Jar City

By: Arnaldur Indridason

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Gold Dagger Award winner Arnaldur Indridason’s novels featuring Inspector Erlendur Sveinsson became international sensations on their way to selling millions of copies worldwide. The debut of morose detective Sveinsson finds the inspector and his team delving into the murder of a retiree with horrifying secrets.

©2000, 2004 Arnaldur Indridason (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"[A] model puzzle presented with clarity and crisp economy.” ( Kirkus)

Jar City

A very interesting story well told and narrated! I did have some trouble keeping track of which character was which as the names are very unusual to my American ear. But, I really enjoyed this never the less.

Good book

I purchased a few books written by foriengn authors based on Audible recommendation. This is my first one written that had to be translated into English. It was good but I had trouble with the names, too many of them sound like each other. The mystery was great and characters well developed.

Good story but flat

I liked the story concept but it was flat. Maybe I wanted more character development?

Liked the Main Character, the story...not so much

Looking for more authors in the style of Stieg Larrson and Jussi Adler-Olson, I stumbled across this book. Although the narrator was fantastic, I was disappointed with the story. The characters, other than the main detective, didn't make me want to invest in the plot. I may try another book by this author, but not for a while.

should appeal to anyone who likes police procedural

should appeal to anyone who likes European mystery stories. Very atmospheric, the beginning of a great series, read by a veteran narrator.

Sound Mystery with good characters

I almost stopped this book at the beginning as it starts harshly. I'm glad I kept going as the issue resolved itself. The plot is interesting and sufficiently tangled to hold interest but not so tangled as to be difficult to follow. I like the personality of police detective, Erlendur Sveinsson.

There are details of Icelandic life and character that make the story come alive. I will listen to more books by this author.

Different, but good

It took me a while to get use to the names and who everyone was, but once I did, I really got into it. I liked how it jumped right into the story, and it was quite an intriguing mystery. I would have liked a bit more character development, other than Erlendur and his daughter, and even Erlendur did not have the same type of strong presence as other detectives, such as Harry Hole or Carl Morck. But maybe that is expected with the first in the series. I thought the narrator did an excellent job, especially with all of the interesting names.

Good story with good characters

As some reviews have already stated - this is a good mystery with a large portion of the time spent inside the head of the lead detective with his demons and choices. It is hard to tell which is the driver - character development or the story.

Having read a couple in this series, true to form. Good mystery procedural but not high octane.

Meh

Quite a middling book. A really awful character is found murdered. The police work is plodding and not really believable--ignoring most likely explanation for crime based on a hunch then going to extraordinary lengths to investigate the hunch. Nesbo has nothing to worry about.

Narrator Great, Story Not so Much

I chose this because I like mystery series, especially in settings I know nothing about, and I love the narrator. Despite being an interesting mystery, this was a bleak story and a little slow-paced. I found it hard to connect with the characters despite the narrator's best efforts. Not bad, but not the new, enthralling mystery series I was hoping to sink my teeth into.