Keltainen leski by Reijo Mäki

Another one of the Finnish books I got last summer but I've forgotten to read is Reijo Mäki's Keltainen leski. I've never read any Vares books before, but hey - I like a good detective novel and Vares was in the headlines last summer because of the movie they made of this book, so I decided to give it a go.

Story is classic one including cunning coincidences, mafia, love, lust and lot of money - you know, the works. Mäki is a skilled writer, his style is funny and gripping, and characters are interesting although most of them are quite unpleasant. Theme in this book seems very much to be weak flesh - most of the people in this book have a weakness that will motivate them although they know they are doing the wrong thing. Eeva's weakness is loneliness and she makes bad choices because of it, Kraft's problem is money, Koitere is addicted to sex and Miesmann is motivated by power and fear. In the middle of all this there is Jussi Vares, a private detective in a middle of a 40s crisis, who alone seems to be motivated by moral and he alone seems to want to do the right thing because it's right.

Excellent read, really enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to reading more Vares books.

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