a military base during WWII. Interwoven with this story is another
about a family of former residents of the area, a woman and her children who find themselves victims of the husband/father, a wife beater who not only uses physical violence, but "kills the soul" as he metes out his abuse. Between the two storylines, you'll find yourself literally unable to put the book down. That, along with Erlendur's personal problems and the ghosts of his past coming back to haunt him, make for one incredible read.


If you've read Jar City, you've got to read this one. The author's characterization is realistic, the story is moving and the writing is excellent. Highly recommended to those who enjoy good mysteries in general, or to those who are looking for at good Scandinavian mystery writer.