Halfway
between crime thriller and mystery, this novel by Michael Ridpath is the first
of his series set in Iceland and starring Detective Magnus Jonson (or rather,
Ragnarsson).
Threatened
by the boss of a gang against which he must testify, Magnus, a homicide
detective from Boston, is sent to Iceland, which he is originally from, to
collaborate for a short time with the local police and at the same time stay
safe until the trial. He is thus involved in investigating the murder of a
university professor who seems to have made an important discovery about a lost
Icelandic saga that would have inspired Tolkien while writing “The Lord of the
Rings”.
In
an Iceland in which legend and reality, well evoked by the splendid prose of
the author, are confused, we are told a story of investigations, interrogations
and deductions, which occupy a large part of the book, making it mostly a
mystery. To this the personal story of Magnus is added, which however remains
quite marginal.
I
must say that identifying the killer was not too difficult. As usual in these
books, the more interest is focused on a character, the clearer it becomes that
this is not the killer, so by process of elimination you get to the solution
before the protagonist.
To
tell the truth as I read this book little did I care to find out who had killed
the professor. I was too involved on admiring Iceland, evoked by the author,
among volcanoes, waterfalls, lakes and farms, and in appreciating his ability
to credibly insert “The Lord of the Rings” in those contexts. I believe that
the idea of imagining a link between this famous book and a lost saga is
brilliant and is worth reading the novel.
I
really appreciated the research work of the author. The very fact that he is
not Icelandic (he is British) has pushed him to clarify many small aspects that
a local author would have taken for granted and this has made the book even
more interesting for people like me who are intrigued by the so-called land of
fire and ice.
Overall
I found this novel an engaging and informative reading, one of those that,
besides entertaining you, teach you something.
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