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Book Summary and Reviews of Voices by Arnaldur Indridason

Voices by Arnaldur Indridason

Voices

by Arnaldur Indridason

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  • Oct 2007, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

At a grand Reykjavik hotel the doorman has been repeatedly stabbed in the dingy basement room he called home. It is only a few days before Christmas and he was preparing to appear as Santa Claus at a children’s party. The manager tries to keep the murder under wraps. A glum detective taking up residence in his hotel and an intrusive murder investigation are not what he needs.

As Erlendur quietly surveys the cast of grotesques who populate the hotel, the web of malice, greed and corruption which lies beneath its surface reveals itself. Everyone has something to hide. But most shocking is the childhood secret of the dead man who, many years before, was the most famous child singer in the country: it turns out to be a brush with stardom that would ultimately cost him everything. As Christmas Day approaches, Erlendur must delve deeply into the past to find the man’s killer.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Another top-notch mystery from Indridason, its lyrical melancholy matched by the depth of its characterizations. " - Kirkus.

"“One of the modern masters of the police procedural. Voices is replete with wonderfully flawed characters . . . and insight that at times makes you want to weep. I cannot recommend it highly enough.” - January Magazine.

This information about Voices was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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JeanT

Christmas Mystery
This is the first book I've read by this author. It took me a little bit to sink into the rhythm as I was not familiar with the main characters and the Icelandic nomenclature. But I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author went about weaving the various threads of the story as events evolved. I particularly enjoyed the psychological aspects of the characterizations and found the overall development fascinating. I chose this book for our December Mystery Book Club Meeting and I think this book will generate a lively discussion. I definitely plan to read other books by this author.

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Author Information

Arnaldur Indridason Author Biography

Arnaldur Indridason is an Icelandic writer of crime fiction; most of his books feature the protagonist Detective Erlendur. He worked for many years as a journalist and critic before he began writing novels. Outside Iceland, he is best known for his crime novels featuring Erlendur and Sigurdur Óli, which are consistent bestsellers across Europe.

Arnaldur received the Glass Key award, a literature prize for the best Nordic crime novel, in 2002 and 2003. He won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award in 2005 for his novel Silence of the Grave. He won the world's most lucrative crime fiction award, the RBA International Prize for Crime Writing worth €125,000, in 2013 for Shadow Alley (Skuggasund).


Inspector Erlundur Series to Date
1. Jar City (2004, aka Tainted Blood)
2...

... Full Biography

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