Snow Angels

October 19, 2009
American-born Thompson, who's lived in Finland for the past decade, offers a bleak look at the ravages of that country's long, dark winter as well as intriguing glimpses of Finnish culture in his solid U.S. debut, the first in a new crime series. Shortly before Christmas, Kari Vaara, the police chief of the Lapland town of Kittilä, gets a phone call informing him that the body of Sufia Elmi, a Somali refugee and minor film star, has been found in a snowfield on a reindeer farm. The victim has also been mutilated, perhaps raped, and a racial slur carved into her flesh. When Kari's ex-wife's lover becomes the prime suspect, Kari spurns the chance to recuse himself and presses on. The winter hazards of alcoholism, suicide and murder all play a part as Kari uncovers more suspects. Sufia's imperious father, Abdi Barre, who was a doctor in his native country and now runs a cleaning service, puts added pressure on Kari. Tangled smalltown relationships and lust also fuel this noirish thriller.

November 15, 2009
Lapland: the name conjures up cheery stereotypes of reindeer and Santa Claus, but in reality December in northern Finland means "kaamos", a time of extreme cold and unrelenting darkness that takes its toll on the residents of Levi, a small ski-resort town near the Arctic Circle. "That's the way things are in the winter," says local police inspector Kari Vaara. "A bunch of depressed hard drinkers freezing in an endless night." Called to investigate the mutilation murder of a beautiful Somali actress, Vaara finds his probe turning personal when clues point to the rich man for whom his ex-wife left him for years ago as the prime suspect. The case also threatens his new marriage as his young, pregnant American wife struggles to cope with the depressive effects of the long polar night. VERDICT Despite a contrived plot twist involving a barely developed character, this is a promising new series. The stark Nordic setting will appeal to fans of Scandinavian crime fiction, but Thompson, a ten-year resident of Finland, adds an American noir sensibility that will remind readers of Martin Cruz Smith's "Gorky Park".Wilda Williams, "Library Journal"

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 1, 2009
American born Finnish resident Thompsons first novel is set in northern Finland during kaamos, the countrys two weeks of complete darkness. Inspector Vaara is newly married and about to become a father, but his American wife finds northern Finland depressing and lonely, especially after a young Somali movie star is brutally murdered, and the case consumes Vaaras days and nights. Vaara has been chief of police in his small hometown ever since being injured as a young beat cop in Helsinki, and the few murders that have come his way have been easily solved domestic disputes or drunken bar fights. Thats not the case this time, but Vaara refuses to give up, even after finding out that his ex-wife might be involved. Thompsons portrait of Lapland in the depths of winter is starkly and realistically drawn; as an American who lives in Finland, he is able to make an insular society and a forbidding landscape comprehensible for readers who have never been in such an extreme climate. Vaara will remind readers of Hakan Nessers Inspector Van Veeteren (with less shouting); like Snow Angels, the Van Veeteren mysteries (Borkmanns Point, 2006) feature the same tightly plotted and twisty story lines involving both personal and professional lives. The setting should appeal to readers of Asa Larssons Rebecka Martinsson series, set in the far north of Sweden. An outstanding series debut.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)