The Darkness Knows is a haunting Icelandic mystery of long-buried secrets - both literally and figuratively. A body surfaces from a frozen glacier and kicks off an investigation by Konard, the retired detective who originally investigated the case. Gripping.

Thank you to NetGalley for access to this ARC, The Darkness Knows was a well written, strongly plotted mystery. I am a fan of Nordic style noir and dark mysteries and this was a well developed nuance plot with some strong character study notes. At times the book is a bit slow for me, which I hope can be seen as a compliment in a way to the author as a slow pace that frustrates a reader like me often means I care enough to want to know what is going on, what will happen next, and I hate that a good story and strong plot can take time to develop. I think the pacing matches the mood and goals of the plot and the writing, even if I would prefer a somewhat faster paced thriller at times. There are some unfinished/added in side stories that at times detract a bit from the plot but as this is the start of a series I am lead to believe that these are foundations to the character and future character development so I note that these seemingly distracting additions to the story may be part of a broader world being slowly developed by this author.

STRENGTHS: I enjoyed the writing style, the build, and I always enjoy a cold case type police procedural especially when characters are well developed and flawed. I also found the premise (body in a glacier) creepy and intriguing. One of the other aspects I always appreciate about a strong procedural/noir book is the general atmosphere and mood created by a strong writer and this is effectively done in this novel.

I enjoy reading a series so I look forward to returning to this author in the future. Thank you for the chance to see the start of a promising new series!

First I need to point out that unless you are familiar with the names used in Iceland it might take a bit getting used to the foreign sounding names but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the story and giving it a solid four star.
Konrad is a retired policeman when a body surfaces from a 30 year old missing person case. Bit by bit we slowly getting to know Konrad, why he retired early, his relationship with his wife and why he has conflicting emotions about getting involved or not in the reopening of the case. Against his better judgment he just can’t leave it alone and keeps making flimsy excuse to himself as why he keeps sticking his nose in the case. There are a number of twists and turns which make it hard to guess the outcome.
In a way the book is not just a mystery but also a bit of a study of human nature. How different people deal with certain situations. How thinking you are doing the right thing can sometimes be the wrong move in the long run.
This was my first book by this author, but it definitely will not be the last.

First read by this author. I had a hard time connecting, and staying interested in the plot. It went a little slow for me. I found myself skimming/skipping so I may have missed some parts that were important. Overall it fell flat.

The story takes place in Iceland where a body is found partly buried in a glacier. The victim was a man who had been missing for 30 years. At that time a suspect was arrested, but there was no body and not enough evidence to hold him. Now he is arrested again by Konrad, the retired policeman who originally investigated the disappearance. New evidence has surfaced and Konrad is determined to solve it this time.
I did think that the story dragged on and I could not identify with the characters, but I do thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason

9781250765468

352 Pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Minotaur Books
Release Date: August 17, 2021

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Iceland

A group of German tourists were out on the Langjökull glacier when the tour guide notices a face in the ice. The authorities were called in to investigate and determine it was Sigurvin, a man reported missing 30 years ago. In another incident, a man was hit by a vehicle. Konrád, a retired detective, was called to help with the investigation since he was the original officer.

The story was fast paced, and the characters are well developed. It is written in the third person point of view. The author did an excellent job describing the surroundings that I felt the winter weather. This is the third series by the author after the Inspector Erlendur series and Flovent and Thorson series. This was my first book by this author, but it definitely will not be the last. If you like mysteries set in remote locations, you will definitely enjoy this one.

I must admit finding a body encased within a glacier caught my attention. I know very little about Iceland or its culture – and sadly I finished Darkness longing for the gritty details that define a place. The mystery unwinds, the characters are well drawn but frankly, it might have been set in any cold climate. I will read more of Indridason and hope that my disappointment is particular to my reading sensibilities. . I am grateful to St. Martin’s Press for this ARC.

When a body turns up in a glacier, retired detective Konrad is brought back into investigating a 30 year old case. While much has gone cold, so to speak, he feels compelled to look deeper, even as his former colleagues and current police are telling him to stay away. Classic Icelandic procedural novel at its best, with slow and methodical discoveries. Konrad finds the woman at the heart of this, along with the drug related issues of 30 years earlier. The solution is interesting but not startling, but very satisfactory.

Iceland is more than just glaciers! This is a well plotted, intriguing mystery set in Iceland. The main character was well developed and I look forward to meeting him again in another novel.

A slow building murder mystery set in Iceland. If you have ever visited this beautiful country you will be able to feel the landscape as you read it. From Reykjavík to Selfoss, I felt like I was right there. There are quite a few dark and shady characters along the way to keep you guessing and the ending wraps up a lot of thee character development details you pick as you read. The writing style reminded me of another great Nordic writer, Per Wahloo.

First book by this author for me looking forward to catching up on his books. Well written atmospheric brings Iceland and the world of crime alive,#netgalley#st.martinsbooks

THE DARKNESS KNOWS (2021)
By Arnaldur Indridason
Minotaur Books/St. Martin’s Press, 352 pages.
★★★★

Arnaldur Indridason is one of Iceland’s top crime fiction writers, and his newest novel, The Darkness Knows demonstrates why. Some readers might know his protagonist, Konrád, from Indridason’s The Shadow District (2017).

Konrád is retired, but he has trouble staying that way. To say that Konrád has issues is an understatement. Before his criminal father was murdered in an unsolved case, he sometimes used young Konrád as a foil in his schemes. With a background such as that, Konrád wasn’t always trusted by his colleagues when he became a cop and, given that he has a withered arm, he wasn’t exactly the usual physical candidate either. Konrád quit the force to care for his wife Erne, who died of cancer, but he’s still haunted from having cheated on her when she was ill. He also has a terse relationship with son Húgo, who is a cold fish, and is married to a woman Konrád finds overbearing, though he loves his twin grandkids. The latter are pretty much his sole joy.

To further complicate matters, a cold case–the disappearance of a man named Sigurvin in 1985–heats up when, courtesy of global warming, Sigurvin’s preserved body emerges from the melt on Langjökull glacier. This is especially unsettling as Konrád was part of the team that arrested Hjaltalín for Sigurvin’s murder 30 years earlier, though without a corpse, they couldn’t make the charges stick. Now Hjaltalín is back in jail and insists on speaking with Konrád. All the evidence then and now points to Hjaltalín, and though and he and Konrád don’t particularly like each other, Hjaltalín trusts him more than any other cop. Hjaltalín is dying from throat cancer, but he’s confessing to nothing. He wants Konrád to promise he will clear his name, though Konrád refuses as he’s sure the right man is in jail.

That last point is a Chekhov’s gun, of course. Against his better judgment, Konrád is sucked back into a case he wishes had stayed frozen. So how does a guy who has been off the force for six years even have the authority to investigate? He doesn’t, actually, though he calls upon a few favors. Even those are fraught: the pathologist with whom he had his affair, Reykjavik chief inspector Marta who puts him on a short leash, and several surly lower-level functionaries. Major obstacles remain. The lead investigator in 1985 despises Konrád and others on the force find him a nuisance. Plus, he’s an ex-cop so anyone who wishes to can simply slam the door on him and proceed to do exactly that. All the signs say that Konrád should walk away and if that’s not another Chekhov’s gun, old Anton was from Iowa.

Of course, Konrád doesn’t slink away, or this would be a 25-page novel. Things get messier when Konrád encounters a woman named Herdís who wants him to look into her brother Villi’s hit-and-run death in 2009. Herdís remembers that Villi met a man on the night Sigurvin disappeared and thinks something untoward occurred. If that’s not labyrinthine enough for you, Konrád imagines that perhaps his father’s murder in 1963 somehow connects to all of this. You might wonder how three killings spread over 46 can possibly be part of a pattern. Maybe they’re not. One of the intriguing things about the novel is that Konrád is the opposite pole from preternaturally prescient investigators. A big part of him still thinks that Hjaltalín is a guilty as an Icelandic summer is long. But it boils down a question of how he can possibly stay retired with three mysteries lying on the table like crack awaiting an addict’s nose.

By now you probably realize that Indridson favors complexity and damaged psyches over cookie cutter potboilers. Before The Darkness Knows wraps, it takes us many places. Hjaltalín’s dying refusal to provide an alibi for his whereabouts on the evening that Sigurvin was dumped into his glacial grave is evocative of the trial of the American labor troubadour Joe Hill. Indridson also steers us into fake spiritualism, seedy bars, the Boy Scouts, suicide, infidelity, and the Icelandic financial crash (2008-10). On that journey, Konrád encounters a gaggle of characters that range from the down-and-out and remorseful to the ominous and amoral. Like readers, Konrád is never sure what’s a real clue and what’s a red herring.

The Darkness Knows does employ several Chekhov’s guns that fire blanks. It stretches credulity that the mere discovery of Sigurvin’s body triggers memories that they did not 30 years earlier and with implausible vividness. As much as I appreciated the complexity of Indridson’s plotting, there is also a palpable sense that snipping several threads would have made for a tidier book. But I’ll take an intelligent mystery over one stuffed with clichés any day of the week.


Rob Weir

3.5 stars
This book was well on its way to a 4+ star review. I loved the atmosphere. The mystery sucked me in from the first pages. I liked the characters. I enjoyed the view into Icelandic lifestyle and culture. This looked like a winner.
About halfway through the book, the investigation is moving along and suddenly we are finding out all of this irrelevant information about Konrad, the retired police officer. His dad was a criminal who was involved in a seance scam among other things. It had absolutely nothing to do with the story. I wondered if this book was part of an ongoing series, and Konrad's youth was a connecting theme. This is book #1 of a new series, so maybe it will become an ongoing theme, and readers will learn more about Konrad's dysfunctional upbringing in subsequent installments. However, in this first book, it was presented so clumsily that it felt disjointed.
We also find out midway through that Konrad is disabled. He has a "withered" arm. If this was mentioned earlier in the narrative, I missed it. The arm is critical to the story, but it also presents a huge plot hole. How did Konrad pass the police physical? I assume Icelandic police officers must be physically fit when they join the force. Maybe I am wrong. The author included no explanation other than Konrad had a birth defect. Apparently, it did not affect his ability to become a cop.
I wish the author could edit this novel before it is published. The story would make more sense if Konrad instead received an injury to his arm in the line of duty which forced his retirement. Something like that would work really well with the resolution of the mystery.
All of that aside, this was a great mystery. Unfortunately, I cannot ignore these two failings: the useless information about Konrad's crooked father and Konrad's "withered" arm. It's actually a shame. This could be a great mystery series.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A solid detective novel, but a bit too slow-paced to make it onto my favorites shelf alongside, say, Smilla's Sense of Snow. As with many Icelandic mysteries, I was easily drawn into the storyline, thanks in large part to the unusual setting.

However, there were many times when I felt something spectacular was going to happen and a massive twist might be revealed, but instead, I wound up plodding along with Konrad as he rather lackadaisically followed up on the cold case. Also, I never really connected with Konrad (although I'm a fan of the strong, silent type detective, male or female), outside of the backstory with his wife, Erna, which was touching. I also liked how his son was supportive.

Again, it was solid overall and all the pieces fit together, but it wasn't the kind of mystery that takes my breath away.

This is the first title I've read from this author, and admittedly, my knowledge of Iceland is pretty slim. I expected more atmosphere, and it took a little while to get used to the slow pace of the book. I enjoyed the book, but honestly was expecting to enjoy it more. I often wonder how the translated version differs from the original. I would probably read more by the author.

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley in exchange for a review.

When a tour guide finds a homicide victim frozen in glacier ice on a routine excursion, a retired detective's biggest failure returns to haunt him. Konrad has always felt that the wrong man was convicted and when the case is reopened following the discovery Konrad quietly begins his own investigation. Talking to old witnesses leads to new leads and avenues to explore. Iceland with its unique location and harsh climate lends its self well as a setting for a dark gritty noir thriller. becoming a secondary character that adds a brooding atmosphere. The plot is slow moving, almost plodding at times yet keeps you guessing about what and who happened that winter night thirty years in the past. The final chapters are emotional as all involved,, cop and criminals. reflect on the impact it has had over the years. . A solid story from one of Iceland's leading crime novelists.

Review of The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press (Minotaur Books) and NetGalley for the ARC.

When this novel was suggested to me by NetGalley for pre-release reading, I was excited for two reasons. First, the novel is included in the Mystery & Thrillers category on NetGalley, and this is my preferred genre. Second, Indridason is an Icelandic author. I discovered other Icelandic writers of mysteries and thrillers a decade or so ago and have found that they are excellent storytellers. I am always on the lookout for new (to me) Icelandic authors who write either murder mysteries or thrillers. Although Indridason has written other books, this is my first time to read him. Indridason also writes crime novels. I have every intention of searching for and reading more of his books soon.

I believe that the English translation of any foreign language novel can either make it or break it. The excellent English translation of The Darkness Knows is by Victoria Cribb. Great work, Ms. Cribb!

The main character of the novel is retired Detective Konrad. Like all retired detectives, Konrad has cases that still haunt him for various reasons. When the body of Sigurvin is found when global warming melts Langjokull glacier enough to reveal his body, Konrad is thrown back into a case that he never solved 30 years before. This case has haunted him ever since, and now it is back. Although retired, Konrad finds himself drawn back into the case both due to his own need to solve it but also due to active law enforcement personnel either including him in what is happening or asking him to help. He is more than willing to help when asked and also to investigate when he should not get involved.

Even now after finishing the story, I find myself vacillating between liking Konrad a lot to not liking him much due to his overstepping of authority as well as his pushy nature. Without his overstepping, though, there would be no story, so I am trying to overlook this issue. The pushy nature is annoying to me. Are all detectives pushy by nature? I do not know. I have never been questioned by or even known a police detective. I suspect they are pushy as required by the job. Konrad is certainly not a perfect man. He was suspended for a time from the police department, has fellow officers with whom he does not get along, and had a brief affair with a coworker. These things just made for a very human character.

Konrad is also a widower. Konrad’s memories of his wife, Erna, are sweet. These remembrances occur at perfect moments in the story when Konrad “needs” her to help him during particularly difficult, mentally stressful situations. These stories are not too many or too sappy. I am glad they are included. Konrad and Erna have one son, Hugo. Hugo and his wife have 12-year-old twin boys. Konrad dotes on his grandsons. None of the peripheral family characters or their side stories interfere with the main storyline. I enjoyed knowing Konrad as more than just a retired detective.

There are a lot of characters in this novel. As they began to pile up, I feared that I would not be able to remember who was who. I have this problem when reading Icelandic authors because of the oftentimes difficult Icelandic names of people and places. Sometimes I use a pronouncing web site to hear the names in Icelandic. Since my mind cannot seem to make these sounds, I create my own pronunciations. In the case of this many characters, Indridason returns to all of the characters many times in order to help keep them fresh and organized.

There are several deaths in this novel not just poor, frozen Sigurvin. All deaths whether murder, suicide, cancer, or accidental, are solved by the end of this story. Perfect.

When I loaded this book on my account in Goodreads, the subtitle is Detective Konrad #1. This suggests that there are more to come. I look forward to the next one.

My star rating: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ (4 stars)

Arnaldur Indridason is Iceland's master crime writer. His latest, THE DARKNESS KNOWS, re-introduces retired detective Konrad who, when a body is discovered in the melting Langjokull Glacier, suddenly gets it in his head to pursue a cold case. At 30 years, the case is pretty darn cold. But when Konrad learns of the discovery, he clearly remembers the disappearance that dogged him in his early days on the Reykjavik police force. Suddenly, the man who has been mourning his lack of purpose in life, is ready to do. Hallelujah! Indridason's detectives specialize in cold cases, and are, in fact, obsessed with them. It's fascinating to how much information can be dug up, particularly in Iceland, where the population is sparse and people have long memories. Nursing homes, ex-spouses and girlfriends, acquaintances and maybe-acquaintances--nothing is off limits to Konrad, who sometimes cooperates with his former colleagues but is just as comfortable winging it alone. Arnaldur Indridason may still be unknown to many US mystery readers. I was introduced to his books, particularly the Inspector Erlandur series, a year ago. Since then I have read everything of his that has been translated from Icelandic to English. Those who have read Indridason will remember Konrad from THE SHADOW DISTRICT. While this author's writing style is blunt and to the point, I continue to be amazed at the depth of it, He knows human nature inside out, and he has made me fall in love with Iceland. Don't miss this author! Or this book! Thanks to #NetGalley #TheDarknessKnows #MinotaurBooks for an ARC of this book.

I liked the mystery. The book moves slow and relives Konrad's past as well as trying to solve a cold case murder. The characters are interesting and the setting is lovely. It makes me want to see Iceland for myself.

This is my first Indridason book, although he's quite renowned. I wasn't sure what to expect, and the opening chapters are a bit grim, almost "grimy" feeling. However, the story grew on me, and I got quite invested in Konrád and the other characters.

In addition to bring a crime thriller, on another level this story is a tableau of Iceland the way it IS... not the way we might romanticize it as tourists. Really insightful - recommend! I will now seek out other works by Indridason.

Thankful to Netgalley and the publisher (Minotaur) for the ARC!