On a friend's recommendation, I borrowed Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indriðason from my Public Library. I was hesitant, as it has the word "thriller" on the front cover, and I don't like thrillers. But this had none of the mayhem and ghastly details I have usually found in thrillers. (Thank goodness!)
The reclusive and dogged Inspector Erlendur becomes interested in the reasons why a woman committed suicide. He also begins looking into two cold missing-person cases from thirty years passed--each suspected as suicides--although the bodies were never found. The way his information builds on all three cases is very well told. He is a methodical man and would be quite boring if the stories he pursued weren't so intricate. Add to this the recriminations of his daughter and ex-wife, and his own obsessive brooding over a brother who went missing during a blizzard when they were both boys, and Inspector E. becomes a very complex character.
The novel was well written, and descriptions of the Icelandic weather chilled me. Appropriately so, since the various stories all relate to the title, Hypothermia. I did think that some of the inserted stories from the POV of the suicide victim gave away too much.
Near the end, I felt there were too many ghosts, and too many coincidences. The memories of people interviewed by the inspector seemed way too crisp and convenient for the thirty-year distance from events.
Inspector Erlendur is a series character. I'm not sure if I'll try the other books. Only the subject matter would draw me, since I wasn't really taken with the main character.
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