Rupture by Ragnar Jonasson

“It was getting dark. It was March, when weather of any description could be expected; right now it was raining.”

This quote from the first page of Rupture, the 4th in the Ari Thor series, by Ragnar Jonasson. This is Iceland, still winter, long dark days. And to make things worse for Ari Thor, Siglufjordur is under quarantine due to a second death from a hemorrhagic fever. The citizens are frightened and most businesses are closed to prevent the spread of the disease. With little to do Ari Thor looks into an old case of what was suspected suicide – or accident, or murder.

The death took place in an even more isolated community, Hedinsfjordur, in the 1950s. There were only two couples living there, two sisters and their husbands, then a baby and a farm hand. One of the women died and a young man, who was once the baby, is curious about his parents, his aunt and uncle, and the identity of the young farm hand.

At the same time there is a hit and run car accident that leaves a man dead, and the kidnapping of a baby from its pram outside a coffee shop. The man killed in the traffic accident was a known drug user, though it seemed he might be making progress toward a better life. His father had once been an important political figure, whose career was derailed by the behavior of his son. The missing baby is the child of a dancer who lives with her boyfriend, a fairly recent relationship, again with a man who has a history of alcohol and drug abuse. There does not, however, seem to be any connection at all between the two cases.

As is usual in this series, Ari finds the dark days long and claustrophobic, in fact everyone seems sleep deprived, and all are desperately waiting for spring. There are changes coming in Ari Thor’s personal life, and at work. Other characters, who we have met in earlier books in the series also appear and become more developed. I found this the best book yet in this mystery series. Ari Thor has matured and so has the depth of the development of his character, as he becomes more and more part of the community in which he lives and works. As always, the landscape is as much a part of the story as the murder mystery, the beauty of the sea and the fjords, giving the reader a sense of a remote and beautifully wild place.