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beachy123's review
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
An enjoyable thriller set in Iceland. Good scandi noir.
suzannemseidel's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
lil_fork's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Rape, Sexual violence, and Suicide
jporterfield99's review against another edition
2.0
This was a fairly weak story told from the point of view of a secondary character in the author's Erlendur series. Elinborg is fine as a character, but the mystery itself is tedious and uninteresting.
vegantrav's review against another edition
1.0
***SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW***
Maybe something was lost in the translation (the author, Arnaldur Indridason, is Icelandic), but the prose in this novel is horrible: it has all the literary sparkle and prowess of an office memo on employee break room rules.
The dialogue is mechanical and unrealistic. I can't really describe how bad it is other than to say that you'll be reading a section of dialogue, and you'll think: this sounds like computer-generated dialogue; no human beings have ever conversed like this.
The characters themselves are flat and listless, completely dull and uninteresting and often stupid.
We are given a great deal of irrelevant details (to the plot) about the lead detective, Elinborg. These useless details about Elinborg's private life (her interest in cooking; her normal parental difficulties with her adolescent son) do nothing to make her a more appealing character or to make us even care about her.
The title is even misleading: the crime being investigated in this novel is a murder. Is the murder an outrage? No, it's not an outrage: the murder victim is a rapist who was killed by the brother of one of his victims. This type of murder is the antithesis of an outrage. Perhaps the title refers to the fact that the murder victim's own crimes, as a rapist, were outrageous. I guess this is a possibility, but even his rapes (and I'm not trying to downplay the crime of rape: it is horrific, terrible, and completely and utterly immoral) are lazy and lackluster (on the rapist's part): he drugs his victims with ruffies and then rapes them, but he doesn't torture them or murder them afterwards. He's just a low-life, scumbag rapist.
I can't believe I even finished this book. I kept thinking something interesting was going to happen: it did not. I kept waiting for the outrage to present itself: it never did.
The cover blurb on the book says that Indridason "fills the void that remains after you've read Stieg Larsson's novels." Ummmm, no, it doesn't. I've read all of Larsson's Millennium novels. Indridason, if this book is a representative sample of his oeuvre, is not even a tenth the writer that Larsson is.
Maybe something was lost in the translation (the author, Arnaldur Indridason, is Icelandic), but the prose in this novel is horrible: it has all the literary sparkle and prowess of an office memo on employee break room rules.
The dialogue is mechanical and unrealistic. I can't really describe how bad it is other than to say that you'll be reading a section of dialogue, and you'll think: this sounds like computer-generated dialogue; no human beings have ever conversed like this.
The characters themselves are flat and listless, completely dull and uninteresting and often stupid.
We are given a great deal of irrelevant details (to the plot) about the lead detective, Elinborg. These useless details about Elinborg's private life (her interest in cooking; her normal parental difficulties with her adolescent son) do nothing to make her a more appealing character or to make us even care about her.
The title is even misleading: the crime being investigated in this novel is a murder. Is the murder an outrage? No, it's not an outrage: the murder victim is a rapist who was killed by the brother of one of his victims. This type of murder is the antithesis of an outrage. Perhaps the title refers to the fact that the murder victim's own crimes, as a rapist, were outrageous. I guess this is a possibility, but even his rapes (and I'm not trying to downplay the crime of rape: it is horrific, terrible, and completely and utterly immoral) are lazy and lackluster (on the rapist's part): he drugs his victims with ruffies and then rapes them, but he doesn't torture them or murder them afterwards. He's just a low-life, scumbag rapist.
I can't believe I even finished this book. I kept thinking something interesting was going to happen: it did not. I kept waiting for the outrage to present itself: it never did.
The cover blurb on the book says that Indridason "fills the void that remains after you've read Stieg Larsson's novels." Ummmm, no, it doesn't. I've read all of Larsson's Millennium novels. Indridason, if this book is a representative sample of his oeuvre, is not even a tenth the writer that Larsson is.
chrispyschaller's review
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
chrisrin's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyable though I'm looking forward to the next book when Erlendur is back. I was interested in learning more about Elinborg's life too, the new narration broadened the world a bit.. ^_^
chrisrin's review against another edition
2.0
I don't remember reading this the first time...it was underwhelming the second time. Not one of the better entries in the series.
ingabbjarna's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, and Murder
Moderate: Blood