The Draining Lake is a crime novel set in Iceland, written by Arnaldur Indridason and translated into English by Bernard Scudder. It was part of my Advent Calendar in 2024 and you can read what I thought of it here. I have read and reviewed a standalone novel by this author (see here) but this is part of a series where the main character is Detective Erlendur.
A skeleton is discovered at the bottom of a lake which is draining naturally. The body has been precipitated to the bottom of the lake and held there because it is attached to a piece of equipment. This equipment has been left over from the Cold War, and it soon emerges that the murder is related to the events of that time. The main suspects are a group of Icelandic students who spent time in East Germany and it is suspected that one of them may have been a spy. The author tells the story in a double narrative with much of the story taking place in the past in Eastern Europe.
This is not a fast-paced story. The plot, which is quite simple, unfolds slowly, but this gives the author a chance to tell the reader about Iceland’s importance in the recent past and also to spend time developing the characters of Erlendur and his team.
I enjoyed this book a lot. I liked the slow way that the plot was revealed and the emphasis on character rather than action. I didn’t know much of what the book tells me about recent Icelandic history, and I liked the things I learned about the landscape and the culture of the country. I thought that this was a satisfying and interesting read – I have a couple more books by this author waiting to be read and I am looking forward to them. I have read a couple of other Icelandic crime novels recently, which I also enjoyed and I recommend – see here and here.
Anne Is Reading 