Oblivion (2014)

A solid, atmospheric murder mystery.

Erlendur Sveinsson, the best known investigative policeman in Icelandic crime fiction, is here a rookie with the investigative division under the guidance of Marion Briem. Marion has an opinion about Erlendur, and is also interested in this mysterious man who can relate well to the homeless and put himself with strange ease into the shoes of those grieving, but who otherwise has difficulty being around other people. Erlendur therefore has free rein to indulge in his hobby of rummaging through old case files related to people who have disappeared. ... Arnaldur shows his skill well in this novel, and his chief authorial characterisitcs are apparent. The crime itself isn’t necessarily in the key role, rather emphasis is on discussing and scrutinizing various aspects of society. ... It is known that authors tire of their fictional heroes, which readers on the other hand love. In his time, Arthur Conan Doyle tried to kill off Sherlock Holmes, and later Hergé had nightmares about Tintin. It is therefore a clever idea on Arnaldur’s part to introduce Erlendur in a new way for readers as a young man at the beginning of his career – young, though immediately old, really – and give them an opportunity to follow along as he becomes the man who will later leave his mark in the literary history of the nation.

Arnaldur considers all of his secondary characters carefully…he shows us what kind of effect crime or trauma has on those who survive, but who perhaps never recover. He does this extremely well. He has done this successfully in most of his books as well as this one. …This is fine Arnaldur. His fans will not be disappointed. I’m going to stand by that. …There is no Icelandic crime writer who does better than Arnaldur.