Jar City

I remember having read that [b:Alfred Hitchcock 2014794 The Thirty-nine Steps. John Buchan http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JYVWNH8DL.SL75.jpg 2422487] had once said of his films, “I give the audience all of the information, then let them squirm.” While this is a tact I appreciate in his thrillers, I often feel that I'm being pandered to when it is used in mystery novels. Indridason withholds information from the reader - for example, a portion of an interview is omitted from the interview scene, and only later do we find that a lead was gained from that interaction - and the technique lends quite a bit more intrigue to an already well-plotted mystery. Crisp and concise prose - thanks, in part, at least, to the excellent translation, which was unfortunately not credited in my edition - creates the perfect landscape for Inspector Erlendur to do some very savvy detecting. Very much looking forward to reading more of Indridason's works.