Nightblind

A Thriller
By Ragnar Jónasson
Translated by Quentin Bates
Minotaur Books, 2016

This is a follow-up to Jónasson’s Snowblind, which introduced the reluctant policeman Arí Thor, who now finds himself involved involved in an investigation of an ambush-style shooting of one of his fellow officers in the remote Northern Icelandic city of Siglufjörður.  Like the earlier book, I found its noir-ish affectations to be a little creaky; it may have suffered in translation.

This is “Icelandic light” crime fiction; all the tropes are there (dark family secrets, visits with pensioners, cold and darkness) but while it was competent, I didn’t find it engrossing. Arí Thor isn’t the most compelling detective, and Tómas, his old partner who returns from Reykjavík to aid in the investigation, isn’t any livelier. There is at least one more book in this series forthcoming, Blackout, but I think I’ll probably pass on that one.