Why a Booktrail?
Early 2000s: The first in the Inspector Kari Vaara series who investigates crimes in Finland and Lapland in particular
Snow Angels
What you need to know before your trail
Kaamos means The Dark time or the polar night in Finnish
It’s almost Christmas, the darkest time of the year in Lapland. The darkness and remoteness could take you to the brink of madness…
When a Somalian refugee-turned-actress is found brutally murdered on a reindeer farm, with a racial slur carved into her chest, Inspector Kari Vaara, is on his own., without any help from Helsinki and he’s got to try and keep this out of the news. The crime could open up a pandora’s box of racism, fear and hidden violence..
Kari also has problems at home – his American wife is expecting but she is struggling to come to terms with Finland and its customs. And as he investigates the crime, it turns out that the solution could be very close to home.
Travel Guide
Brr. The chilling cold of this remote part of Finland is as chilling as the seemingly racist crime which is at the centre of the plot.
The setting of the reindeer farm – such an important place in the Finnish landscape takes on a deadly tone since it is in the most remote and chilling place in Finland where darkness lasts for 24 hours. Even the sun here is not welcome at this time of year it would seem..
“Winter here is an endless night, but the snow reflects what little light there is and casts everything a dim murky grey”
The winter is cold and the people even colder as investigations into the crime are difficult and time consuming. Communities here are insular and this never ending darkness has some strange reactions amongst those living there.
There are some interesting insights into Finnish culture however surrounding Christmas traditions and habits. The celebrations of Midsummer are also wonderfully evoked.
But the main crux of the story introduces a chilling landscape and an insight into the Finnish psyche – attitudes to racism, sex crimes and police investigations to name but a few.
And when the novel opens with the line “I’m in Hullu Poro, the Crazy reindeer the biggest restaurant in this part of the Arctic circle
You just know this is going to be an interesting journey into one of the coldest and remotest places on earth
Where Next?
