The draining lake

The book I’m reading now is a murder/thriller called “The Draining Lake” which is part 4 of a series of books by Arnaldur Indridason, which are all set in Iceland. The novels certainly don’t fit the norm of your average whodunit and to me, this is their great appeal.
“The Draining Lake” happens in Iceland just after an earthquake. One of the country’s main lakes has dramatically lowered and a skeleton is discovered, which had been weighed down by an old radio bearing Russian Script – herein lays the start of the investigation which goes back and forth between present day and Cold War East Germany.
The central character in all of Indridason’s novels is a police inspector called Erlendur Sveinsson, who is always addressed by his first name, because as I discovered, everyone in Iceland is addressed by their first name, which is one the many quirky things I learned as I read the books. I was also introduced to a culture which throws open a whole new view into how people live their daily lives in a climate and a world so different from my own.
The novels are not just about solving a murder, they are way more. They move from the present day to the past and back again many times and you learn what lead people to that fateful day of the crime - your past, is going to affect your present, especially when you least expect it. They also have a main character who is not a super cop detective who can solve everything, but a real person who brings his life to the job and the job to his life. If you like your novels with character and depth then Arnaldur Indridason is an experience not to be missed.
Chris