Helsinki Blood by James Thompson

Helsinki Blood by James Thompson is the fourth book in the explosive Finnish-based crime series featuring Inspector Kari Vaara. I have not read the first three books entitled Snow Angels, Lucifer’s Tears and Helsinki White so I am a bit lost with the flashbacks to what happened in Helsinki White.

Inspector Vaara, struggling from physical and psychological toll after his previous case in Helsinki White, is approached by an Estonian woman who begs him to find her daughter, Loviise, a 19-year old woman with Down syndrome who was lured to Helsinki with the promise of a secretarial job, but who the woman fears has been forced into prostitution.

Vaara sees a chance for redemption and to prove to his estranged wife, Kate, that he’s still the man he once was. Kate is suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder after she was forced to take a very extreme action in Helsinki White.

Vaara must once again rally his dysfunctional team around him. Milo Nieminien, his right hand man, has lost the use of his right hand from a gunshot injury . The only one who escaped relatively unscathed is the team’s third member, Sulo “Sweetness” Polvinen, though Sweetness has a drinking problem. Vaara and his team have made a lot of enemies, many of whom are powerful people bent on seeking revenge.

Vaara’s search for Loviise will lead him from the glittering world of Helsinki’s high-class clubs to the darkest circles of Finland’s underground trade in trafficked women, crossing paths with some of the most untouchable people in the country.

James Thompson has created an immensely compelling and complicated character in Kari Vaara. You may not like Vaara but you can’t help cheering him on. Vaara resorts to self-medicating with a potent mix of alcohol and painkillers to ease the pain from his injuries and the emotional detachment he’s been going through life following his brain tumor surgery has left him with the ability to make very cold, clinical decisions about things most people would find difficult, if not downright repugnant.

This is a thriller that pulls no punches. The violence is over the top. Vaara makes Dirty Harry look like an altar boy. If I can get my hands on the first three instalments of this series, I will definitely read them. There was supposed to be more instalments in this series but the author passed away unexpectedly in August 2014. Helsinki Dead, the fifth instalment in the series, was scheduled for release in 2014 but remained unfinished at the time of Thompson’s death. The world of crime literature has lost a tremendous talent.