In the wake of an earthquake the water level of an Icelandic lake drops suddenly revealing the skeleton of a man half-buried in its sandy bed. It is clear immediately that it has been there for many years. There is a large hole in the skull. Yet more mysteriously a heavy communication device is attached to it possibly some sort of radio transmitter bearing inscriptions in Russian. The police are called in & Erlendur Elinborg & Sigurdur Oli begin their investigation which gradually leads them back to the time of the Cold War when bright left-wing students would be sent from Iceland to study in the heavenly state of Communist East Germany. The Draining Lake" is another remarkable Indridason mystery about passions & shattered dreams the fate of the missing & the grief of those left behind."