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Nights of Awe (Ariel Kafka Mystery) by Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator) (view source)
Revision as of 12:51, 31 January 2022
, 12:51, 31 January 2022no edit summary
{{infoboxinfobox1
|title=Nights of Awe (Ariel Kafka Mystery)
|author=Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator)
|borrow=Yes
|isbn=978-1904738923
|pages=278
|publisher=Bitter Lemon Press
|date=February 2012
|summary=In this engaging crime thriller, Inspector Ari Kafka works for the Helsinki Violent Crime Unit, one of the only two Jewish police officers in Finland. This isn't normally a problem until four middle-eastern bodies are found in quick succession, causing Ari to question his loyalties.
|cover=1904738923
|aznuk=1904738923
|aznus=1904738923
}}
Inspector Ari Kafka (no relation to the author or, indeed, the local pawn shop owner) is half of the Jewish police officers in Finland which he's sure is due to pay levels rather than religious conviction. Ari graduated 4th in his class at police academy which surprised his mother at the time. If his brother and sister could both graduate top of their university classes, what's wrong with him? His brother is always trying to encourage his attendance at family dinners and the local rabbi has to remind him where of the whereabouts of the local synagogue. All this pressure is normally water off a duck's back to Kafka, but this is about to change. When two Arab bodies are found on a railway line, he must choose between loyalties to those he loves and to those he's sworn to serve.
The author, Harri Nykanen, was a crime journalist before turning to fiction and so comes to this police procedural with a back catalogue of experience and knowledge. This isn't his first novel, in fact he has won awards and one of his books (''The Raid'') has been made into a film. However, most of his output to date has been in Finnish, a loss to the rest of us if ''Nights of Awe'' is anything to go by. This is the world's introduction to Ari Kafka, and what an introduction.
I would lilke to thank Bitter Lemon Press for providing Bookbag with a copy of this book to review.
If you've enjoyed this, perhaps you'd like to try some more Scandinavian crime thrillers? In that case, perhaps [[The Last Fix by K O Dahl]] or [[KennedyThe Troubled Man by Henning Mankell]]. We also enjoyed [[Behind God's Brain Back (Ariel Kafka Series) by Harri Nykanen and Kristian London (translator)]]. You might also like [[The Rabbit Factor by Henning MankellAntti Tuomainen and David Hackston (translator)]]. {{amazontext|amazon=1904738923}}{{amazonUStext|amazon=1904738923}}
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[[Category:Harri Nykanen]]
[[Category:Kristian London]]
[[Category:Thrillers]]