Hypothermia

By: Arnaldur Indridason, Victoria Cribb - translator

Narrated by: Saul Reichlin

One cold autumn night, a woman is found hanging from a beam at her holiday cottage. At first sight, it appears like a straightforward case of suicide; María had never recovered from the death of her mother two years previously and she had a history of depression. But then the friend who found her body approaches Detective Erlendur with a tape of a séance that María attended before her death and his curiosity is aroused.

Driven by a need to find answers, Erlendur begins an unofficial investigation into María's death. But he is also haunted by another unsolved mystery - the disappearance of two young people thirty years ago - and by his own quest to find the body of his brother, who died in a blizzard when he was a boy. Hypothermia is Indridason's most compelling novel yet.

Critic reviews

one of the most haunting crime novels you can expect to read: unsentimental, yet informed throughout by Indridason’s extraordinary empathy with human suffering

An intelligent, gripping and moody tale with superior characterisation (Marcel Berlins)

The narrative grips, the writing, excellently translated by Cribb, is resonant and lyrical, and the atmosphere is chillingly creepy (Laura Wilson)

Hypothermia is one of the most haunting crime novels I've read in a long time, unsentimental yet informed by the author's extraordinary empathy with human suffering (Joan Smith)

An insightful human story, beautifully written and translated (Jessica Mann)

Descriptions of Iceland's stunning crystalline landscape are lyrical and the overall storyline thoughtful and original (Carla McKay)

Indridason's best novel so far

Indridason has a remarkable understanding of grief and its persistence... Indridason combines psychological acuteness with great stylistic economy and a pleasing pace (Jane Jakeman)

A personal odyssey, suffused with a melancholy that, like the icy chill, seeps into the bones (Alastair Mabbott)

This Icelandic novelist keeps on getting better

Chilling. What else?

Let the gloomy world of Idridason chill you. Life can be bleak, it seems. Thankfully, we have good books and terrific readers. Like this one.