Operation Napoleon

In the closing days of World War II, a German bomber crashes on a remote glacier in Iceland. Buried by a brutal snowstorm, it is lost from view but not from the troubled memories of the few who knew of its clandestine mission. Decades later, an Icelandic woman receives a garbled satellite phone call from her brother, an outdoorsman crossing the glacier by snowmobile. He mentions soldiers, guns, and men digging an airplane out of the ice…and then he disappears. Soon her own life is in danger, as powerful forces strive to keep a terrible secret hidden. Fans of Indriðason's popular and critically praised mysteries featuring Icelandic detective Erlendur will find that this title—first published in 1999 and only now translated into English—is a different style of book, more akin to the adventure tales of Clive Cussler or the historical-conspiracy thrillers of Dan Brown. The secrets-of-the-Nazis theme is a little timeworn, but the fast-paced action and dialog, smoothly translated into colloquial English, keep the reader hooked, and the dour Icelandic setting will appeal to fans of other Scandinavian thrillers.