Smilla's sense of snow Book

Smilla Jaspersen, a Greenlander by birth now residing in Copenhagen, late thirties, single, lonely, moody, depressive, seemingly with a grudge against everything, the sort of girl you would take on a first date, ask to be excused to go to the bathroom only you make for the exit.
But somewhere in the perpetual darkness she finds it in her heart to investigate the death of Isaiah, a small boy she befriended in her apartment block, who apparently fell of the roof whilst playing in the snow, but Smilla is an expert when it comes to cold weather conditions, and her knowledge of snow and ice makes her suspicious. As the tracks in the snow from Isaiah's feet just don't add up as to how he could have fallen to his death. Driven by a steely determination to find the truth, more for the little boy's sake than her own, she sets of on a dangerous path that will lead her to make enemies as well as allies.

Compared to other Scandinavian crime noir, this was surprisingly different in a good way, but also oddly unusual. Ingeniously plotted yes, and very atmospheric, but gets bogged down in the middle two thirds, driving around in circles not knowing where it wants to go. As central to everything that goes on, Smilla is a very well drawn heroine, and gets plunged into a web of intrigue predominated mainly by men, she stands her ground, on her own two feet, after much intimidation, unsavory sexual advances, and assault. There is definitely a bit of Lisbeth Salander in there, just minus the goth look.

Copenhagen comes alive, and Hoeg obviously knows it inside out, it plays an important, and so does the weather. As it's freezing cold, biting winds, subzero temperatures, snow and ice everywhere, and this wound only get worse later on, these conditions are just as much a hazard as the shady people being investigated, and this is where things wonder off slightly. I didn't know anything about the Danish shipping industry, I most certainly do now, as the ins and outs of the shipping business comes to the forefront, with some strange expeditions to Greenland in 1966 & 1991, which become the backbone of the story. As the story progresses, you tend to forget all about Isaiah, he is barely mentioned, the memory of him drifts away.
Isaiah's father who went on one of these voyages, also died in suspicious circumstances, and a photo taken of him in an Arctic ice cave somewhere high up north leads Smilla to believe that there is something either buried, or hidden there, that is worth killing for to keep a secret.

I have never been a big believer when a book is said to be 'unputdownable', but the last one hundred or so pages truly were, even if the ending falls flat on it's face. Taut, tense, and claustrophobic in the last third, Smilla would board a cargo ship as one of the crew bound for an unknown location heading towards Greenland, with three passengers who she thinks lie at the heart of the whole case. The voyage is shrouded in secrecy, the ship itself is ready to pick up a huge amount in weight, drugs?, weapons?, money?, but how on earth would these thing even be there in the first place?, one of the most inhospitable places on the planet, covered in millions of tons of ice, what's so precious that it's worth going on an almost suicide mission for?, and why did a small child have to die?

This never really read as a 'who-done-it', more asks the question why?. It's a bit messy in places, and probably too clever for it's own good, but as a piece of crime/mystery writing it works, and is a good alternative to this type of genre. But the ending!...frustrating to say the least, it's a case of the journey being far greater than it's destination.