Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
EAN num: 9780099513124
ISBN number: 0099513129
Label: Vintage Books
Manufacturer: Vintage Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: October 05, 2007
Publishing house: Vintage Books
Release Date: October 05, 2007
Sale Popularity Level: 121485
Studio: Vintage Books
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Product Description:
Delving into a murdered man’s life, Detective Erlendur discovers that forty years ago he was accused of an appalling crime. Did his past come back to haunt him? Erlendur uses all the forensic sources available including Iceland’s Genetic Research Centre in order to find the answers.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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Rated by buyers 
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I feel it incumbent upon me by reason of the sheer weight of tradition to say that while the current name of this book is "Tainted Blood" (a blandly generic title), it was originally published and reviewed right here in Amazon as "Jar City" (a spectacularly lousy title). And if the growls from reviewers are to be believed, not to mention the statistics displayed by Auntie Ammy, quite a few people have bought this same book right here under both titles.
Buyer, open your eyes and, for Pete's sake, beware!
I enjoy mystery novels. The demographics of the book purchasing public being what they are, most contemporary mysteries published these days involve spunky young women struggling for sucess in various unusual--even unlikely--professions. These young women shop, shmooze with their female and gay friends, juggle one or two (or three or four) budding love affairs with hunky, curiously attentive and oddly unpossessive young men while they encounter dastardly deeds and solve seemingly impenetrable mysteries.
Heaven help me, perky ... perkier ... perkiest!
"Tainted Blood" is not perky, no, definitely not perky. "Tainted Blood" is anhedonia, inside gloom, wrapped up in depression. It is, in short, a perfect literary antidote for a surfeit of perkiness.
The hero--a term I use here by convention rather than as an accurate description--a Reykjavic cop, is so profoundly and universally depressed that it does not even occur to him that he is a miserable wreck. His landscape--not to mention his world-view--consists of a frigid ocean, rocky cliffs, mires, icy mountain passes and lava fields. His weather is cold and wet, tending to freezing. He is in the middle of the longest rainy period since the record-setting year 1926, and there's no end in sight. At one point, his mid-day sky is described as "black"--not "grey," not "dark," not "gloomy," but "black." Now, that word may an artifact of author Arnaldur Indriðason's ("ð" = "th") English-language translator, but I don't think so. "Black" is precisely the right word for such a book such as this.
I live in Canada, under skies that might sometimes be described as leaden, wet, cold ... and gloomy, too. When I read this book, I was reminded of the famous words of a former pro hockey coach and current NHL commentator for Canadian television: "Ya gotta love it!"
Some have described "Tainted Blood" as a "police procedural." It is not. Yes, the protagonist is a police detective and yes, he is more or less officially solving a crime. On the other hand, he never seems to file any kind of paperwork or, indeed, perform any sort of administrative task at all. He goes wandering about, in and out of town, giving no explanations to anybody. He has no subordinates. He seems content to be utterly without knowledge of any modern technical aids to crime-solving. He works in what can only be described as a loose tribal alliance with other detectives of his own rank, who each seem as rootless and down in the mouth as he is. He regularly wanders off to solve personally-selected mysteries about which his colleagues and superiors know nothing at all. He routinely makes end-runs around the man who is supposedly his immediately superior and casually shrugs off all complaints without any perceivable consequences.
In short, he's about five steps short of being as believable a cop as Peter Falk's Columbo. Rather than a "police procedural," you ought to think of this as an "uncozy mystery."
The mystery in "Tainted Blood," a suitably glum and gloomy one, is OK, not great but good enough. The characters, all suffering in various degrees with betrayal, denial, misery and tragedy, are not bad. The conclusion is satisfyingly downbeat. In the words of John Milton, "Yet from those flames/No light, but rather darkness visible."
Yeah, Icelandic darkness visible: four gloomy and depressed stars, without a perk among them.
LEC/AM/10-08
Rated by buyers 
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I have just discovered this author and have read all that is presently available in english-wonderful reading!!!!
Rated by buyers -
The sombre fall weather in Iceland can have a depressing influence on the people of Reykjavik. Even when it is not raining, the clouds are hanging deep over the city and the short days of light are preparing for an even darker winter. Arnaldur Indridason depicts the atmosphere brilliantly. A bleak, yet not uncommon environment for excellent thrillers. In Iceland, crime is usually straightforward, the motive evident and the case quickly resolved, muses Inspector Erlendur Sveinnson of the local police. He is of the brooding, morose kind, fitting well with the climate. Everybody knows somebody who is known to you - the geography of the island leads to these interconnections. However, when called to an apparent murder of 69 year-old Holberg, the pattern does not appear to fit. There doesn't seem to be a motive - nothing was stolen, for example. Did the victim know his attacker? Ponderous Erlendur has an eye for detail and that skill leads him down some unexpected paths in the hunt for the killer. Holberg also is not the quiet solitary retiree his neighbours think he is - a nasty past comes to light as Erlendur's perseveres, even when faced with opposition by his colleagues, should show results. The case requires digging deep into the past of the various victims that come to light. Secrets are buried deep in this close-knit society.
"Tainted Blood", Indridason's the very first translated English novel, initially published under the title "Jar City", is an excellent introduction into Icelandic crime fiction. Erlendur's personality is very well developed. Similarities with his Swedish detective colleague Kurt Wallender (by Henning Mankell) come easily to mind. Both are complex and tested by personal as well as professional challenges. The social environment of the investigators, the victims and the villains is craftily portrayed. The title of the reissued book is unfortunate however, as it does provide a clue to one element in the dramatic story early on. Despite that, the tension is kept to the unpredictable end. [Friederike Knabe]
Rated by buyers -
I wish they wouldn't publish the same book by two different names. I love this author's books, they're so different than american writers.
Rated by buyers -
It would have been good to know that "Tainted Blood" was actually the novel "Jar City" before I purchased it and realized the confusion after 2 pages.
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