Gripping and memorable Icelandic crime story that has deep melancholy heartbeat. Detective Erlendur is staying on his parent’s abandoned farm when he hears a story about a woman who vanished in storm from a neighbour. Erlendur lost his younger brother in a storm decades before and the wound has never healed, so he responds to the story be asking questions among those who were alive at the time. Slowly a story emerges as peoples memories are brought to the surface. It becomes clear that there was more going on than had been known and the final unravelling is smart and bitter, exactly as it should be.
This is a very quiet story, the action is mostly Erlendur asking questions and stirring up memories that have long been dormant. The grip of the story lies in the cast and in particular Erlendur himself. He frequently asks himself why he is pursuing this story, as it becomes clearer that there may have been foul play involved, he wonders what he will do about any information that he finds. It is always apparent to reader that Erlendur is attempting to hide himself from the story of the loss of his brother while being constantly having it brought back to him by his investigation.
The supporting cast are given a tenacious life, they are elderly now but they have a force and depth that bring the reader deeply into the story. As the lives they lived in the small fishing village emerge and the forces that trapped them it becomes increasingly clear that the past has never let them go. As the investigation continues the compromises and stories they have told themselves start to wilt under scrutiny, they become more engaging and vivid. Erlendur is doing something they want and do not want.
The plot mechanics of the story are superb, the pieces of the story that emerge fit together with a strong credibility and slowly lead to a brilliantly set up conclusion. The second story about Erlendur ‘s brother is masterfully woven into the narrative and the conclusion is deeply sad and and entirely suitable.
A novel about the long term impact of cold, very cold, crime Strange Shores is stunning, the poisonous effects of crime are rarely so carefully considered and revealed. Top class fiction.
