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pia_de_e's review against another edition
4.0
Book 6 in the Maria Kallio series, but it works great as a stand alone. What's more, I'm looking forward to reading all the books in the series and ale¡ready have book 1 stored on my kindle.
Maria Kallio is head of the violent crime unit in Espoo, Finland. She is about to return to work after maternity leave, but just before she takes a small family trip to an island, when she finds out an ex-boyfriend died there the year before.
A year after his death, the owner of the island, an industrial tycoon, dies there too.
Were these deaths accidents? Murder?
A long list of suspects has Maria and her unit working overtime. The situation, as usually happens in thrillers, changes swiftly and the end is unexpected.
This is a classic mystery-thriller book, in the best tradition of Nordic-Noir, which happens to be one of my favorite genres
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Maria Kallio is head of the violent crime unit in Espoo, Finland. She is about to return to work after maternity leave, but just before she takes a small family trip to an island, when she finds out an ex-boyfriend died there the year before.
A year after his death, the owner of the island, an industrial tycoon, dies there too.
Were these deaths accidents? Murder?
A long list of suspects has Maria and her unit working overtime. The situation, as usually happens in thrillers, changes swiftly and the end is unexpected.
This is a classic mystery-thriller book, in the best tradition of Nordic-Noir, which happens to be one of my favorite genres
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
m4rtt4's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
This was not necessarily bad, but the thing with series is that the story needs to improve in order for the reader to continue the series... and in many ways this book just felt like a filler episode that relied on shock effects. I won't stop my Maria Kallio audiobook marathon because of this, but I'm seriously hoping that she gets a hold of herself in the upcoming books. It bothered me that underlying alcoholism is related to many male characters, yet Maria's habit of drinking whiskey after every inconvenience is completely ignored?? And why does she fantasize about every conventionally attractive man she meets and takes her husband for granted? Also she is STILL the epitome of "not like other girls" despite being over 30 years old, and her feminism is sooooo white it irks me that she's being called 'feminist' in every other sentence. She gets brownie points by condemning Ström's blatant racism, yet she makes so many subtly racist comments about Anu Wang.. "she was very tall for her race",, well,
1) at 170cm she's tall for Finns as well and
2) you could just say "tall"? :) :) :)
it unfortunately shows that these were written in the 90s. The stories aren't even bad, but Maria Kallio's personality is a huge turn off.
1) at 170cm she's tall for Finns as well and
2) you could just say "tall"? :) :) :)
it unfortunately shows that these were written in the 90s. The stories aren't even bad, but Maria Kallio's personality is a huge turn off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Police brutality, Islamophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
emminkirjakasa's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Taattua Lehtolaisen laatua. Tarina on taas ihanan ajaton, vain silloin tällöin maininnat faksista, markoista ja puhelimeen siirtymisestä muistuttaa, että tarina on yli 20 vuotta vanha. Kohti Marian uusia seikkailuja! Pertti Strömmin itsemurha harmittaa, tykkäsin hahmosta paljon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Murder
Moderate: Sexism and Sexual assault
tessisreading2's review against another edition
3.0
I’ve been zooming through this series but I think it’s time to take a break - Maria’s kind of exhausting at this point. She’s an interesting character but she’s not always likable, and the books are told in the first person so as her life gets more “adult” and her problems more complex, it gets a little claustrophobic. Maria is married with a daughter; her co-workers are having a variety of problems of their own; in the meantime she’s attracted to a murder suspect (not a new experience for her) and she mentions repeatedly that she’d sometimes wondered about having an affair with her commanding officer. None of this is new - she met Antti, or renewed her familiarity with Antti, when his best friend was murdered in the first book - but while her worries were sympathetic when she was trying to figure out whether she could handle settling down enough to get married or worrying over an unexpected pregnancy, now it just feels… selfish and willfully dumb, particularly when she does things like go on a boat ride alone with (1) a murder suspect (2) she not-so-secretly wants to sleep with. She remains a sensible compassionate figure but the journey was a little frustrating this time.
viktoriya's review against another edition
Maybe it's the story, maybe it's the writing, maybe it's the fact that I already struggled through one Scandinavian slow as molasses murder mystery this month and simply can't take another one.
cassandrat's review against another edition
4.5
Kirja oli aika helppo lukea ja mielenkiintoinen. Sanasto toisti riittävästi että ei tarvinnut käyttää sanakirjaa liaan usein ja pystyin oppimaan sanoja.
Pretty easy to read and interesting. The vocabulary repeated enough that I didn't have to use a dictionary a lot and I was able to learn the words.
Pretty easy to read and interesting. The vocabulary repeated enough that I didn't have to use a dictionary a lot and I was able to learn the words.
verumsolum's review against another edition
4.0
A good book. I seem to be “getting” Maria better as time goes on