Translated from Icelandic, SHADOW DISTRICT is the story of
an over worked police detective, who turns to her friend a
bored, retired detective for some help. A ninety-three year
old man is found murdered in his bed and with no clues,
police detective Marsha knows the case will not be pursued
to the extend needed. While at lunch with her friend,
retired detective Konrad, she asks him to look into the
case.
When Konrad discovers that the case maybe tied to an
unsolved WWII murder he becomes fascinated with the cases.
Konrad becomes more and more drawn into the investigation
and discovers that a second girl may have also gone missing
in the same time period, during WWII, but on the other side
of the country. The cases are so similar that he works both
the old ones and new one. What he finds is sad and
shocking.
SHADOW DISTRICT is written from the view of the current
detective working the case and it also jumps into the
past and show the case as worked by the original detectives.
At times it is a little confusing as you are trying to
figure out what time period you are in, and who is detecting
whom, but pay attention and it all comes together in the
end. It goes to show how even the best detectives can be
stumped when powerful people are allowed to influence and
innocent people can be set up.
I always find it fascinating to read about detective from
other countries written by those actually from those
countries. I
find that when an author tries to write about police and
military they are only familiar with from film, they screw
it up to an embarrassing level, even if they have good
characters to work with. Also having no clue how the police
in their country work, I never know if they are making
technical mistakes, so I can just enjoy the story.
Konrad is a retired guy, who has nothing to do with his
time, he turns his boredom into quite a productive side
project. It is fun to hear Konrad tell Marsha he no longer
write reports when she asks for one. That is something every
police officer worldwide longs to say. SHADOW DISTRICT is
well written even with the back and forth time changes that
keep you on your toes. Arnaldur Indridason does a great job
of blending cold case investigation and a fresh new murder.
A deeply compassionate story of old crimes and their
consequences, The Shadow District is the first in a
thrilling new series by internationally bestselling author
Arnaldur Indridason.THE PAST
In wartime Reykjavik, Iceland, a young woman is found
strangled in 'the shadow district', a rough and dangerous
area of the city. An Icelandic detective and a member of the
American military police are on the trail of a brutal killer.
THE PRESENT
A 90-year-old man is discovered dead on his bed, smothered
with his own pillow. Konrad, a former detective now bored
with retirement, finds newspaper cuttings reporting the WWII
shadow district murder in the dead man’s home. It’s a crime
that Konrad remembers, having grown up in the same neighborhood.
A MISSING LINK
Why, after all this time, would an old crime resurface? Did
the police arrest the wrong man? Will Konrad's link to the
past help him solve the case and finally lay the ghosts of
WWII Reykjavik to rest?
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