Outrage – Arnaldur Indriðason

Erlendur is absent in this excursion into Icelandic-flavoured Scandi-Crime-Noir, leaving the focus on Elínborg as she investigates the murder of a young man – found in his flat in a pool of blood, his throat cut and wearing nothing but a woman’s T-shirt. The police investigation soon links date-rape drug Rohypnol to the killing. The mystery is who did it, and why.

Outrage takes us away from Reykjavík – we hear that Erlendur is on one of his periodic pilgrimages to the Eastern Fjords, and Elínborg’s investigations take her to the dead man’s home village, a flight away from the big city. It also takes us away from the male gaze – we follow Elínborg home where she copes with a moody teenage son, a gifted daughter, and a husband who is a hopeless cook (but does his fair share in the family and domestic front); we see her sensitive handling of rape victims and their families, and her more forceful questioning of suspects and others who might be able to help solve this murder mystery if only they would talk.

But come the end of the book, and the solving of the crime, the question still remains: who has best served the victims of rape?

For context and more background on the Reykjavík / Erlendur mysteries, read Crime Fiction Lover’s A Guide to Arnaldur Indriðason’s Detective Erlendur.

Publisher page: Outrage – Arnaldur Indriðason