The Draining Lake [Paperback]

 

 

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The is a gripping and haunting story taking place in present day Iceland and partly in East Germany during the Cold War era.

The tale begins when waters of Lake Kleifarvatn mysteriously recede revealing a 30 year old skeleton weighted down by Russian listening equipment. Police inspector Erlendur and his team, detectives Elinborg and Oli reopen the Missing Persons files and the investigation leads them to the University of Leipzip and the long-buried history of Icelandic espionage, Communist party recruitment and murder.

The case provides the reader with a deep look at Erlendur a deeply private man haunted by memories of his younger brother who vanished when they were children and of his two estranged children. We have with this story a fascinating glimpse of the academic politics during the Cold War with a denouement as unsuspected as it is tragic. The author once again has written an astonishing thriller.

I have managed to read almost all of the Arnaldur Indridason books and found this one to be okay. I just couldn't get into it like the rest. Don't get me wrong, it was readable but not my favourite.

In prose that is as cold as the windswept terrain of outer Reykjavik, Detective Inspector Erlendur and his colleagues Sigurdur Óli and Elínborg follow the discovery of a skeleton after the waters of Lake Kleifarvatin evaporate after an earthquake. Initially discovered by the a hydrologist working for the Energy Authority, the skull has a hole in it. Even as the forensics team unearth the skeleton, Erlendur and Elinborg see there is not even a single piece of flesh or scrap of clothing left on it. Only a bulky black metal box, tied by a rope to the bones and what appeared to be broken instruments with black dials and black buttons are visible. According to forensics it appears to be an old Soviet transmitter.

The case requires Erlendur's immediate attention even as he fights his own demons, snapping abruptly into flashbacks - his past as a young investigator, his lack of communication with his son and his loss how to deal with his junkie daughter, along with the memories of his dead brother, lost on an wintry expedition. Looming large in the investigation is his old colleague, Marion Briem, who is almost near death, forced to inhale oxygen after a lifetime of smoking. Erlendur, Elinborg and Sigurdur get right down to business, the case getting little complicated when it is revealed that the skeleton may belong to a spy, perhaps an East German diplomat who disappeared back in 1969.

The trio interview an middle-aged woman who once stood outside a dairy shop where she worked waiting for her boyfriend, called Leopold. suddenly he vanished. Apparently, the man was in Iceland selling East German farm machinery and diggers and owned a black Ford falcon. The most likely explanation unfortunately was that for some reason he killed himself. The investigation, however, raises more questions than answers: Why was the hubcap missing from the black Falcon? And if he was the man in the Lake with a broken skull, how did he end up there? Where did the device tied to him come from? Was it relevant that he sold tractors and machinery from the Eastern block?

Gradually descending into two worlds Indridason delves into the darkest corners of the east German socialist state as Tomas, a young idealistic Icelandic socialist is confronted with world of interactive surveillance and falls in love with the young Ilona, who tries to awaken him to the dangers of the Soviet socialist attitudes. . In the process it is Tomas who uncovers some ugly facts that thrive far from the light of day, only known by the groups that held clandestine meetings.. And systems in place to reward those who wanted to impress.. And the dissident groups who wants to fight for reforms to the political structure, real democracy, freedom of speech and the press. But Tomas finds himself pitted against the idealism of the other students, most notably Hannes who had been in Leipzig the longest of all the Icelanders, and lectures on the wonders of the communist system while raging against the American imperialists; And Lother Weiser, was very good at getting young people to work for him. While Ilona fins herself drawn into the tentacles of the Stasi, refusing to put a lid on her outspoken views, Tomas must weigh his innate political beliefs with the real-life horrors that are steadily building in his lover's wake.

Skipping back and forth from the fascinating details life in the East German state, the aftereffects of the Cold War, and the fluctuating accounts of Western spy networks in Iceland, the novel is a complex amalgam of literary thriller, police procedural and a sharply observed historical record of a society that was based on fear. Even as a curious mixture of strange and broken down characters help Erlendur uncover the mystery, the story takes on a new meaning - the star of love and a young man grieving, and the dark shadows of revenge that have echoed down throughout the years. Mike Leonard November 09,

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