Snow Angels - James Thompson

Publisher: HarperCollins
Author: James Thompson
Publish Date: 2010
Pages: 264


Synopsis:


When a beautiful and high profile Somali immigrant is found dead - her body gruesomely mutilated - small-town detective Kari Vaara fears that exposure to the media will send shock waves though Finland, an insular nation afraid for face its demons.

Haunted by his past, the investigation begins to take its toll on Vaara and his American wife, Kate. Pregnant with their first child, she is struggling with the Finnish culture of silence and isolation.

Things get too close for comfort when the chief suspect turns out to be someone Vaara would rather forget. But nothing is as it seems and Vaara knows that the unrelenting darkness and extreme cold above the Arctic circle could drive anyone just a little insane... perhaps enough to kill.



Review:

Now this book is the first in a series about the protagonist, Finnish detective Kari Vaara.
I'll admit, I don't know much about Finland. An ex moved there some years ago and I was grateful to that country for taking some Australian trash - picturing it like a slightly more friendly Siberian wasteland. This book paints a bleak picture of life in their small Finnish town of Kiiila, Lapland  but is quick to point our the good things about Finland as well.

It's important to mention my own cultural ignorance of this place because it's a large part of the book. Vaara's American born wife is featured counterpoint to Finnish culture - she struggles to learn the language and people are reluctant to speak to or interact with her. Vaara explains it as his people being shy perfectionists.. if they can't do it right they won't do it at all. In one scene, Kate has to assert herself over a wayward employee and you get the sense that the foul language the employee uses is for her sake only, that they wouldn't speak that way to a native. There's constant mention of the lack of immigrants, the murder of the Somali immigrant is a scandal for various reasons..

There's a certain 'cabin fever' element to this as well as it's set during kaamos - which is basically two sunless weeks before Christmas. The crime that centres the book is suitably horrific but what I liked is that the forensic and investigation part of it was written in such a way that it felt realistic but wasn't dumbed down or over explained like they sometimes do in TV shows.

Same with the language - you get a good enough understanding of what is being said and the meaning behind it without feeling like you're being condescended to. Perhaps the scariest thing was the fact that the police admit that there are significant gaps in their staffing level around this time so that a savvy and willing Finn could easily pick the right time to essentially carry out a murder and increase their chances of getting away scot free... coupled with the obvious theme of drunken/depressive behaviour and domestic violence is quite chilling.

I was personally surprised that Vaara was able to continue his investigations given how many personal connections turned up - but then again we wouldn't have much of a story for our protagonist if he didn't, and it's sort of explained why he's allowed to keep going.
At first it seemed like he had solved it easily enough but then there were a few more twists and turns - enough to keep it unpredictable.


Verdict:

I enjoyed this - I picked it up on a whim during a book sale. I'll admit that the fist few chapters took me a little while to get into but once it got going, it kept going and adding new elements to the mix.
The descriptions - either of the crime scene or the main victim's black skin get annoying - you feel like it's a bit repetitive and unneeded. The 'black skin' part is perhaps unavoidable - when there could be racial, misogynist or cultural reasons for the murder as well as the contrast of her skin on the snow but still. Sometimes it felt like "Hey guys, did you remember this woman is black? 'Cause she is! Totally black." and it was a little distracting from the overall plot. Maybe ironically?

I honestly didn't pick the murderer in this one like I normally can. I did notice something off about one character but didn't ponder on it which left me surprised at the end. The comparisons to the Black Dahlia were interesting but not lazily copied.

Possibly my favourite part of the book was when Kate compared America to Finland. She was talking about an un-medicated schizophrenic saying something along the lines of how America will constantly advertise medications, surgery and living aids to the point where the average person will inherently find a symptom of their own in the long lists and feel like they need to visit the doctors while in Finland they just disconnect the phone line, so the schizophrenic can still make "calls" and be happy how he is.