Snow Angels

Me gustó porque describe un poco de Finlandia. Sin embargo, la descripción, o más bien desarrollo, de los eventos me pareció un tanto caótic(a/o). Quizá es eso lo que le debería haber aportado realidad a la trama, pero no lo percibí así. En cambio, algunas situaciones me parecieron poco creíbles. La imagen que me quedó del detective Kari Vaara es la de un hombre ingenuo. Pero el estilo del autor es fluído y eso compensa un poco las fallas. Está bien para entretenerse un rato. ( )

Psychological thriller by an American author who has lived in Finland for several years, about the sheriff of a small town in rural Finland who must solve a murder during the sunless winter season. The victim is a glamorous black actress, and the murder is an obvious hate crime - the victim, Sufia, has been mutilated, sexually assaulted, and the murderer cut a racial slur into her stomach with a knife.

The local sheriff, Kari, is worried about the publicity that will surround the grisly murder of a celebrity. He insists on investigating the case himself, although the Chief of Police in Helsinki offers to ship out a contingent of big city cops - but Kari begins to regret his decision when the #1 suspect turns out to be his ex-wife's new man, Seppo. Kari knows he's moved on, that his new wife Kate is the best thing that's ever happened to him, but the media spin Kari as a bad cop out for revenge when he arrests Seppo.

As he continues his investigation, the details get more lurid but also more personal. Sufia had been sleeping around and taking money for sex - while her parents, devout Muslims, fly into town and insist she was a virgin. The other main suspect is a wealthy playboy with a taste for underage girls. Their best witness is mentally handicapped, and could never testify. One of the other cops on the force is hiding something, and eventually Kari begins to suspect his ex-wife.

Thompson's writing is vigorous and spare, and he does an excellent job bringing the beauty and the terrible harshness of the Finnish winter to life. The main characters, their problems and relationships, are compelling. Minor, secondary characters feel real and complex no matter how brief their appearance. The story is peppered with all kinds of interesting factoids - about the Swedish minority in Finland, or the war in Somalia - that give the novel added breadth without sacrificing dramatic tension. I found SNOW ANGELS hard to put down - I read it straight through in one sitting, cover to cover, with relish. ( )

Book Info: Genre: Mystery/Noir
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of dark mysteries, stories set in Scandinavia, well-developed characters, well-done mysteries
Trigger Warnings: murder, hate-crime, sexual assault, use of racist and sexist language (n-word, w-word, and c-word), religious zealotry

My Thoughts: This is a very dark story. It seems that most murder mysteries set in Scandinavia are very dark, which is interesting considering how few murders overall are committed there. In fact, looking at the statistics regarding serial killers in the US vs. just about everywhere else in the world was mighty sobering.

Like any mystery, there is not much I can tell you about the plot because I don't want to give out spoilers. However, there are red herrings a-plenty, and I had no idea what to expect with the ending. The character development is very good, and Finland sounds like a place that is dear to the author's heart, in all its sometimes dismal and dreary reality. If you enjoy mysteries that wander off into the noir realm, if you enjoy stories based in Scandinavia, then you'll want to be sure to check out this series of books.

Series Information: Snow Angels is the first book in the Inspector Vaara series.
Book 2: Lucifer's Tears, to be read next, provided by publisher for an honest review
Book 3: Helsinki White, upcoming, provided by Amazon Vine for an honest review
Book 4: Helsinki Blood, I do not have, but it is on my wishlist

Disclosure: I bought this book for myself. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: It is called kaamos—two weeks of unrelenting darkness and soul-numbing cold that falls upon Finnish Lapland, a hundred miles into the Arctic Circle, just before Christmas. Some get through it with the help of cheap Russian alcohol; some sink into depression.

This year, it may have driven someone mad enough to commit murder. The brutalized body of a beautiful Somali woman has been found in the snow, and Inspector Kari Vaara must find her killer. It will be a challenge in a place where ugly things lurk under frozen surfaces, and silence is a way of life. ( )

One of the things I really liked about this book was the setting, which is a small village in the Arctic Circle. I think Thompson gives a great portrayal of small-town life, Finnish style. He's also great at describing the elements--the weather and the landscape--which is such an important part of the life in Finland, particularly in the countryside. I'm now going to read the second book in the series . . . ( )

Psychological thriller by an American author who has lived in Finland for several years, about the sheriff of a small town in rural Finland who must solve a murder during the sunless winter season. The victim is a glamorous black actress, and the murder is an obvious hate crime - the victim, Sufia, has been mutilated, sexually assaulted, and the murderer cut a racial slur into her stomach with a knife.

The local sheriff, Kari, is worried about the publicity that will surround the grisly murder of a celebrity. He insists on investigating the case himself, although the Chief of Police in Helsinki offers to ship out a contingent of big city cops - but Kari begins to regret his decision when the #1 suspect turns out to be his ex-wife's new man, Seppo. Kari knows he's moved on, that his new wife Kate is the best thing that's ever happened to him, but the media spin Kari as a bad cop out for revenge when he arrests Seppo.

As he continues his investigation, the details get more lurid but also more personal. Sufia had been sleeping around and taking money for sex - while
her parents, devout Muslims, fly into town and insist she was a virgin. The other main suspect is a wealthy playboy with a taste for underage girls.
Their best witness is mentally handicapped, and could never testify. One of the other cops on the force is hiding something, and eventually Kari begins
to suspect his ex-wife.

Thompson's writing is vigorous and spare, and he does an excellent job bringing the beauty and the terrible harshness of the Finnish winter to
life. The main characters, their problems and relationships, are compelling. Minor, secondary characters feel real and complex no matter how
brief their appearance. The story is peppered with all kinds of interesting factoids - about the Swedish minority in Finland, or the war in Somalia -
that give the novel added breadth without sacrificing dramatic tension. I found SNOW ANGELS hard to put down - I read it straight through in one
sitting, cover to cover, with relish. Although in retrospect I can point to a few clumsy elements of the plot, in particular the ending, I wasn't aware
of them at the time. ( )