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Apr 10, 2011

Ed rated it:

James M. Thompson, an American author, is married to a Finnish lady, and they live in Finland, and so quite fittingly, he sets his gritty police procedural there. My wife is of Finnish extraction (in fact, a minor character in the novel shares her surname). Therefore I wanted to read Snow Angels. I've also exchanged several emails with Jim and I guest posted once on his weblog, Jimland, so we aren't strangers.

At any rate, I was blown away by how Snow Angels excels on several levels: More...

6 comments like (10 people liked it)

Nov 17, 2011

Lou rated it:

This story is from the shores of Finland a police procedural. The murder that starts the story is very brutal and the victim is a lady from an ethnic minority, she comes from a people who have lost their homeland to civil war, the author covers well their cultural practices and the religious rights of various parts of their religion. The murder brings out old wounds to the main protagonists life and one main thorn in is side becomes his ex-wife. The main protagonist is a detective married to a More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Joell rated it:

I've been following my friend Molly's list of Scandi-crime novels, and just had to try some of it out. Enjoying this a lot so far, but I'll be pissed if the wife dies. I hate detective series where in the first book the wife or girlfriend dies so that for the rest of the books in the series, the detective can be tormented and sad. Maybe Norwegians won't be so cliched.

Yay--the wife didn't die! But this book just struck me kind of weird. Every time the detective gets a new suspect, he im More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

William rated it:

A brief, brutal pageturner, Snow Angels strikes me as the ideal mystery novel for our time, the way Saw now composes our idea of the horror movie. Not that either work is necessarily a standout entry in its respective genre; but the elements in play here are exceptionally well-calculated towards their audience. For example, the violence in Snow Angels (like in Saw) is over the top. This I think is less a reflection of our generation's tendency towards or away from violence, than the fact that sa More...

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Dec 16, 2011

Alex M. rated it:

Considering that this garnered such high praise, I was expecting much, much better. Instead I got some trite nonsense coupled with gratuitous violence. I mean, alright, I did read a crime novel. So I guess the gratuitous violence should've been expected. However, I found it to be a bit ludicrous. The development of the case seemed really odd and unbelievable and jumped a lot of points. The writing lacked subtlety and twists that made it enjoyable.

I also kind of hated that it was writte More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 23, 2011

Dorian rated it:

When I was small, one book made a particular, inordinate impression on me, out of all proportion to its literary merit, so much so that I still have it on my shelves. The book is The Smartest Bear in the World and his Brother Oliver. It's about a bear who schemes to stay up all winter reading every entry in his encyclopedia. Although the book's ostensible lesson is moderation in all things and tolerance for people, like brother Oliver, who don't like to read, the message *I* took from it--the h More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 07, 2011

Jane rated it:

I sat for a very long time moving the cursor from 3 to 4 to 3, back and forth, finally landing on 3. This riveting book taught me a great deal about the Finns, their lifestyle, and the difficulty of living with a season of days of no sunshine (kaamos, in Finnish). It is unnecessarily bloody, brutal, gory, you get the picture, and if you enjoy those elements in your reading entertainment, find this one now. I claim to hate excessive violence in literature but kept right on reading. The narrat More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 14, 2011

Barbara rated it:

James Thompson is an ex-American who married a Finnish woman and has lived in Finland for a decade. His character, Kari Vaara, is a Finnish policeman married to an American woman, Kate. Not surprisingly, then, Kate's voice is clear and touching. Her frustration with an alien environment and difficult language vies with her determination to succeed and her love for Kari. Whether it's Thompson's story, too, is not relevant because he gets Kate's character just right. But her story is a sidebar to More...

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Apr 18, 2011

AvonBooks added it

Kaamos: Just before Christmas, the bleakest time of the year in Lapland. The unrelenting darkness and extreme cold above the Arctic Circle drive everyone just a little insane . . . perhaps enough to kill.

A beautiful Somali immigrant is found dead in a snowfield, her body gruesomely mutilated, a racial slur carved into her chest. Heading the murder investigation is Inspector Kari Vaara, the lead detective of the small-town police force. The vicious killing may have been a hate crime, More...

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Mar 18, 2011

Jim rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

4 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 26, 2011

switterbug (Betsey) rated it:

If you are primarily a crime fiction buff who thrives on putting pieces of the puzzle together in a case, then you will not be overly impressed with the outcome of this series debut. If (as I imagine) you have read countless novels on murder cases, you may wince at the immodest and implausible coincidences (even for a small town!) that occur. You will embrace the noir, Arctic atmosphere of Finland during its most glacial and darkest time of year, known as Kaamos, or polar night (as cold as -40 d More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 10, 2010

Beth rated it:

James Thompson’s SNOW ANGELS is filled with bad language, horrific details about mutilation, brutal murders, characters who are victims of their geography, and a culture about which most of us know very little. There is repeated use of a term that most Americans shun. I started reading and didn’t stop until I finished the book.

I have to clarify that; I did skim the most lurid details but once the book is started, it is impossible to put it down. This is the first in a se More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2010

Al rated it:

This book produced mixed feelings for me. Unlike one negative reviewer, I found the depiction of the dark side of Finnish life intriguing and well integrated into the plot. Having one of his characters be an American, relatively new to Finland, was a clever way to draw contrasts between our culture and theirs. Katie, the hero’s wife, cannot understand why many Finns refuse to speak English to her even when they know it. He explains to her how private Finns are and sensitive to criticism. Th More...

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Feb 27, 2010

Jennie rated it:

Things I learned about Finland: Apparently it's dark all the time and people are always drunk.

The main character is a typical fictional detective with a whiny pregnant (American) wife who apparently won't learn Finnish and is offended when people won't speak English to her - he loves her more than anything and between her bouts of complaining about being in Finland, we're not really given a reason why. He also has (yawn) a troubled, painful childhood. The mystery itself is pretty More...

4 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 01, 2010

S.D. rated it:

Inspector Kari Vaara is the lead detective in a small town in Finland. When a beautiful B-movie actress is found slain and dumped in the snow, the crime exposes the dark side of a country's prejudices. The victim's family claims she didn't drink or engage in sexual activities. The evidence and witness statements prove otherwise. When the trail of the victim's lovers leads Vaara to his ex-wife's current lover, it opens old wounds. Vaara's current wife is an American who isn't quite sure she l More...

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Dec 07, 2009

Nancy rated it:

First, my thanks to Amazon Vine for allowing me to have an advance copy of this book. I happen to be a huge fan of Scandinavian crime fiction, so I've been eagerly awaiting the release of this book. I was drawn in by the author's ability to set the tone of the bleakness of life above the Arctic Circle in Finland, where it's dark and cold and to pass the time, people have little to do other than drink. The atmosphere was so well laid out for the reader that for a time you can imagine yourself the More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 11, 2011

Anna rated it:

Stieg Larsson and Henning Mankell got me a while ago back into the never ending international crime, suspense, and thriller binge. And after seeing the selection in my local bookstores, I was amazed how even Icelandic authors are better represented than the Finns. Why? I'm not sure. They can't market their books? That surely, at least partly. Or they write only to people who know how everything works in Finland, where all the small cities are located, and who know what is normal for a Finn behav More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2010

Krista rated it:

I think the reason I liked it as much as I did is that I am an American who lived in Finland nearly 6 years, and all of the cultural issues Thompson refers to are so familiar to me. I enjoyed seeing how the things that he found worth mentioning are also the things that used to impress me, both positively and negatively. I don't know if the police procedures are correct and I don't know how he learned about them, but everything else is true, to a point--at least, it's Finnish culture as seen thro More...

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Dec 17, 2011

Beth rated it:

This was my first read by this author, and I loved it. Again wishing Goodreads would have half-stars -- I'd give this a 4.5

I became interested in Scandinavian crime fiction when I read the 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' series, and continued by reading some Jo Nesbo (which I wasn't as enamored with) -- but am now very happy that a friend suggested I read this book by James Thompson.

His writing is fast paced and provides just enough information to keep the story moving wit More...

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Dec 27, 2011

bookczuk rated it:

At Christmas-time, you often hear a carol based on the Rosetti poem "In the Bleak Midwinter". The words of the first verse set the scene:
In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our choir just had to sing this song a multitude of times for the Christmas season. Lemme tell you, the bleak midwinter written about there looks li More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Carrie rated it:

Snow Angels is the first in a crime/mystery series by James Thompson. There were several things I liked about this book. First, I really enjoyed that the story takes place in Finland. Thompson does a wonderful job depicting both environmental and cultural elements that make Finland unique. I learned quite a bit about Finland which was an unexpected bonus! Next, I liked that there is almost continuous action throughout the story. The plot is intriguing and held my interest so I read the boo More...

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Sep 18, 2010

Bernadette rated it:

If there is a Kittilä Tourism Authority I’m guessing James Thompson isn’t on their Christmas card list. In Snow Angels, part police procedural and part observation on Finnish culture and traditions, he has painted a unflattering portrait of the winter holiday resort in the northern part of the country. Against the backdrop of the investigation of a brutal crime Thompson shows us a country with one of the world’s highest suicide rates, where alcoholism is prevalent and resentment and abuse of for More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 12, 2009

J.R. rated it:

Sometimes truth is a poor substitute for justice.

That’s a lesson Kari Vaara learns in the debut of this new thriller series set in Finnish Lapland.

As a reporter I used to get a magazine called Look At Finland, put out by the Finnish Tourist Board, and thought it a place I’d like to visit. This novel convinces me if I ever went it wouldn’t be during Kaamos, the bleakest time of the year in Lapland. I’m convinced the darkness and cold of that period would drive me as insane More...

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Dec 19, 2009

Michael rated it:

This dark novel introduces Finnish Inspector Vaara. He is notified that black actress Suffia Elmi's body has been found. She has been murdered and there is evidence that it is a hate crime. Inspector Vaara is assisted by Sgt. Valtteri.

Vaara narates the story in the hardboiled tradition of Hammett and Chandler. He is analytical and unemotional when dealing with the brutal crimes that are uncovered in the story. He also describes the quiet racism of the Hullu Poro area in rural Finland More...

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Sep 10, 2011

Pam rated it:

Snow Angels is the first of a series of books that I will definitely be sticking with. It is the story of a Finnish Police Inspector, Kari Vaara, who solves the myteries that happen in his town. Well, that is what happened in the first book, anyway.

Inspector Vaara solves the murder of Sufia Elmi, an actress/model from Somolia. The murder was a bit gruesome and some of the details may turn some folks off, but I did not find it offensive. The author, James Thompson weaves you thr More...

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Jul 30, 2010

Elizabeth A. rated it:

Set in Lapland, Northern Finland during Kaamos, the time of year just before Christmas when temperatures plunge to -40° and night never gives way to day, Snow Angels marks the stunning English language debut of author James Thompson.

Inspector Kari Vaara knows he has a serious problem on his hands when he arrives at the scene of a horrific murder and finds that the victim is famous actress Sufia Elmi, who also happens to be a Somali immigrant.

Finland being a nation of clos More...

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Oct 12, 2011

Suspense Magazine rated it:

It is called Kaamos…two weeks of darkness and soul-numbing cold that falls on a Finland area, a hundred miles into the Arctic Circle. Some get through it with vices like cheap Russian alcohol and some sink into deep depression. This year it drove someone crazy enough to commit murder. When the body of a Somali woman is found dead in the snow, it is up to Inspector Kari Vaara to find her killer. This won't be easy in an ugly place where darkness hides secrets and silence is a way of life.

More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2009

Amy rated it:

Thanks to Goodreads and Putnam Books for the advanced copy of the book! :) I would give this 3.5 stars if I could.

This is the first book by the author. Before reading the book, I did read through a few of the reviews on Goodreads. While I read, I kept one of the comments in mind --- keep in mind the book is fiction. I'm not a detective, so I have no idea what parts of the book are believable and what are not. For me, I took the book at its word, though, and b/c of this, I was abl More...

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Nov 14, 2010

Dee rated it:

One of my goals over the next year is to extend my reading and try to read books set in various locations around the world, aside from the typical United States, England settings which seem to occur quite often. The book was one that I saw recommended on another reader's list, a murder mystery set in the northern part of Finland.

I was pleasantly surprised by the novel, it was the first that I had read set in this part of the world, tightly written, and I didn't identify the killer u More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 11, 2011

Lisa rated it:

I wasn't into this book at all. I thought it was cheesy and stupid. I kept feeling like the author was trying to be prove how tough and virile he was by going into ridiculously graphic detail of the crimes, and by having his supposedly rugged protagonist spout profanity in a really unconvincing and stilted way, while the story itself (as well as the writing) was just *limp*. (I would blame it on the translation, but the writer is American!!). There was just something about the masculinity of t More...

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