{"id":8747,"date":"2017-02-17T19:14:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-18T00:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=8747"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:09:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:09:01","slug":"black-skies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8747","title":{"rendered":"Black Skies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black Skies<\/a><\/em> (2009\/2012) Arnaldur Indridason<\/a> translated by Victoria Cribb <\/p>\n

\"\"This story is set parallel to the previous, Outrage<\/em> and the detective is Sigurdur \u00d3li.
\nI decided to buckle down and finally read this.<\/p>\n

There are several different threads to this story, which made it easier for me to read once the story got going. <\/p>\n

First, is Andr\u00e9s\u2019s story. He first appeared in Arctic Chill<\/em>, an alcoholic whose ramblings led Erlendur to believe there was a pedophile in the apartment complex where the boy had been murdered. <\/p>\n

\u2018He\u2019s a bit of a tramp, isn\u2019t he? An alcoholic?\u2019 said Sigurdur \u00d3li. <\/p>\n

\u2018So what if he is?\u2019 the woman replied, affronted. \u2018He\u2019s never bothered me. He\u2019d do anything for you, he\u2019s never noisy, never makes demands on other people. What does it matter if he has the odd drink?\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We see Andr\u00e9s remembers bits and pieces of his past, and his abuse by the man living with his mother. This is hard to read, not because of the details–we don’t actually get details of the abuse–but because you see the wreck that Andr\u00e9s has become, and you see how it happened. Even Sigurdur \u00d3li, who is the least sympathetic creature ever, eventually comes to feel sorry for Andres. Which is perhaps a sign of his emotional growth.<\/p>\n

He had been touched by the boy in the film clip. It was a new experience, as he rarely felt any sympathy for the luckless individuals he came across in the line of duty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Perhaps.<\/p>\n

The second story arc is complicated–Sigurdur \u00d3li’s friend comes to him with his brother-in-law, asking if Sigurdur \u00d3li could lean on a young woman who was attempting to blackmail the brother-in-law and his wife. When Sigurdur \u00d3li goes to visit the woman, he interrupts the brutal beating of the woman, and chases off the attacker.<\/p>\n

But more importantly, does not take himself off the case.<\/p>\n

Sigurdur \u00d3li believed himself to be perfectly capable of working on the investigation despite his highly irregular personal involvement in the affair.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sigurdur \u00d3li could see nothing improper in continuing to work on the investigation despite his friend\u2019s connection to the case. He had full confidence in his own judgement, and anyway Iceland was a small country; links to friends, acquaintances or family were inevitable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I did mention that I really dislike Sigurdur \u00d3li.<\/p>\n

The third arc is about Icelandic banking, and I found it fascinating.<\/p>\n

No, really! I remember listening to a Planet Money podcast on the Icelandic bank failure<\/a>, so this is a look at the lead-up to that failure, from the inside.<\/p>\n

they\u2019re no wizards. They\u2019ve simply discovered that there\u2019s a vast supply of cheap credit in the world, short-term borrowing, just there for the taking. They have complex ownership arrangements and scoop up all the credit they can lay their hands on before lending it back to themselves, their companies and each other in order to buy companies, banks and airlines, paying enormous sums for them.\u2019
\n…
\n\u2018Is there no regulation?\u2019
\n\u2018The valuation of assets is governed entirely by them. Look how they\u2019re permitted to record goodwill, which is just some kind of expectation of future revenue. They decide how it\u2019s calculated themselves. It\u2019s a completely fictional number that can be blown up to tens of billions without having any basis in reality, but it helps them ramp up their market price still further. There\u2019s next to no regulation of this sort of trick.\u2019
\n…
\nHardly a single credit repayment can be made without the whole system coming crashing down.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And of course that last line is precisely what DID happen. But, you know, we don’t need to regulate banks and businesses. They’ll always act ethically.<\/p>\n

Except the opposite of that.<\/p>\n

The point is that these other parts made a story where Sigurdur \u00d3li was the detective interesting.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

Published by Minotaur Books <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Black Skies (2009\/2012) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Victoria Cribb This story is set parallel to the previous, Outrage and the detective is Sigurdur \u00d3li. I decided to buckle down and finally read this. There are several different threads to this story, which made it easier for me to read once the story got going. First, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,8,42,38,934],"tags":[116,52,117,439],"class_list":["post-8747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-mystery","category-police","category-translated","category-trigger-warnings","tag-arnaldur-indridason","tag-iceland","tag-inspector-erlendur","tag-victoria-cribb"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-2h5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8729,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8729","url_meta":{"origin":8747,"position":0},"title":"Arctic Chill","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Arctic Chill (2005\/2009) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb This story opens with the finding of a dead child. \u2018Where do you think he\u2019s from?\u2019 Sigurdur \u00d3li wondered. \u2018He looks Asian to me,\u2019 El\u00ednborg said. \u2018Could be Thai, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese,\u2019 Sigurdur \u00d3li reeled off.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Arctic-Chill.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8724,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8724","url_meta":{"origin":8747,"position":1},"title":"Voices","author":"Michelle","date":"February 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Voices (2003\/2006) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder A hotel worker is found dead in the tiny closet in which he lived in the hotel. His drawers are down and he has been stabbed repeatedly. \u2018Is he up or down?\u2019 Erlendur asked. \u2018Up or down?\u2019 the fat manager puffed. \u2018Do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Voices.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4895,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4895","url_meta":{"origin":8747,"position":2},"title":"Hypothermia","author":"Michelle","date":"October 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Hypothermia (2007\/2009) Arnaldur Indridson translated by Victoria Cribb Inspector Erlendur is given a suicide to clear\u2014a woman who had been devastated by the death of her mother, and had a life\u2013long obsession with death and any possible afterlife is found hanging in her summer home. Although there is no note,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mystery"","block_context":{"text":"Mystery","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/mystery"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hypothermia","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Hypothermia.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8756,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8756","url_meta":{"origin":8747,"position":3},"title":"Strange Shores","author":"Michelle","date":"February 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Strange Shores (2010\/2012) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Victoria Cribb Hear that wooshing sound? That was the foreshadowing of the previous two books AND events in this book going right over my head. I finished the book, blinking in surprise at the ending, and then I thought for a moment and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "9\/10"","block_context":{"text":"9\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/9-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/strange-shores.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4656,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/4656","url_meta":{"origin":8747,"position":4},"title":"Arctic Chill","author":"Michelle","date":"June 22, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Arctic Chill (2005\/2009) Arnaldur Indri\u00f0ason and translated by Bernard Scudder and Victoria Cribb This is, I believe, the fifth book in the detective Erlendur series, and I continue to like Erlendur and enjoy spending time with him despite myself. Erlendur is a broken and often not very nice man, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Arctic-Chill.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8711,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/8711","url_meta":{"origin":8747,"position":5},"title":"Jar City","author":"Michelle","date":"January 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Jar City (2000\/2004) Arnaldur Indridason translated by Bernard Scudder Inspector Erlendur works for the Reykjav\u00edk police, and he and his colleagues are called to an apartment where and old man was murdered. The elder son, 9 years old, was not as cautious as his father and quick as a flash\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Jar-City.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8747\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}