Nordic Watchlist reviews The Quiet Mother by Arnaldur Indridason
The past often comes back to haunt us, but in the case of Arnaldur Indridason’s The Quiet Mother, the past returns not only to haunt but to exact vengeance.
In a busy Reykjavik apartment block, the murder of a single woman puzzles detectives. With no apparent motive, the brutal death of a woman who would otherwise pass unnoticed in a crowd becomes a perplexing puzzle.
The victim, however, is not entirely unknown to the police. She has recently visited retired detective Konrad to seek help in tracing a child she gave up at birth. Could this long-hidden secret explain her sudden murder?
The woman didn’t know if the child she gave up was male or female, and so the trail seems cold before it even starts. But having initially turned down her plea for help, Konrad now feels obligated to uncover the truth.
Indridason takes readers on an investigation of labyrinthine twists, each turn into the victim’s past revealing new hidden secrets and connections – not only to the crime that has been committed, but to Konrad’s own childhood and past.
Who is the mystery child? Why was their mother so determined to give them up for adoption? Who is the father? What is the link to a successful Icelandic business family, and why are shadows from nearly fifty years ago now resurfacing?
The Quiet Mother tackles uncomfortable subjects – rape, religious pressure, guilt, and exploitation lurk on every page. With flashbacks to decades past, these issues could easily be viewed as problems of a ‘less enlightened’ age, but Indridason is not one to pull his punches. He shows that the same repression, hurt, and shame still affect society today. This becomes a haunting mystery where secrets buried for decades finally demand to be uncovered.
This is a slow burner of a plot. There are no fast action sequences here, no gory crime scenes, no sudden chases. Events develop slowly, befitting a mystery that has been nearly half a century in the making. Its structure – a web of secrecy and interdependency – makes it a complex, slow-burning thriller that rewards careful reading and attention to detail. That complexity occasionally veers into the cumbersome and teeters close to losing the reader’s interest, but Indridason’s meticulous plotting brings it back from the brink.
That attention to detail and gritty realism also make for an unsettling read. Guilt permeates every page; old wounds fester, unable to heal, fed by regret and shame.
Ultimately, there is resolution if not redemption, as Indridason resists the urge to provide a ‘happy ever after’ ending. In the final pages, we may get answers to decades-old, buried secrets – but answers don’t always equal closure.
The third instalment of the Detective Konrad series (following The Darkness Knows and The Girl by the Bridge) also gives us more insight into the retired police officer’s troubled backstory. His own father’s chequered past becomes intertwined with the current investigation and challenges Konrad to re-examine his childhood memories. While reading the previous two books adds depth, Indridason frames this novel to stand alone.
With a final chapter providing yet another unanswered question, it’s clear Indridason isn’t finished with Detective Konrad’s story. The Quiet Mother proves to be not just a whodunit but a profound exploration of shame, memory, and the shadows cast by the past.
The Quiet Mother by Arnaldur Indridason, translated by Philip Roughton, is published by Vintage and available now.
