A poignant and complex crime story about abuse and helplessness, enormous sacrifices, and grave misdeeds.
A brutal secret is discovered bricked up behind a cellar wall in a stone house in Reykjavik, where it has lain for decades encased in silence. Konrad, a former police officer, seeks to shed light on this past evil, but police immediately direct their attention to him: why didn’t he tell the truth about events on the day his father was murdered? What has he been keeping quiet about all these years?
Shortlisted for Best Translated Crime Fiction 2023 by The Swedish Academy of Crime Fiction.
“He is not called the king of Icelandic crime fiction for nothing … a superior author.”
LITERATURE. IS
★★★★★ Five stars, full house “Arnaldur’s stories are well-thought-out and it is incredible how he connects old cases to current issues in every book. Konrad fits perfectly into this setting as he is fixated on unsolved cases from the past. The storytelling is smooth, and systematically alternates between current time and the years around 1960. …
Konrad’s conscience has been nagging him for decades and that is a main theme in the story … Wall of Silence is like a plant with many branches and a strong trunk. Konrad moves around in his search for truth and even though he is mostly met with closed doors, a glimpse is enough for him to put the puzzle pieces together. …
Dusk doesn’t get any lighter.”
STEINTHOR GUDBJARTSSON, MORGUNBLADID DAILY
(b.1961) has the rare distinction of having won the Nordic Crime Novel Prize two years running. He is also the winner of the highly respected and world famous CWA Gold Dagger Award for the top crime novel of the year More about the author