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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 839.6934
EAN num: 9780312358730
ISBN number: 0312358733
Label: St. Martin's Minotaur
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: September 30, 2008
Publishing house: St. Martin's Minotaur
Release Date: September 30, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 10248
Studio: St. Martin's Minotaur
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An international sensation, published in over twenty five countries around the world, Arnaldur Indridason attained instant fame in the English-speaking mystery world after winning the Gold Dagger Award for Silence of the Grave. His other crime novels in the series, Jar City and Voices, have also been published to highest acclaim—U.S. readers who have already discovered this extraordinary writer are eagerly anticipating this latest Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson thriller.
Following an earthquake, the water level of an Icelandic lake suddenly falls, revealing a skeleton that is weighed down by a heavy radio device bearing inscriptions in Russian. Inspectors Erlendur, Elinborg, and Sigurdur Oli’s investigation takes them back to the Cold War era, when bright, left-wing students in Iceland were sent to study in the “heavenly state” of Communist East Germany.
But one of the students went missing, and her friends suspected that her “heavenly state” was all too real. Erlendur follows a long cold trail that leads back to Iceland, international espionage, and murder.
Another astonishing thriller from one of crime fiction’s brightest stars, The Draining Lake is Arnaldur Indridason’s most gripping book yet.
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Rated by buyers -
Once again, the obsessed and dour Icelandic detective, Inspector Erlendur, succeeds in solving a mystery by dogged determination. It begins with the discovery of a skeleton with a Soviet listening device attached at the bottom of a draining lake. Looking back on unsolved missing persons cases from many years before, they endeavor to identify the victim.
The investigation provides traces of spying, the Cold War, the repressive nature of the East German regime and human sorrow and disillusionment. It harks back to a group of Icelandic students attending University in Leipzig, all socialists until confronted with the realities of the nature of Stalin-type Communism.
Meanwhile Erlendur has to face up to his own life: his lonely existence, his addict daughter, estranged son. Written in the stark style which characterized the previous novels in the series (two of them award winners), "Lake" is excellently translated by Bernard Scudder. Not only is this entry in the series recommended, but if you haven't read the predecessors, do so. By then, the subsequent novel should be forthcoming and, almost certainly, well worth waiting for.
A must read.
Rated by buyers -
Been a fan of this series since the start and the latest is exceptional.First off, the technique is great, controlled and subtle. Opening pages find us with a lonely woman, who has left a man home in her bed. A stranger. She surveys a lake draining away(it is her job to do so) and she finds a skelton. The juxaposition of these threads in less skilled hands would seem heavy handed. Here, his touch is deft. It works. And it works throught the rest of the novel, which explores loss and how we handle it. Some characters allow one door to close, and another to open (the protagonist, the lead detective is moving to that insight, however slowly and painfully), while others can not do it, including the man who was responsible for the body in the lake. There are other "loss" threads, which he plays off of the main ones. The writing is lyrical(kudos to the translator). A not to be missed series, and while having read the previous books gives a greater understanding, this one can be read as a stand alone.
Rated by buyers -
Icelandic author Arnaldur Indridason's fourth Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson novel hits the reader with the same force as the earthquake that drained the lake of the title, an earthquake that uncovers not only a skeleton weighed down with Russian Cold War spy gear, but also unleashes an unexpected and passionate attack on communism and the naive ideals that have fueled its misguided historical popularity.
Make no mistake about it - Indridason is the real deal - a writer who can spin a head-scratching mystery with the best of them, while weaving into the fabric of the murder important historical threads that will illuminate while keeping the reader guessing, riveted to the pages all the while. From the discovery of the corpse uncovered by the factual draining of Iceland's Lake Kleifarvatn in 2001, Indridason takes the reader back to Communist East Germany in the 1950's, where idealist young Icelandic socialists are provided Soviet scholarships to the venerable University of Leipzig. But in Irdridason's mastery of parallel stories, utopia begins to unravel when Marxist ideals are confronted with Fascist realities, and the fairytale attraction of a workers paradise collapses as kids are spies for the state, turning on their erstwhile friends for favors of grades and power, creating a Hell in paradise where no one can be trusted and every action is suspect. With unrest in newly minted Soviet satellite of Hungary, and a fragile young Communist Empire in the balance, the situation gets ugly and visions of glorious redistribution of wealth and universal joy begin to fade like the paint job on an East German-made tractor. Despite encouragement from his colleagues to drop what is obviously a forgotten and insignificant decades old murder, the stubborn and irascible Erlendur steadfastly clings to the case, badgering septuagenarian potential witnesses and literally digging up clues buried for over forty years.
Told with the an unshakable and remorseful tone of Scandinavian fatalism, Indridason writes from a pallet that contains no bright shades, yet nonetheless succeeds in painting a tale so rich in tones of gray and grey and Stygian grey that it crosses the bounds of the story, bleeding into Inspector Sveinsson's miserable life, and to the lives of those who surround him. If this doesn't sound like a lot of fun, well, it's certainly not Comedy Central - and how happy can you be living in Iceland? But "The Draining Lake's" unmistakable power and seductiveness and gravity lies in the author's bleak and brutal prose, coupled with his skill in spinning a darn good yarn. This is a modern primer in political reality, colored and only barely overshadowed by a truly baffling and well-drawn murder mystery. And, hey, how can you not like a book that features a richly drawn cast with kick-butt Icelandic names like "Valgerdur" and "Elinborg" - and they're the women!
So trust me here - Indridason just keeps cranking out novel after novel of intelligent crime that defines an entirely deeper level of noir. Read it for the history or the mystery or simply for the stylist treatment of despair - but whatever the reason, this Arctic Circle guy deserves some space on your bookshelf.
Rated by buyers 
-
Just outside Reykjavik, Iceland, the draining of Lake Kleifarvatn uncovers a skeleton tied to a Cold War Russian radio device. Police inspector Erlendur and his subordinates Elinborg and Oli investigate what is obviously a homicide. With a hole in the skull and the technology employed is found that the murdered corpse was dumped in the early 1970s so they seek missing persons' cases from that era never solved.
The case haunts Erlendur as does any missing person inquiry because it reminds him of his younger brother who vanished when they were children. As they dig to identify the victim and from there hope to determine who the murderer is , the cops have hope for the former but none for the latter. The culprit could be dead, in Russia, or elsewhere.
The case provides readers with a deep look at the lonely Erlendur, who has spent a lifetime haunted by his sibling's vanishing; accentuated by the metaphoric "disappearance" of his two estranged children from his present life. The look back to the Cold War at the University of Leipzig adds depth to the current investigation as well as a fascinating glimpse of academic politics. Although the personal woes of Elinborg and Oli feel intrusive, police procedural fans will enjoy the latest Iceland investigation (see VOICES, JAR CITY and SILENCE OF THE GRAVE).
Harriet Klausner
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