I first came across Michael Ridpath when his debut novel
Free to Trade was published back in the mid-nineties. At the time it made a bit of a stir with its, then, fresh mixing of murder mystery and financial thriller. It was also a pretty decent book, even if not a classic. After Free to Trade the author continued to mine the same 'financial thriller-cum-whodunnit' seam for the next ten years. Some of his earlier efforts, such as
Trading Reality, were okay, although they've dated badly. Later novels however, began to feel tired and derivative and after tackling
On the Edge I felt he'd gone to the 'evil financier in diabolical plot' well once too often and I skipped his next novel
See No Evil.
I've been tempted back by his latest thriller, 'Where the Shadows Lie', by both the positive reviews it was receiving on Amazon and the fact that for the first time the author has used a setting that isn't even indirectly related to high finance or big business. Instead 'Where the Shadows Lie' is a murder-mystery set almost entirely in Iceland and focused on the history and myths of that small but remarkable country.
For a British author of financial thrillers this sounds like quite a big leap in terms of subject matter and genres, but it is one that Ridpath makes with reasonable success. The central mystery itself feel original and is complex enough to keep this particular reader guessing until well into the book's final third. The characters are, for the most part, reasonably well conceived and drawn, even if Ridpath lumbers his lead, Icelandic/American Cop Magnus, with an unncecessarily convoluted backstory. The sense of place, vital for a book of this sort where the location is a selling point, is strong and you get a real feel for Iceland, its people and its culture. Even the fictional links between the murder-mystery and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, a plot device that could have felt vaguely ridiculous, work well and give the story a fresh twist. Ridpath manages to keep things grounded whilst allowing just enough of a hint of a supernatural undertone to creep into the narrative to spice it up.
It all makes for a highly enjoyable and very satisfying read. Its not going to win any awards for being high art or rewrite the thriller rulebook; Ridpath's prose style is too functional and prosaic, lacking any real lyricism, and there are plenty of writers pumping out thrillers set in Scandinavia and Iceland. Nor is it by any means perfect. In addition to some questionable decisions about Magnus' backstory there's also a somewhat superfluous and underpowered romance tacked on and a vaguely ridiculous 'hitman' subplot that should have been jetisoned. Despite these flaws however, 'Where the Shadows Lie' marks a welcome return to form, as well as a fresh approach, for Michael Ridpath. I will be interested to see where he takes Magnus in the next book in what is being called the 'Fire and Ice' series,
66 North (Fire and Ice).
