The Girl by the Bridge (2018)

Book nr 2 in the Konrád Series

An elderly couple are worried about their granddaughter. They know she’s been smuggling drugs, and now she’s gone missing. Looking for help, they turn to Konrad, a former policeman whose reputation precedes him. Always absentminded, he constantly ruminates on the fate of his father, who was stabbed to death decades ago. But digging into the past reveals much more than anyone set out to discover, and a little girl who drowned in the Reykjavik city pond unexpectedly captures everyone’s attention.

The Girl By the Bridge is a brilliant, chilling tale of broken dreams and children who have nowhere to turn.

• Nominated for The Best Translated Crime Novel of 2021 in Sweden, by the Svenska Deckarakademin (The Swedish Crime Academy)
• Nominated for The Drop of Blood - The Icelandic Crime Novel Award 2019
• Longlisted for the CWA Dagger Award for Crime Fiction in Translation 2024
• Longlisted for the 2024 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year

“Scandi noir is alive and well and living in Iceland. Arnaldur Indridason’s novels have long been among the most reliable pleasures in the world of crime fiction and this week sees him return with the second in his Detective Konrad series following up The Darkness Knows published last year. …Prepare to lose a day or two in its pages.” TEDDY JAMIESON, THE HERALD, UK

★★★★★ (five stars out of five possible) “Arnaldur is one of those authors who makes it seem simple, but with The Girl by the Bridge, he really makes it seem like a breeze. The story flows so effortlessly that it’s not hard to imagine the author sitting down at his computer one day and writing the entire novel in one go.

Like Arnaldur’s last book, What the Darkness Knows, the main protagonist is retired policeman Konrad. The plot centers around an elderly couple who are acquainted with Konrad and ask for his help with a young woman facing addiction. But Konrad can’t stop thinking about a young girl who drowned in the Reykjavik city pond in 1961. The two storylines intertwine in a convincing way, everything enveloped by shame and tragedy.

The characters are interesting, and Arnaldur expertly describes people and places in a compelling manner, never weighing down his prose with unnecessary details. The dialogue is also excellent, simple and completely natural.

Although The Girl by the Bridge is a thriller, it doesn’t overwhelm readers with speed and action. Rather, readers get to enjoy a well-written book that makes their hair stand on end at just the right places in the story.