Voices

Arnaldur Indridason

It's the week before Christmas. The doorman in an upscale hotel is found murdered in his room in the hotel basement. Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson of the Reykjavik and his team are brought in to investigate the death. Christmas is a busy tourist season in the hotel. The hotel manager and staff are concerned that the investigation will hurt their business. But a man has been murdered and the killer needs to be found.

Gudlaugur, the dead man, seemingly had lived a quiet, nondescript life as an adult. But his final appearance in death would have embarrassed the man if he had known. As Erlendur starts digging, he discovers that as a child, Gudlaugur briefly was a famous choirboy. He had even recorded two records before his voice broke at the worst, most embarrassing time. A record collector was visiting Reykjavik in order to meet Gudlaugur and possibly find any more copies of those records.

Erlendur stays at the hotel for the next few days as they investigate the case. Sigurdur Oli and Elinborg, his partners, worry about him with Christmas coming quickly. Both invite him to join their families but he turns them both down. His daughter keeps showing up and he tries to continue to help her. His own childhood memories weigh down on him, as well as how he treated his own children as they grew up. On the brighter side, he gets to listen to a boy's voice that had been so pure it stirred anyone who heard it. He also meets a woman who attracts him - and seems attracted in return.

As they dig into Gudlaugur's past, more secrets are revealed about the man, his family and his coworkers at the hotel. Someone killed him. Who - and why?

Arnaldur IndriÄ'ason's series continues to fascinate me. He has his characters in a gray world - dispirited and melancholia are the words that come to mind early in the book. The Christmas season background highlights the smallness of Erlendur's life. If it wasn't for his work, the man would slip away into nothingness. Yet he's solid - both in his work and now as he tries to repair his relationship with his daughter. The attraction he feels surprises him even as he acts on it. IndriÄ'ason's writing is skillful in setting the scenes and describing the characters.

Voices is not tense like a suspense. Instead it's good detective fiction. The clues are revealed as the detective discovers them and the reader has the information to put the case together.

Voices is well written who done it. It's not a deep, murky read, but not an easy read, either. It has good pacing that keeps the reader going and lets the reader think while doing it. While not a light-toned book, there is hope portrayed in the ending for the characters.

Bernard Scudder translated this novel from the Icelandic to English. And Indridason still keeps Marion Bream's gender a mystery (see the blog note at Silence of the Grave).

Notice:  Non-graphic violence, Suggestive dialogue or situations

Sons of Earth
Silent Kill
Jar City
Silence of the Grave
Voices
The Draining Lake
Winter City