cold case

The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason – Book Review

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The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason – Book Cover

After wrapping up the internationally acclaimed Erlendur series, Arnaldur Indridason launched a new crime series starring a fresh protagonist. Enter Konrád, a retired detective who first appears in The Darkness Knows—just as determined and conscientious as his famously grumpy predecessor.

Wake up! There’s a case to solve!

Inspector Erlendur might just be one of the most unconventional leading men in the history of crime fiction. A miserably moody, monosyllabic, and pathologically aloof Icelandic cop, he’s such a crashing bore that readers of his cases might find themselves turning steadily grayer and more featureless with each page—possibly even slipping into a light coma…

Well, Konrád from The Darkness Knows is only about a gram more exciting than him. I don’t know if most Icelanders are like this, or just the ones in Arnaldur Indridason’s social circle, but honestly—if Inspector Konrád ever invited you over, within twenty minutes you’d find yourself thinking that even methodically slitting your own wrists might be a more engaging way to pass the time than trying to hold a conversation with him…

The Erlendur series has 11 volumes. Nine of them have been published in Hungarian. Strangely enough, I’ve read them all. And no, no one held a gun to my head.

The reason, of course, is that Indridason more than makes up for his utterly unbearable protagonist with the actual investigative process. Just like he does with his new lead character…

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Ordeal by Jørn Lier Horst – Book Review

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Everyone has pretty much given up on the missing taxi driver by now—everyone except the media, who are busy accusing the police of negligence. (Hyenas.) But the safe belonging to a recently deceased old gangster boss—who “passed away peacefully” by tumbling down the stairs—suddenly brings new information to light. And what’s more, it ties the disappearance to a high-profile murder case. The ordeal of uncovering the truth falls to Inspector William Wisting.

So who is this William Wisting guy, anyway?

He’s hands down the most likable detective in all of Norway.

If you hate the cops (and honestly, who doesn’t?!), but you’re thinking it might be time to change that, Jørn Lier Horst’s crime novels could be a good place to start.

Wisting is the textbook example of a dedicated and conscientious police officer. He’s also a devoted dad.

And if his professional track record somehow doesn’t win you over, you can always root for him to hit it off with the charming prosecutor—or maybe patch things up with his ex, who recently dumped him for NO REASON. (Fingers crossed it wasn’t because she found the poor guy boring!) … Either way, there’s something quietly compelling about the way Horst gently nudges these two love-starved characters toward each other.

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Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner – Book Review

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Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner – Book Cover

Frankie Elkin is a skinny, petite white woman—with a complicated relationship with alcohol and a massive savior complex. In Boston’s immigrant-populated Mattapan neighborhood, she stands out like a lighthouse on a dark sea. So what the hell is she doing there?!

Well, Frankie specializes in missing persons—specifically, cold cases where the police have already failed. So far, she’s found fourteen people. Every single one of them dead. But with Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who disappeared eleven months ago, maybe—just maybe—things will be different this time…

Before She Disappeared is the first book in Lisa Gardner’s Frankie Elkin series.

The Power of Personality

If you’re not a towering, unstoppable muscle-bound force like, say, Major Jack Reacher (see: Lee Child’s Die Trying), who typically extracts information from reluctant witnesses and suspects with a well-placed, bone-rattling punch, then you’ve got no choice—you’ll have to rely solely on the power of your personality.

And that’s exactly what Frankie Elkin does.

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The Last Mile by David Baldacci – Book Review

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The Last Mile by David Baldacci - Book Cover

Amos Decker Used to Punch Above His Weight

I bet you thought Memory Man, the first book in the Amos Decker series, was pretty great. Sure, beneath the surface it was just another run-of-the-mill crime novel—but it still stood out as something oddly gripping and refreshingly original, thanks to its 286-pound, grumpy, and socially awkward main character who remembers literally everything that has ever happened to him, down to the exact second. In The Last Mile, this oddball Amos Decker returns—a man who, on top of everything, had to avenge the murder of his own family. Now that was one hell of a start.

Especially if, like me, you once swore off David Baldacci for good, convinced he was a truly awful writer. And yet, Memory Man—I’ve got to admit—turned out to be weirdly irresistible.

Long story short: Amos caught the bastard who murdered his family—that nasty little piece of garbage—and ended up joining the FBI as an outside consultant. Just like Patrick Jane in the final season of The Mentalist.

Hey—Decker’s Starting to Lose His Mind!

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