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    Snow Angels
    Snow Angels
    Snow Angels
    Audiobook8 hours

    Snow Angels

    Written by James Thompson

    Narrated by T. Ryder Smith

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The first book of James Thompson's Inspector Vaara series won immediate critical acclaim for a sterling tale set in the brutal cold and soul-testing isolation of kaamos, Finland's two weeks of utter darkness. Even as the unrelenting winter conditions tighten their grip on the residents of the Lapland town, a lovely Somali movie star is found murdered, a racial slur cut into her chest. "Masterful."-Michael Connelly
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateDec 17, 2010
    ISBN9781449837228
    Snow Angels
    Author

    James Thompson

    James Thompson, eastern Kentucky born and raised, has lived in Finland for the past dozen years. Before becoming a full-time writer, Thompson studied Finnish (in which he is fluent) and Swedish and worked as a bartender, bouncer, construction worker, photographer, rare-coin dealer, and solider.

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    Reviews for Snow Angels

    3.5/5

    247 ratings54 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Another well written book by this very talented author. However, I chose not to finish it. It was getting too depressing and disturbing. Others might not feel that way, but with all the depressing events in real life happening in 2009, I didn't need to become more depressed over fictional characters.
    • 2/5
      My first impression of this book was that it was meant for 6th graders. The font size used was huge and made it appear as if it had 10 words per page.Once I started reading it, I realized I wasn’t too far off. While the subject matter is too much of a downer for a nine year old, the way the story was written would have made them feel right at home. The sentences were choppy and had no weight to them.There were so many missed opportunities that could have made this book a knockout, but were simply washed away. The deaths of several characters were described in at most 2 simply written paragraphs. I was left with a feeling of wanting more (or really SOMETHING) and getting handed simply a statement.You don’t get a sense of love or hatred for any of the characters. While a lot of situations were sad, they were just that. Sad. Then you moved on. You didn’t relate to the characters just the situation, which when it comes to reading a 300 page book, would help.I was disappointed by this book as it was recommended by someone who reads a massive amount of books. This book will definitely be sold at the next yard sale. No reason to keep it.
    • 4/5
      I have had this book on my shelves for awhile, recommended to me by a fellow B&N poster. This is my first O'Nan book and I really enjoyed it. It is told mostly through Arthur,a 14 year old boy who is trying to get by despite his parents' divorce and the changes that ensue. The parallel story line is the events leading up to the death of Annie, Arthur's former babysitter. Annie is separated from her recently suicidal husband and trying to raise her young daughter. There is a lot to like and a lot to criticize about Annie. The story is heart-breaking but unsentimental, a straight-forward plot.My favorite passage from the novel: I heard the door open and my mother outside, her voice tiny and stretched, screaming at him as he made for the Nova. I sat on the edge of my bed, calmly parting my hair. Like everything else that happened this winter, I was not going to let this stop me from being happy.O'Nan is an excellent writer and I can't wait to read some of his others, especially Last Night at the Lobster and Songs for the Missing. Snow Angels is also a movie with Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell. It's in my Netflix queue and I hope it is true to the book.
    • 4/5
      I first discovered Stewart O'Nan through his non-fiction when I read The Circus Fire: A True Story. It was a very good book and ever since then I thought I should read his fiction. I am glad I did because it is also great reading, especially Snow Angels which is very good for a first novel. Growing up in a small town myself and playing in the high school band I could relate in part to the story of Arthur Parkinson. While I have not experienced the tragedy and family difficulties he relates in his story and that of his neighbor Annie Marchand, the author brings them alive in his vivid portrayal of their lives and the lives of their family and friends. The unnatural seems natural and the uncommon as common as it can be through O'Nan's elegant yet simple prose which leads the reader through the events that shaped these lives. I recommend this novel and author (and the film version as well).
    • 2/5
      In what can be described as noir-procedural, James Thompson introduces Inspector Vaara, a Police Chief limping among the villages and ski resorts of northern Finland. Snow Angels is the first novel of an expected series, and it opens with the mutilation murder of a Somali-born star of Finnish B-movies.

      As the mystery begins to wend its way into Vaara's personal life, the bodies pile up and his home-life suffers. He never seems to take action, letting events roll over him until he is forced to act, then inevitably makes the wrong decision. He is blind to the simple explanations, instead choosing to believe his own concoction of wealthy conspirators and international intrigue. In the final pages, little he has done has helped solve the mystery.

      Thompson writes all of this in the present tense, which I presume is meant to make it feel more immediate, but just feels more like a gimmick than anything else. Plus, it creates confusion: "I've still never figured out if [he] is a good actor, smarter than he seems, or if he really is the complete dolt I take him for." When did this thought happen? Is it at the time of the events happening in the next sentence, or is it in retrospect, after the case has been closed?

      But, Thompson is excellent at conveying a sense of place. His Finland in December is dark, depressing, and drunk, and through Vaara's American wife, the reader understands exactly how forbidding this place is to outsiders. It's rare for a novel set in Europe to feel foreign, but Thompson accomplishes this quite well.

      Overall, Snow Angels was uneven and unbelievable, but Thompson shows some promise.
    • 4/5
      “Instead of justice I got truth which was a poor substitute.”Audiobook. Definitely not a tourist brochure for Finland. Right up front we are told of the Finnish racism, hatred for foreigners, especially Germans, the cold, the lack of light in the winter, and their penchant for alcohol and killing loved ones.A Somali black movie star has been brutally murdered with a racial slur carved into her body.. The local inspector, Vaasa, married to an American ski resort manager, now pregnant with twins, knows he has political dynamite in this investigation. Suspects arrive in droves, and most of them are in the inspector’s circle. Admittedly, the town is small, but I was beginning to feel claustrophobic at the narrowness of his investigation. Mix in religious and cultural conflict and you have quite a melange. The Laestadian religion, a very conservative offshoot of Lutheranism, plays an important role in the book, as does the Koran. Both provide the motivations for many of the characters’ actions.The Wikipaedia entry on Thompson notes that Vaara is portrayed as a “good” cop who goes bad in later novels and I can certainly see the seeds of future corruption. Given events, I wondered how he could ever follow up this novel with a second in the series. But I will certainly want to read the rest of the series. . Definitely not a book for those who like their cozies: it’s graphic and often profane. Thompson, who had studied Finnish (as well as several other languages), was fluent in it, and lived in Finland, died in 2014 after writing four in the Vaasa series.
    • 1/5
      Very disappointing, I am Finnish, so I was really looking forward to reading this. The violence is way over the top & needlessly graphic, the author has little to offer readers who enjoy a good story so he decided to see how gross he could be instead. Give this one a miss!
    • 5/5
      Meet Kari Vaara. He is the inspector for a small town outside of Finland's capital of Helsinki. Just before Christmas, during the darkest time of the year in Lapland, he is confronted with the brutal (and I do mean brutal) murder of a semi-famous immigrant Somali actress. She has been viciously sexually assaulted and a racial slur has been carved into her stomach. Sex crime? Hate crime? Both? As lead investigator Vaara must sort through the clues; clues that dredge up his own haunted past. My only complaint was as lead detective Vaara should never have been allowed to stay on the case once it looked like his ex-wife's boyfriend was good for the crime. In my culture Vaara would have recused himself and left the investigation, especially since his ex-wife left him devastated. His fingering the boyfriend for the murder could be a revenge accusation. SPOILER ALERT: if not after the first murder, but certainly when his ex-wife is also murdered he should have handed over every part of the investigation and stepped as far back as possible. Just my two...Okay, and I have another complaint albeit a small one. This is definitely an adult book. The themes, the language, the sex and violence...well, the violence was especially over the top and so many deaths (six in all) seemed unnecessary.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the suspense of the book; however I did find it hard to connect with characters, just because it lacked some detail of getting to know them. The book was more about the “snow angels” then about who is who and why. However, it could be that with this being the first book of a series that the characters build during the other books. I love the fact that you get sucked into the darkness of the plot. I believe that is what makes you want to turn pages, because I surely did that. I did, in fact, enjoy the novel and I will be waiting for the second book to come out.It is brutally violent, dark, harsh words, but yet it sucked me into wanting more. Definitely more of an adult book, unless you like the dark suspense like I do.
    • 3/5
      Snow Angels, an Inspector Vaara Novel. James Thompson. 2009. Thompson is an American living in Finland. His character is a Finnish policeman married to an American who is having trouble adjusting to living in Finnish Lapland. Vaara is called to investigate the murder of beautiful Somali woman. The details of Finnish culture and the people are fascinating. This is a great start of a series; I hope the others are as suspenseful.
    • 5/5
      Book Info: Genre: Mystery/NoirReading Level: AdultRecommended for: Fans of dark mysteries, stories set in Scandinavia, well-developed characters, well-done mysteriesTrigger Warnings: murder, hate-crime, sexual assault, use of racist and sexist language (n-word, w-word, and c-word), religious zealotryMy Thoughts: This is a very dark story. It seems that most murder mysteries set in Scandinavia are very dark, which is interesting considering how few murders overall are committed there. In fact, looking at the statistics regarding serial killers in the US vs. just about everywhere else in the world was mighty sobering. Like any mystery, there is not much I can tell you about the plot because I don't want to give out spoilers. However, there are red herrings a-plenty, and I had no idea what to expect with the ending. The character development is very good, and Finland sounds like a place that is dear to the author's heart, in all its sometimes dismal and dreary reality. If you enjoy mysteries that wander off into the noir realm, if you enjoy stories based in Scandinavia, then you'll want to be sure to check out this series of books.Series Information: Snow Angels is the first book in the Inspector Vaara series.Book 2: Lucifer's Tears, to be read next, provided by publisher for an honest reviewBook 3: Helsinki White, upcoming, provided by Amazon Vine for an honest reviewBook 4: Helsinki Blood, I do not have, but it is on my wishlistDisclosure: I bought this book for myself. All opinions are my own.Synopsis: It is called kaamos—two weeks of unrelenting darkness and soul-numbing cold that falls upon Finnish Lapland, a hundred miles into the Arctic Circle, just before Christmas. Some get through it with the help of cheap Russian alcohol; some sink into depression.This year, it may have driven someone mad enough to commit murder. The brutalized body of a beautiful Somali woman has been found in the snow, and Inspector Kari Vaara must find her killer. It will be a challenge in a place where ugly things lurk under frozen surfaces, and silence is a way of life.
    • 4/5
      One of the things I really liked about this book was the setting, which is a small village in the Arctic Circle. I think Thompson gives a great portrayal of small-town life, Finnish style. He's also great at describing the elements--the weather and the landscape--which is such an important part of the life in Finland, particularly in the countryside. I'm now going to read the second book in the series . . .
    • 4/5
      Psychological thriller by an American author who has lived in Finland for several years, about the sheriff of a small town in rural Finland who must solve a murder during the sunless winter season. The victim is a glamorous black actress, and the murder is an obvious hate crime - the victim, Sufia, has been mutilated, sexually assaulted, and the murderer cut a racial slur into her stomach with a knife.

      The local sheriff, Kari, is worried about the publicity that will surround the grisly murder of a celebrity. He insists on investigating the case himself, although the Chief of Police in Helsinki offers to ship out a contingent of big city cops - but Kari begins to regret his decision when the #1 suspect turns out to be his ex-wife's new man, Seppo. Kari knows he's moved on, that his new wife Kate is the best thing that's ever happened to him, but the media spin Kari as a bad cop out for revenge when he arrests Seppo.

      As he continues his investigation, the details get more lurid but also more personal. Sufia had been sleeping around and taking money for sex - while
      her parents, devout Muslims, fly into town and insist she was a virgin. The other main suspect is a wealthy playboy with a taste for underage girls.
      Their best witness is mentally handicapped, and could never testify. One of the other cops on the force is hiding something, and eventually Kari begins
      to suspect his ex-wife.

      Thompson's writing is vigorous and spare, and he does an excellent job bringing the beauty and the terrible harshness of the Finnish winter to
      life. The main characters, their problems and relationships, are compelling. Minor, secondary characters feel real and complex no matter how
      brief their appearance. The story is peppered with all kinds of interesting factoids - about the Swedish minority in Finland, or the war in Somalia -
      that give the novel added breadth without sacrificing dramatic tension. I found SNOW ANGELS hard to put down - I read it straight through in one
      sitting, cover to cover, with relish. Although in retrospect I can point to a few clumsy elements of the plot, in particular the ending, I wasn't aware
      of them at the time.
    • 3/5
      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 foreigners is if not universal then fairly widespread. If that were all he showed then the book wouldn’t be much of a read but, using knowledge and experiences gained during his ten years living there, Thompson, who is American by birth, also depicts some of the subtleties of the culture which help to explain why people act the way they do. He also highlights some positive things like the community’s practical and drug-free way of dealing with a resident with mental health issues. For me this exploration of the customs and cultures of the region was the most successful aspect of the book.

      The crime in question is the murder and disfigurement of a beautiful Somali immigrant, Sufia Elmi, who had gained some fame as an actress in her adopted country. It is an uncommon crime but Inspector Kari Vaara is confident he can solve it. When evidence points to the new lover of his ex-wife as the murderer things do start to get complicated for Vaara and the investigation spirals out of control fairly early on. At one point Vaara seemed to be following a logical, evidence-based trail but then story then morphed into pondering his series of weird and wacky theories, based more on guesswork than facts. I think this loss of plot strength stemmed from the first-person point of view in which the whole story is told. This POV also provided for some clunky exposition which would have been far more smoothly integrated in a third-person story.

      The characters in Snow Angels go a fair way towards making up for the plot problems though. Kari is hiding some demons of his own but not to the point of being a hopeless alcoholic like so many of his fellow fictional detectives. His new marriage to an American woman is portrayed believably, with her difficulties in adapting to the country being thoughtfully depicted. Having once had to go to hospital in a country where I didn’t speak the language I could entirely identify with Kate’s fears and frustration at the way she perceived her treatment in such a circumstance. Most of the minor characters, like the succession of truly horrid people inhabiting Sufia Elmi’s life and Kari’s fellow police officer Valtteri, are also credible even if some of them are abhorrent. However the victim is never really fully fleshed out so it was difficult to become wholly absorbed by finding out what happened to her. The book could have spent less time repeating the horrible mutilations done to her and more time letting us get to know her back story and how she ended up in such horrid circumstances.

      Reading this book made me think about the impact of the author’s perspective on storytelling as it’s the only one of the books I’ve read for this challenge written by someone who isn’t Scandinavian by birth. It’ fairly common to read books by ‘outsiders’ set in the US or UK or even Australia but to come across a non-local but knowledgeable perspective of a fairly closed society like this one is fascinating. Overall I enjoyed the read and could forgive some of the plot problems of the debut novel because the setting and characterisations were well realised and I will happily read another story in which they feature. Though I’ll hope it’s summer time and the poor folk get a bit of sunlight in their lives.
    • 3/5
      Worthwhile introduction to series from Finland featuring Inspector Kari Vaara. The books best character may be Finland itself. Finland's climate is more extreme than that of Sweden. The two week period of no sunlight right before Christmas and its effects are intriguing, as is the influence of the conservative Lutherans which permeate Finland. I like the central character and the tone of the book, but felt the plot to be over-the-top as the main character's ex-wife, best friend's son, and then best friend are all implicated in the crime. Even Batman wasn't faced with this cartoonish level of adversity betrayl. I found the apocalyptic ending disappointing, but I will try another.
    • 5/5
      Nordic Noir. You feel the cold and darkness of an arctic winter in Finland. And in this dark place a Somali woman is brutally murdered. It is up to Inspector Vaara to solve the crime with international implications.
    • 3/5
      In the days leading up to Christmas, the disfigured body of a Somali immigrant actress is discovered in a Finnish field. Inspector Kari Vaara and his team are on the puzzling case. Is it a sex crime, a hate crime, or both? As the evidence is unearthed, it points closer and closer to Vaara's circle of family, friends, and community. Is it possible that person who committed this horrible crime is someone Vaara knows?The book gets off to a promising start, but it begins to fizzle somewhere near the middle. The author tried to do a bit too much with this first-in-series novel. It seems like he introduced more suspects and clues than he was able to handle. I liked some aspects of the book. It was interesting to read about the dark days of winter when the sun never rises above the Arctic Circle and the psychological effect this has on the people who live there. I also learned about a conservative Lutheran sect I'd never heard of before, the Laestadians. However, the excessive use of coarse language is a turn-off for me, and it's enough to put me off of the rest of the series.
    • 3/5
      The body of a Somali immigrant woman has been found in the snow in northern Finland just before Christmas. It appears to be either a sex crime or a racially motivated one. Inspector Kari Vaara must wade through the evidence to determine the motive and the killer's identity. It's not all that easy as the chief suspect is the man who stole his ex-wife from him. The plural of the title led me to believe that I would be reading about a serial murderer who used the snow angel pattern. Such was not the case (although I do say that with relief). I felt that some the characters lacked depth. Although we got to know Inspector Vaara and the chief suspect quite well, I felt that some of the other key players such as Vaara's ex-wife Heli, Vaara's right-hand man Valtteri, and Peter Eklund, a suspect who was the son of a wealthy man, were underdeveloped. The "f" word was overused, and there was a little more sexual description than I'm comfortable reading in this novel. It's not a bad debut novel, but I do hope that his later installments correct some of the problems of this first in the series.
    • 3/5
      Except for some insights into aspects of Finnish society and culture, this book did not have many redeeming elements. Poorly written, so many short sentences! The characters were shallow, the plot poor. Plus the murder was unnecessarily gruesome.
    • 4/5
      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 like a cakewalk when compared to kaamos, the polar night experienced inside the arctic circle in Finland -- two weeks of darkness, where the only light experienced in in the pinpoints of the stars or the flares from the aurora borealis .A horrendous, hate-filled murder occurs and Inspector Kari Vaara must find the killer. I'm purposely not going into details on that, because it's been written to death (ha!) in other reviews. That this takes place during kaamos, where the weather and brutal cold are actually characters in the story, gives a hint of the darkness of the tale. When the twists of the plot uncovered more and more details, bleakness really did set it. Snow Angels played a large and happy part in my childhood memories, but they were not angels such as this. It was not the actual crime and solution that captivated me so much as the unfolding bits of culture that Thompson brought into the story. I'll never see the aurora borealis (though it's been a lifelong dream to do so) but at least I know how it feels, how it tastes. And the glimpses in to the Finnish psyche were fascinating, as were the discussions of traditional Christmas foods and customs. There are people out there who will complain about the plot: too much this, not enough that. I'm not one of them. For me, though it also brought sadness, it brought me new characters to follow and a wealth of information about another culture.
    • 4/5
      “Endless night can drive anyone to murder.”When I think of Finland, I see a cold, bright and friendly place. The country in these pages, is a dark, inhospitable place, a frigid alien world, where the sun refuses to rise, for months at a time, leading to a staggering homicide rate.This is the first book in a Scandinavian crime series, featuring a tough cop named Kari Vaara. A beautiful Somali actress has been found, brutally murdered. Inspector Vaara investigates and soon finds himself, plunging into a cesspool, of hate, revenge and retribution. This well-written police procedural, might not be for the faint of heart, but if you are willing to jump aboard this exceptional thriller, it will take you to some very dark, unexpected places. Bring ear-muffs and a strong stomach.
    • 4/5
      A bit hard to follow and relied a little too much on coincidence, but in all a very good book. Will read this author again.
    • 4/5
      I rated this book higher than I otherwise would have because I felt I learned a lot about Finland and the Finns. Kari, the hero cop, was struggling with too many suspects, and I was too. What compounded the problem was Finnish names - something I'm used to from a steady diet of Scandinavian books - but here I had no clue as to gender and that made it harder than usual. Then Kari identified 4 potential crime scenarios, each with multiple suspects, and multiple variations. ???? The conclusion didn't seem real world at all, but despite all this I still might read book 2 in this series, presuming there is a book 2.
    • 3/5
      This is the first book in a new series featuring Inspector Kari Vaara. What sets this book apart from other detective novels is that it takes place in Finland. It also takes place during the bleakest time of the year when it is constantly dark and extremely cold. Anyone who finds regular winters long and difficult will be able to appreciate how much worse this time of year can be. Just when I thought I had the plot figured out it changed! Needless to say there are enough surprising developments to keep your interest. I enjoyed this book and think you will as well.
    • 3/5
      This book leaves me with very mixed feelings. It is a page turner and I could not put it down. On the other hand, I felt the graphic violence and sexual crimes were used in almost a gimimicky way to keep the reader's interest. I didn't think that character development was accomplished to truly understand motivations. The book did leave me wondering about Finland and their true feelings about immigration and the long winters, drinking and suicide. I do think that books deserve kudos for making a reader want to know more about a situation(s). This book does make a reader think about other cultures and what is happening within it.
    • 5/5
      In spite of the fact that my coworker noted many critics did not like this novel, I read it anyway. And guess what? I liked it. A lot. I understand the criticism, some parts of the plot were a bit far fetched, but it didn't bother me. Nor did the fact that it was a Finnish mystery, written by an American in English and in first person. It's the story of a detective, his American wife and the murder he stumbles into. The murders increase, as does the detective's personal connection to the dead. I found the story to be enthralling and chilling and quite fun to read. But then again, I love these atmospheric Scandinavian mysteries.
    • 5/5
      In northern Finland above the Arctic Circle, the snowfields of a rural reindeer farm are the scene of a gruesome murder. The victim is a minor celebrity, a gorgeous Somali immigrant film actress. The chief of the small local police force could bring in the national police but instead keeps the case and works with his Christmas-holiday depleted staff while balancing life with his newly-pregnant American wife, his dysfunctional birth family, and, for that matter, his completely dysfunctional town: it's Kaamos, the pre-Christmas polar night, when there is darkness 24 hours a day.While there are many suspects and more bodies to come, overhanging all is the character of a land where people are often driven to drink, violence or suicide by the lack of light. It pervades the book and is an extraordinary addition to the ambiance. I found myself depressed just reading and imaging the characters' lives, thinking about how humans came to live in such a place over the eons while slowly moving outwards from the warmer areas of the world. Along with a gripping mystery which kept me glued to the pages, the ever-present darkness of the landscape pushed me to finish and get my mind into the sunlight again, even though I was reading in a sunlit room myself. The author is an American who has lived in Finland for the last decade, but while there is an American flavor to plot, the culture and lifestyle of Finland is a strong presence. I'll certainly be looking for a sequel, but maybe I'll read the next one in the summer. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      I like the book for the input on finnish culture it gave us. I was a bit disappointed by the story line... The author was trying to hard to keep us guessing by shifting the blame on every character without ever disputing anything. If it wouldn't have been for the last few pages, this crime could have gone unsolved....
    • 3/5
      a very intriguing debut. I'm not sure if the book interested me more because of the story, the characters, or the insight into Finland, a country I know virtually nothing about. Whatever the case it added up to very interesting read. It will equally interesting to see where this author goes from here. Right now he reminds me of a Finnish Greg Iles.
    • 4/5
      North of the Arctic Circle in Lapland, we meet Inspector Vaara who has been assigned a murder case - a local Somalian actress has been brutally stabbed and left in a snow bank. Life is pretty depressing in Finland during kaamos, the annual dark time, with all the drinking and suicides, but this murder rocks even the toughest cop. Is it a hate crime?I love reading mysteries set in other countries - people are really all the same everywhere, murdering each other for greed, money, and hate, but I get to see another part of the world at the same time. This detective is at a good place in his life after an early divorce- his new American wife is pregnant, but is beginning to have some culture shock issues. His family is still all around and as he investigates further, we learn more about his past, and the drowning of his sister. Lots of angst and pain.I thought this was a great mystery series beginning, and I'd read another one. I enjoyed getting to know Inspector Vaara as he explained Finland.