Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White

It seems to be Inspector Kari Vaara’s destiny to lead a life out of balance. When we last saw him in Lucifer’s Tears his career had taken a turn for the better, with Kari being hailed as a national hero after being shot in the line of duty (for the second time, actually). Unfortunately he also learned that the crippling headaches from which he’d been suffering were caused by a brain tumor.

As Helsinki White opens Kari once again finds the balance in his life shifting. He and his wife, Kate, are the proud new parents of a baby girl, he gets an offer from the National Chief of Police to run a top secret unit dedicated to eradicating Helsinki’s most serious crimes, and Kari’s scheduled for surgery his physicians are optimistic will remove the tumor. That’s a little too much of a solid foundation given Kari’s history, so you know something has to give.

The first piece of the foundation starts to crumble when Kari realizes the real reason his little unit has been empowered with such autonomy and secrecy… it’s meant to be the ‘boots on the ground’ front for a few very highly placed corrupt government officials. Kari and his team – including the return of über intelligent if slightly unstable Milo Nieminien, as well as the addition of Sulo “Sweetness” Polvinen, a mountain of a man who has a surprisingly gentle soul – are expected to put criminals out of business by any means necessary, including stealing their guns and drugs, even framing people in order to get them out of the way, and then funnel the proceeds of their own criminal activity back up the highly selective chain of command. Not what Kari thought he was signing up for, he thought he would get a chance to stop the human trafficking running through Finland, but he’s in too deep to just quit. He has to go along until he can figure out an exit strategy. (more…)

Back in March of 2011 when I invited author James Thompson for a guest post in conjunction with the release of the second book in his Inspector Kari Vaara series, Lucifer’s Tears, I really had no idea what to expect from him. What Jim ended up writing, “My life just isn’t anybody else’s business,” was an incredibly powerful piece that really struck a nerve with readers. When I asked Jim back for another guest post in anticipation of the release of Helsinki White (March 15th from Putnam), this time he suggested we do an interview instead. As you’ll see, I tried to just stay out of the way and let my questions serve as jumping off points for Jim to, again, share with readers another incredibly frank look behind the curtain at both himself and Kari Vaara.

When Lucifer’s Tears, the second book in the Kari Vaara series, came out you did a guest post here in which you reflected on how much of you is in Kari and vice-versa. You also spoke about a serious health issue you were having with severe headaches. As the third book in the series, Helsinki White, is poised to launch, how are your headaches doing, and have you and Kari gotten closer or farther apart?

The headaches aren’t gone, but have gotten much better. I spent a horrid few months playing guinea pig while my neurologist tried out different meds on me. It wasn’t his fault; he’s truly an excellent doctor. Note that he received thanks for serving as a consultant for Helsinki White. He loved the book, by the way. He checked it for accuracy in neurological matters and their behavioral consequences and told me I hit the nail squarely on the head. That was important to him because there are so many misconceptions about trauma-induced neural disorders (his specialization), and he hopes the book will raise public awareness.

Anyway…apparently I have very sensitive brain chemistry and even small doses of drugs that affect most people not at all made me physically and/or mentally ill. For instance, once, when the EMTs came in an ambulance to take me to hospital, I couldn’t tell them my name. I spent a fair amount of time in the emergency room during that time. We finally struck upon a meds combination that both keeps me in pretty good condition and my system can tolerate. I tire a little more easily than I used to. Other than that, I’m doing well. I thought for a while, after a straight talk from my doctor, that I was going to die with my head in the toilet. The sequence: uncontrolled vomiting, dehydration, shock, cardiac arrest, and goodbye. Interestingly, it made for a good incentive to write. Thinking I might have limited time made me want to produce more while I could. And on the practical side, writers are worth more dead than alive—as Larsson so graphically demonstrated—and I wanted to leave my wife financially secure. (more…)

Even after all my years as a cop, the darkness inherent in human nature still shocks me. – Kari Vaara

It’s been a little over a year since the events in Snow Angels, the first book in the Inspector Kari Vaara series, and the time has not been kind to Kari. Though he was able to leverage his success in solving the Sufia Elmi murder to secure a transfer from remote Northern Finland to the capital city of Helsinki, he did so more for his American wife’s benefit than his own.

While she thrives as the manager of one of the poshest hotels in the country, Kari has been relegated to shifts on nights and weekends in the Homicide Department, and saddled with a young partner whose intelligence and enthusiasm far outpace his experience and discretion. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Kari has had insomnia and a lingering headache since the Sufia Elmi case ended, the headache having intensified into to a migraine that’s lasted for nearly three weeks straight at the point we join Kari at the start of Lucifer’s Tears.

Anxious to get home to his wife, Kate, who is pregnant and suffering from pre-eclampsia, Kari is annoyed when he and his partner are ordered by the Police Chief to respond to the scene of a murder even though they have technically gone off shift. His annoyance quickly turns to professional curiosity, however, upon viewing the gruesome scene that awaits them: a nude young woman, bound, tortured with cigarette burns, whipped viciously with a riding crop, and ultimately asphyxiated. The woman’s lover was found at the scene covered in blood, and the case seems open and shut. So why was Kari specifically called to investigate? (more…)

Originally released in January of 2010, Snow Angels marked the stunning English language debut of author James Thompson, and the first entry in the Inspector Kari Vaara series.

If for some insane reason you still haven’t picked up Snow Angels now is definitely the time to do it, as today marks its paperback release. And with the second book in the Inspector Kari Vaara series, Lucifer’s Tears, set for release on March 17, 2011, you need to get going now so you’ll be ready to hit the ground running when release day rolls around.

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, the exquisite descriptions of man’s crimes and nature’s beauty made Snow Angels one of the most hauntingly atmospheric books I’ve read in quite some time. In fact, it ended up being one of my top reads of the entire year. (Full review here.)

But don’t take my word for it, check out the video below in which Thompson himself talks about Snow Angels.

The paperback release of Snow Angels is available from Berkley Trade (ISBN: 978-0425238837).

- Author James Thompson on the inspiration for Snow Angels -