Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indridason

We all have heard about some mysteries in our childhood, like the mysterious disappearance of somebody or mysterious death of a person and we also have some vague idea about what could have happened. While we may be curious about these mysteries, these mysteries do not haunt us, and we really have no need to go look for the answers. But if one is closely related to a mystery, and there is no way one could find answers for it, finding answers for another similar mystery could rest our demons and bring us peace. That's exactly what Detective Erlendur of Reykjavik, does when he goes about finding what happened to Matthildur when she walked out of her home on a stormy day, because he cannot find what happened to his little brother when Erlendur nearly died of Hypothermia on a stormy night.

Matthildur disappeared during the second World war, and after all these years does anybody care what happened to her. Many of those connected with Matthildur are dead, but finding the truth is compelling and is the only way Erlendur could find peace with himself for suggesting to his father all those years back that they take his little brother along.

While it is not very difficult to guess what happened to her, it is interesting how Arnaldur takes us back and forth into the past, present, dreams and dream-like scenario. Some parts involving Erlendur is not clear, whether it is a dream, hypothermia, past or present which makes it intriguing. Some parts of the story are repetitive there is both an explanation by various players and the scenes are recreated in the past which creates a chilling atmosphere. Chilling and compelling Read!

Translated from Icelandic by Victoria Cribb. 

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