When the mutilated body of a young Somali immigrant is found on a reindeer farm, Vaara is called in to investigate. There is more than an inkling that the death has a racial connotation in that a racial slur has literally been carved into her body. Finland is sensitive to allegations of racism all the more so because, according to the author, they silently are racists. They are not vocal about it, but that does not change the fact. Moreover, although the rate of violent crime in Finland, a sparsely populated country, is comparable to many big American cities, these crimes are committed against individuals well known to the perpetrator.

The pressure to solve the case is intense. Vaara has returned to the place of his birth somewhat under a cloud. He had been a policeman in Helsinki when he was shot under somewhat dubious circumstances. His superior has pulled strings to get him transferred back home and orchestrated the story of his injury to make him appear a hero though other interpretations are possible.  In addition, Vaara is recently happily married to an American. As a foreigner Kate is having some difficulty adapting to the Finnish culture and language.

Snow Angels is at once an intriguing mystery and a look at Finnish culture and society not commonly seen. Author James Thompson, an American who has lived in Finland for eleven years, is married to a Finn and has lived through many of the situations that his characters experience in the story. The legal system is just enough different from the American one to give US readers pause for thought. The Finnish sense of privacy appears to Americans as lack of compassion. There is a large community of Laplanders who are Laestadians. Laestadians are a sect that promotes an austere life, perhaps reflecting their environment.

The nuts and bolts of the murder of a young Somali woman while not particularly unique allow the author to integrate a number of social, political, and cultural topics which are intriguing. Because the author is an American this is an unusual spin on the recently popular Scandinavian crime novel. While Snow Angels has the same setting, it lacks the overall dark cast that is so prevalent in Scandinavian crime novels.

 There are a few indications that Thompson has not forgotten his American roots. He describes distance in terms of a football field and yards instead of kilometers. There are also references to the Black Dahlia true crime case which belongs to the Californians. The author’s attempt to show the similarities between Vaara’s case and the American one is not wholly successful.

The sense of place and the influence of the climate on the crime make this story an engaging one. The author has done well in his effort to communicate how truly foreign this part of the world is to many of us. He has given us a glimpse of life in Lapland in thing season of the year and, hopefully, provided a bridge for understanding another culture.

--Andy Plonka