As Red As Blood

Starred review from June 2, 2014
Finnish author Simukka creates a tough, self-sufficient heroine in 17-year-old Lumikki Andersson in this first book in the Snow White Trilogy. The novel begins starkly, with a young woman’s freshly shed blood soaking the snow of a Finnish winter. Lumikki, who lives alone and attends a prestigious arts school, becomes enmeshed in the murder when she finds (literally) laundered money in the school’s darkroom. Soon, she is swept into an investigation of a dangerous drug cartel along with three schoolmates, including Elisa, the pretty, spoiled daughter of a local narcotics officer. In response to a childhood trauma, Lumikki has remade herself—independent, cerebral, distant; her unlikely friendship with Elisa is unexpected and endearing. Parents are markedly absent; Lumikki has intentionally estranged herself. Elisa’s father loves her, but his criminal involvement consumes him. This leaves the teenagers of Simukka’s story negotiating a landscape that adults have created and then abandoned, cold as the Scandinavian winter; the warm heart at its center is the web of alliance they form. Fans of Nesbø and Larsson won’t be disappointed. Ages 13–up. Agent: Elina Ahlbäck, Elina Ahlbäck Literacy Agency.

Scandinavian mysteries, so popular with adults, now reach young adult listeners with this translated series by Finnish author Salla Simukka. Ann Marie Lee narrates the opening book of this Snow White trilogy. Lee's portrayal of Lumikki (which means Snow White in Finnish) rapidly establishes the 17-year-old's wit, independence, and chameleon-like personality. Reminiscent of Lisbeth Salander (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO), the heroine is newly arrived at a boarding school, where she discovers 30,000 blood-covered euros. The money involves her with schoolmates who fear a drug lord. Occasionally, the story becomes disjointed as Lumikki's sleuthing in the present veers off into stories from her past, fairy-tale references, and varying points of view. But Lee's reading is as active and dramatic as the quick-paced story. She is facile at shifting between viewpoints and accents, dialogue and narrative. S.W. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine