"A clever, unexpectedly enjoyable novel of crime and punishment." -The New York Times

"A fascinating, wintry tale of a frozen heart." -The Wall Street Journal

"A literary triumph. . . . The book works extremely well both as a psychological thriller and as a character study." -The European

"A solemn, intellectually challenging work." -Chicago Tribune

"The first book in English by this top-notch Nordic novelist, who may become that true rarity, an Icelandic Nobel Prize winner." -Forbes Magazine

"Surprisingly effective. . . . This story of crime and punishment is an impressive novel. . . . A modest, but not unworthy, offspring of Dostoevsky's towering predecessor." - The Economist

"Compulsive reading, and the spare, dry language concentrates the suspense. . . . As cold and lucid as a quartz crystal." -Independent on Sunday

"Spellbinding. . . . Formidably written." -Entertainment Weekly

"The novel whose aftertaste has lingered longest this year is Absolution. . . . Its deep humanity and elegiac tone made it oddly exhilarating. . . . A superlative example of the genre, which reverberates in the reader's mind because of the craftsmanship and integrity which Olafsson has brought to the story." -Sunday Telegraph

"[A] sophisticated novel . . . written in clear, sparse prose." -The Times (London)

"Olafsson's debut as a writer in English has more than curiosity value: this is a fine novel." -Time Out

"Icelander Olafsson's style has the linear austerity and emotionally supercharged restraint that seems a Nordic hallmark. . . . The honesty of this first-person account of a traumatised conscience holds the attention. The slow-burning fuse of the narrator's guilt . . . smoulders through skilled writing and narrative integrity." -The Observer

"Funny, sad and utterly enjoyable." -The Spectator