In this sequel to Indridason’s award winning first novel, Tainted Blood, Detective Erlendur must solve a 50 year old case and along the way face some personal demons. The novel opens up at a birthday party and the grisly discovery of a human bone in the hands of a small child.
Detective Erlendur and his team hope that the bone, which was traced back to a construction site, will lead to any of the missing cases they’ve had in Reykjavik but this one isn’t as simple. The site once teeming with American and British soldiers during WWII holds secrets of failed relationships, domestic violence and tragedy.
The author weaves past and present storylines as he narrates the story of the poor family who lived at what is now the construction site, and the crisis Erlendur’s troubled daughter is now facing.
Sometimes when authors mix past and present I find myself preferring one over the other but in this case I think Indridason handled both well. I felt a lot of sympathy for the characters in the past and the present had me intrigued as to what the outcome would be.
This is a well written crime novel with excellent atmosphere and characterization. In this sequel I felt that Erlendur is given more depth as details of his boyhood and marriage are revealed and he is no longer just the sullen detective. This progression of character and storyline is exactly what I want to see in a series.