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Kolibri (2013)

by Kati Hiekkapelto(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

9511267329 (ISBN13: 9789511267324)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Otava

series

Anna Fekete

review 1: Anna Fekete faces challenges in her new role with the Finnish police.Despite being integrated into life in Finland she still bearing the scars of her immigrant-status and she must cope with the draining pressures of an alcoholic brother who never settled and a mother who has returned to their native country. And it's autumn, the Nordic winter is creeping closer, bringing with it long, dark days and a sense of isolation that's unique to the northern latitudes.Her first case is the brutal shooting of a jogger -a seemingly random crime that shocks the neighbourhood. And then there's another shooting and Anna and her team begin a fight against time to solve the puzzle of the Hummingbird killer.And running alongside her official work there's the disturbing case of the young Bih... morear whose life, Anna senses, is in danger, but who appears to be too closeted by her menacing family for Anna to reach. Kati Hiekkapelto's debut novel offers us an impressive insight into the lives of the immigrant population of a Finnish city and the racism that all strangers to a foreign culture face. She touches on the plight of the elderly living alone and their vulnerability. Some of the words that she uses, such as 'wog' and 'decrepit' are shocking and make the reader pause and reflect, in my case angrily, on the society in which we live.The Hummingbird is a story that's well-told and brilliantly translated.It captivated me to the extent that I bought both the paper and the Kindle versions, although I have to say that the latter had quite a few issues with formatting and, in one place, a sentence that had been cut short. A minor irritant, but distracting all the same. And the surprise ending made me smile... Go girl Anna! And the book's unlikely other hero.
review 2: There was lots to like about this debut crime novel: compelling characters with interesting back stories and interactions between colleagues. Unique insight into the lives of immigrants in Finland and the casual racism they are subjected to (sometimes not all that casual, almost shocking in its directness). A complicated and realistically paced investigation, spread out over weeks even months, seeming to hit a lot of dead ends, rather than all being tied up neatly within a matter of days.However, perhaps the author is trying to incorporate too much in her debut novel, so there are too many strands there, some of which do not add much to the story (the Kurdish family's story feels like it belongs in a different book), and the final solution/identity of the killer does seem to come a bit out of the blue.Anna Fekete is an attractive main protagonist, although her rapid descent from committed marathon runner to pizza-eating, non-exercising and nicotine-addicted insomniac is perhaps a bit too dramatic over a period of just a few weeks. Still, who knows what effects the Northern darkness will have on people, especially those originally from a more South European descent. less

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