A review by poleksya
Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason
3.0
“He knew at once it was a human bone, when he took it from the baby who was sitting on the floor chewing it.”
It's quite a first sentence, don't you think?
Silence of the Grave continues where Jar City left of with Inspector Erlendur working on a new case. As Reykjavik expands new construction sites are popping up everywhere, but on one of these construction sites a skeleton was found, a skeleton that is 50-60 years old. This takes Inspector and his team on journey of discovering what happened to this person, digging deep into the past. As they try to solve this cold case, Inspector Erlendur tries to find with his drug addicted daughter as
he deals with issues from his own past.
I'm really glad that I decided to continue with this series, because I liked this one a lot more than Jar City. Not only the case is more interesting and really heartbreaking, but we also learn a lot more about the Inspector. In the first book he was a really cold and distant character, without anything that would make him seem like a real person. Not only we find out more about his life, but you can actually see that he's actually human.
The book is split into two timelines, one in the present as the Inspector is trying to solve the case and the other one set 50-60 years in the past where we follow the events that lead up to the murder. Having this past story line makes everything feel more real, then if the police was just solving some cold case. The whole book has a greater impact when you get to witness
these past events, but it also keeps you guessing who this skeleton might be and what really happened.
I forgot how much a like reading Nordic Noir. I thoroughly enjoyed Silence of the Graves and I'm definitely reading the next next book too. One more thing I have to say that it's not the easiest of books to read, it's dark, violent and definitely not for everyone. Don't go into this one if you are sensitive about graphic scenes of violence.
It's quite a first sentence, don't you think?
Silence of the Grave continues where Jar City left of with Inspector Erlendur working on a new case. As Reykjavik expands new construction sites are popping up everywhere, but on one of these construction sites a skeleton was found, a skeleton that is 50-60 years old. This takes Inspector and his team on journey of discovering what happened to this person, digging deep into the past. As they try to solve this cold case, Inspector Erlendur tries to find with his drug addicted daughter as
he deals with issues from his own past.
I'm really glad that I decided to continue with this series, because I liked this one a lot more than Jar City. Not only the case is more interesting and really heartbreaking, but we also learn a lot more about the Inspector. In the first book he was a really cold and distant character, without anything that would make him seem like a real person. Not only we find out more about his life, but you can actually see that he's actually human.
The book is split into two timelines, one in the present as the Inspector is trying to solve the case and the other one set 50-60 years in the past where we follow the events that lead up to the murder. Having this past story line makes everything feel more real, then if the police was just solving some cold case. The whole book has a greater impact when you get to witness
these past events, but it also keeps you guessing who this skeleton might be and what really happened.
I forgot how much a like reading Nordic Noir. I thoroughly enjoyed Silence of the Graves and I'm definitely reading the next next book too. One more thing I have to say that it's not the easiest of books to read, it's dark, violent and definitely not for everyone. Don't go into this one if you are sensitive about graphic scenes of violence.