El caso Sufia Elmi dejó a Kari Vaara con la cara llena de cicatrices, insomnio crónico, una migraña constante y un montón de fantasmas rondándole. Un año después de resolver el caso, Kari se ha trasladado a Helsinki, trabaja en horario nocturno en la brigada de homicidios y está aterrorizados por si su esposa, embarazada de nuevo, pierde al bebé, después de que abortara a los gemelos justo después de Navidades. En esta ocasión, Kari tiene que investigar a un héroe nacional de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, ya nonagenario: el Ministerio del Interio exige que se pruebe su inocencia, pero Alemania está presionando para que se le extradite. De manera paralela, Kari también empieza la investigación del asesinato y tortura de Lisa Filippv, la mujer disoluta de un hombre de negocios ruso. Se acusa injustamente a su amante y no es otro que el arrogante y despechado marido de la víctima el que le señala como asesino. Sin embargo, el amante tiene un protector en las altas esferas, lo que lleva a Kari a los corruptos pasillos del poder.

WOW WOW WOW!!!!!! This is book number 2 in the Inspectar Kari Vaara series and it was better than the first.

James Thompson writes great stories. He lets you get to know all the characters of the story and keeps them real. Like the first book Inspector Vaara is trying to solve a grisley murder. While he is doing that he is having issues at home. I don't want to say too much.

There are a lot of twists and turns and a lot of players in this story that will keep you on your toes. While I was disappointed in the ending, I will definitely be reading the next book in the series when it comes out in 2012.

I highly recommend this author if you are into police drama. ( )

Read this book at the perfect time. 48 hours of snow followed by -40 degree temperatures crippled the Chicago area and created the perfect conditions for indulging in a Finnish thriller. The Inspector Vaara series has become a guilty pleasure. It is decidedly in the upper reaches of the 2nd tier of Nordic mysteries. Thompson's writing voice and larger themes (xenophobia) resemble those of Mankell and the over the top conspiracies are closer to Larson. This one concerns the murder of a business man's wife in the bed of her lover. Vaara befriends a Finnish war hero with a complicated past as nazi facilitator. Vaara paints well in the greys. Best of the series so far. ( )

Inspector Kari Vaara is back who despite his move away from the Finnish backwater which saw some horrific events in the first book 'Snow Angels' again finds himself embroiled in murder and personal torment. Whilst juggling the demands of a particularly savage murder case, the investigation of possible war-crimes, a heavily pregnant wife, his truly irritating in-laws and his gung-ho new partner, he is also grappling with a deterioration in his own health which even he can't assuage with copious amounts of kossu. I thoroughly enjoyed this follow-up novel and found it much more authentic in the terms of a Scandinavian style. I think it was far more apparent in the first book that Thompson is American and 'Snow Angels' had a slight feeling of an outsider looking in whereas this seemed more immersed in Finnish culture and more real somehow. Unlike a previous reviewer I did not find the violence at all gratuitous, having read a lot worse in more established author's works, and as for the accusation of it being pornographic, I think in my long experience of crime reading, many crime storylines are fuelled by sexual jealousy and crimes of passion. So all in all a good follow on thriller and looking forward to the next... ( )

Book #2 (LT) in the Kari Vaara series, following "Snow Angels" (SA) and preceding "Helsinki White" (HW). Vaara is a homicide officer in the Helsinki police supported by a team of five. He is not trusted by his bosses because he is honest and doesn't need anything. Homicides are somewhat rare in Finland we are told (and they are always solved), but nevertheless Vaara and Sgt. Milo catch an unusual one. An attractive young woman is found dead in bed, bound and tortured, surrounded by bloody sheets. Her lover had been asleep next to her and claims to have been knocked unconscious. They had been routinely into kinky sex, and the story does get rather graphic in places. This is not a book for people who might get turned off by the prominent role of a dildo and where it's been.

There is a subplot dealing with an official request from Germany and their request to extradict Finland's oldest WWll military survivor, a 90 year old decorated hero, under suspicion of direct involvement in the deaths of Jewish and Russian prisoners during the war. A lot of information is presented in a relatively short space, it's somewhat confusing, and the answer seems to be "who knows?". But this issue has been dealt with by others in more detail, and as a key element of the main plot, eg Jo Nesbo. It just didn't work for me as a sub-plot in this story.

And finally, we get to know Vaara's wife and in-laws somewhat better. Those chapters do present some interesting facets on Finnish life, but it fails miserably by adding an "Ugly American" to draw a comparison of life in the two countries. In this case, a large part of the (visiting sister-in-law) American's case and attitude is dismissed by the revelation that she was abused by her father, and there is just something wrong with her. And she's somewhat unenlightened because she is a religious conservative.

I doubt I'll read the next book in the series, but I do recommend LT for those crime fiction aficionados who are looking for one crime fiction story based in Finland and want to get a little local flavor, but just this one book in this series. ( )