It has been a year since Erlendur Sveinsson, a young officer with the Reykjavik Police, had been called to leave his normal traffic duties to pull a body out of a flooded peat pit. It had given the rookie cop a turn when he realized that the drowned body was Hannibal's. Erlendur had become acquainted with the homeless man over time while working on night patrol. Now, Erlendur is back at the scene and looking over the shallow pond again. Why had Hannibal ended up in this place? Was it just a simple drowning of an old alkie that most people just wanted to say good riddance to, or could it be something more?

Erlendur can't let it go as just another wasted homeless man, one less problem to deal with. Like a bulldog with a bone, he cannot let it go and starts to investigate on his own time. He has a special concern for the missing. In talking to Hannibal's sister, he learns more about Hannibal's life and tragedy.

It is now the summer of 1974 and Iceland is celebrating its 1,100 anniversary of settlement. People are in a good mood with the sun shining. Yet, the more the taciturn Erlender investigates, the more he becomes obsessed with Hannibal's death. Then a woman also goes missing after being out late one evening. Is there a connection, or is Erlendur's own past driving him to find answers where none exist?

After ten very successful novels in the Inspector Erlendur series, internationally acclaimed author Arnaldur Indridason has written REYKJAVIK NIGHTS as a prequel to the series. As such, REYKJAVIK NIGHTS reads easily as a stand-alone mystery, yet fans of the series will definitely enjoy finding out more about the early shaping of this protagonist's career. New fans, like me, will relish the idea of having a whole series to read after this intriguing prequel.

Indridason brings a very authentic voice and immediate sense of time and place to Erlander's exposure to the sordid details of night patrol, and especially in dealing with the dark underbelly of this interesting city. As an Icelander with a background in studying history, Indridason also weaves in very interesting historical information as a natural part of the storyline.

Indridason is well known for bringing a haunting sense of realism to his works and REYKJAVIK NIGHTS is no exception. Indridason graphically depicts the carnage from car collisions to the physical looks of weary people too long and off the bottle. REYKJAVIK NIGHTS contains a complex and multi-layered plot that is both psychological as well as investigative. Personally, I found it intriguing, but slow at the start as I was not sure of how things fit, but I soon found REYKJAVIK NIGHTS so captivating, I could not put it down. All in all, I am sure mystery and Erlender fans will have lots of good reading ahead of them in REYKJAVIK NIGHTS. Do check it out for yourself!