An Inspector Vaara Novel
By James Thompson
Berkley Prime Crime
02/07/2012 / ISBN: 978-0425245392
Mystery
Amazon
Reviewed
by Dennis Collins
Homicide detective Kari Vaara has recently signed on with the Helsinki
Police Department in Finland. He was badly wounded in his previous
assignment in the Arctic Circle and feels that the stress contributed
to his American born wife's miscarriage some months back. He's hoping
for a new start and a smoother road now that his wife is once again
pregnant. Coming into a new police department carrying the rank
of Inspector causes some resentment and jealousy in the ranks, and
his status is further hampered when he is partnered with Milo, an
equally disliked homicide cop.
They are assigned to a homicide case in which the wife of an influential
industrialist is found murdered in her lover's apartment. The case
looks cut and dried on the surface but the investigation begins
to uncover some unsettling questions. Ivan Fillipov, the victim's
husband, is very well politically connected and is pushing for a
speedy conviction of his wife's illicit boyfriend. Vaara is not
so sure.
In addition to this case, Vaara is also assigned the task of investigating
claims that a local 90 year old war hero committed war crimes during
the Second World War. His superiors instruct him to find a way to
clear the old man's name and exonerate him of all charges, a task
that Vaara sees as impossible. His inquiries uncover the fact that
his own grandfather served side by side with this tarnished hero
and was very likely complicit in the alleged war crimes.
This is a very complicated plot. It's so big that I haven't covered
all of it in my description, but the short chapter length and the
one-thing-at-a-time pacing of the story keep it from becoming confusing.
Author James Thompson writes with a poetic flair that makes even
the gruesome murder scenes palatable. If you're offended by graphic
sex and explicit language, this may not be the book for you, but
the story is great and it's beautifully told.
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