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In the bone-chilling climate of Reykjavik, Iceland, a young, dark-skinned boy is found stabbed to death in the garden outside a block of apartments. The boy, Elias, is frozen to the ground in his own blood, and no one can figure out why he was the target of a killer. Everyone said he was a quiet, polite boy who stayed out of trouble.
A native of Thailand, Elias’s mother, Sunee, had immigrated to Iceland to be with her new husband and to search for a better life. Instead, she finds herself struggling as a single mother. Her second son has been murdered, and she needs to protect her other son, Niran. Not trusting the police to keep him safe, Sunee smuggles Niran out of her house and into hiding—but she just might be doing her son more harm than good.
As Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson begins his search for answers, he uncovers a hotbed of racism and strong opinions about immigration. He’s also forced to examine a tragedy involving another boy from his own past—something he doesn’t talk about to anyone—and he replays the memories of that cold, dark night over and over while investigating the case.
When Inspector Sveinsson uncovers the truth about Elias’s death, it’s not what anyone expected—but sometimes that’s just what life hands out.
Obviously, America isn’t the only country that has issues with immigration. Arctic Chill covers that ground pretty thoroughly during the investigation of Elias’s death, voicing opinions from both sides of the fence about Thai immigrants coming to Iceland—and they’re the same opinions that are often heard in the USA about Mexicans.
Meanwhile, although Arctic Chill is supposed to be a thriller, not a whole lot of thrilling things happen. Still, it’s not exactly a straightforward police procedural, either. It falls somewhere in the middle. Though the plot is a little on the slow side, it still hooked me enough to want to finish the book and find out what happened to Elias. But I can’t decide whether the puzzling ending was a letdown or not—mostly, I just found it to be sad.
The setting is unique and fascinating. I don’t think I’ve ever read a thriller—or any type of story, for that matter—that takes place in Iceland. And author Arnaldur Indridason does a pretty good job of bringing out the climate of one of the coldest places on Earth. I got the shivers just reading about it.
Because of its slow pace and its sad ending, I didn’t enjoy Arctic Chill as much as I have other thrillers. But, because of its unusual setting, it’s still an interesting read.
