Raid And The Blackest Sheep

Raid #4

by Harri Nykänen, Peter Ylitalo Leppa (Translator)

Hard-nosed hit man Raid is driving toward the Arctic Circle with Nygren, a career criminal in the twilight of his life. As they journey northward, Nygren puts his affairs in order, wreaking vengeance on those who have wronged him and paying penance to those he has wronged. Their first stop is at a church, where a sham preacher is fleecing his congregation for money. Soon, both cops and crooks are on the trail of the mysterious pair. Detective Lieutenant Jansson and his colleagues are interested in any potential jobs the notorious criminals might be planning. A couple of accomplices from Nygren's past believe he has a hidden stash of cash, and want a share for themselves. In the end, the pilgrimage leaves a trail of wounded and dead in its wake. Harri Nykanen is a Finnish author who has written nearly 30 books and is best known for his Raid series. While Nykanen's work has been translated into many languages, Raid and the Blackest Sheep is the first of his novels to be published in English. A series based on the Raid character has appeared on television in both Finland and select U.S. markets, and a Raid movie also appeared in Finnish theaters. "Raid has a lot of the same quiet vengeance as the characters that Clint Eastwood creates on the silver screen. Both have the ability to make even murder seem justified." - Länsi-Suomi "Two honest criminals contemplate the meaning of life... Nykänen writes clever dialogue and his laconic humour is an enjoyment for every reader" – Aamulehti

Genres: Crime, Fiction, Finnish Literature, Audiobook, Mystery

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Harri Nykänen was a long-time crime journalist for the largest Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, and then a full time author. He won the Finnish crime fiction award "The Clue" both in 1990 and in 2001.

Reviews

[Denise]

Career criminal Nygren is dying and undertakes a final journey towards the Arctic Circle, putting his affairs in order and settling old scores as he goes. Accompanying him is hitman Raid as his driver and enforcer, keeping the pair one step ahead of both Nygren's old enemies and the police that are soon on their trail.

My New Year's resolution of 2020 was to start reading one book each month in Finnish to improve my grasp of the language, and this was the first one I picked up. Compelling enough to keep me reading despite having to resort to the dictionary every other page - I do believe more books from this series will find their way into my reading list in the future.

[Diane]

Raid is a hitman-with-a-heart-of-gold who accompanies career criminal Nygren on a mysterious journey to Lapland. This journey turns out to be one part pilgrimage and one part crime spree in a novel that explores issues of faith and morality along with its shoot-em-up plot.

Nygren, who is terminally ill, is bent on orchestrating his own personal judgment day as he seeks to repay vice with vice and virtue with virtue. The pesky former accomplices of Nygren, Sariola and Lehto, show up again and again as they are looking for their big pay day: Nygren’s legendary stash. Cops and crooks both end up on the trail of Raid and Nygren. I found this book to be compelling and also enjoyed the setting of the Finnish countryside. Recommended.

[Antti Sorri]

Suomalaisten kollektiiviseen tajuntaan syöpynyt, Kai Lehtisen tähdittämä tv-sarja ja Harri Nykäsen luoma romaanihahmo Raid on nyt ensimmäistä kertaa käännetty sarjakuvamuotoon. Jussi Piirosen kuvittama sarjakuvaromaani perustuu samannimiseen romaaniin.

Piirustusjälki tuo etäisesti mieleen Frank Millerin Sin Cityn ja käsikirjoitus Neil Gaimanin Sandmanin. Hatunnosto esikuvista.

Kaikille tv-sarjan faneille tiedoksi, ettei Nykäsen romaanien, eikä tämän sarjakuvankaan Raid ja kumppanit ole samanlaisia kuin selluloidille päätyneillä versioillaan. Toki yhtäläisyyksiäkin löytyy: Nihilistinen ja synkkä ihmiskuva, sekä näkemys omankäden oikeutuksen jaloudesta ja rikollisten välille syntyvistä kunniakäsityksistä.

Menevää ja hyvin piirettyä sarjakuvaa, jota lukee ilokseen. Hienoa, että tämä on tehty.

[Kailey]

This is one of the most man-centric books I have read in quite some time. It has lots of violence and black humor. Even when you look past the guns and cars and fights, underneath is men trying to wrestle with their own ego. I liked the book. It has a few nice contemplations of what it means to grow old and die from the perspective of a proud manly man. These books have inspired a movie and a TV mini-series. I can see how they would translate well onto the silver screen.

[Astragen]

My first Harri Nykanen. A dying man is putting his affairs in order and catching up on righting the wrongs he has done and righting the wrongs others have been doing. Noir and off-centre comedy at the same time.

What I liked the most about this book was its noir setting: The aging Nygren, a career criminal in the twilight of his life, who has lived in Sweden for many years and was in jail there as well, wants to go to the Arctic Circle. It is not clear why he wants to go to that place and what’s there in that location, but that’s not important. What’s important is the path, the journey to get there. Almost no justification is given for the actions of the protagonists. The Raid character is almost a cipher in itself, almost like a black hole, ie, nothing comes out. The use of the language is very also concise and cinematic. For me Nygren’s journey is more elegiac than it seemed at first. Some of the people he visited were people he himself had betrayed; others were lost family members. As Raid drove up and down the country, Nygren told him stories of his past, and how he had come to this point – and eventually, I came to see why Nygren had chosen this particular companion. After all, Raid is part of the book title…

As a final thought, I’d say that Nykanen's writing is quite unlike anything else in Scandinavian crime fiction, having perhaps more in common with neo-noir writers like Alan Guthrie or Sjöwall/Wahlöö (a little closer to home), for those who like this kind of comparison.

[Robin K]

This is a nice book. It’s set in Finland, and it looks at honor and obligation among criminals and police alike. It’s not really a mystery, nor is it a police procedural, although there are elements of both. How Nykanen humanized the characters turned out to be a very pleasant experience and the small surprises at the end were great.

[Jorgon]

Absolutely fantastic. An almost-prefect noir, but with a particularly Finnish taste, full of brilliant dialogue and black deadpan humour. Will appeal to both Scandi-noir fans AND fans of Aki Kaurismäki's wondersome films. The only reason I am giving it only four stars is because it is a translation: I am assuming that the original is even better.

[William]

Decent Nordic Noir with interesting characters, compelling plot line, and believable sequences. Just enough mystery to make one continue reading. I would have liked more "flavor" of Finland, but I assume this was not written with non-Finnish readers -- and their fascination with Finland -- in mind.

[Jack]

An unusual Finnish crime story in which we follow the exploits of a villain in parallel with his somewhat reluctant police pursuers.

[Kristýna Huclová]

Děj je takový tuctový až fádní, starý kriminálník-gentelman na sklonku života vyrovnává účty; vážně nic originálního. Co tu knížku zachraňuje je spád a sarkasmus, takže za mě nakonec dobrý.

[Wegmarken2006]

dry snack

[Oula Kuuva]

Raid-sarjan Oikea Alku™. Edellisosan tapahtumiin viitataan tässä ja myöhemminkin mutta kahdella ensimmäisellä osalla ei oikeasti ole väliä.

Aiemmat tapahtumat tiivistettynä: Raid päästi Imatralla ilmat Venäläisestä mafiososta henkivartijoineen. Keikan tilaaja ei halunnut maksaa vaan räjäytti Raidin asuntoauton käsikranaatilla. Raid maksoi takaisin räjäyttämällä tilaajan henkivartijoineen käsikranaatilla ja viimeisteli pistoolilla. Kaikki muut menneisyyden tapahtumat ovat tapahtuneet kirjojen ulkopuolella.

Tästä on hyvä jatkaa.

[Ed]

This crime novel takes place in Finland and involves a journey taken by two men--Nygren, the older one is dying of cancer and wants to settle accounts with enemies and friends from his past; the younger man, Raid, is an extraordinarily gifted hired killer, very efficient and always taciturn. There is another pair, Jansson, a lieutenant in the Helsinki police and Huusko, a friend and fellow officer. Each side knows secrets about the other.

Nygren and Raid visit a sleazy preacher who convinces his gullible flock to give him money they can't afford and who seduces several young women who are in his thrall. One of them is the daughter of a close friend of Nygren. The preacher is emotionally crushed in front of his congregation, forced to confess his duplicitous sexual and pecuniary behavior and hand back to them all the money he currently has.

A second confrontation is unplanned. Nygren and Raid are accosted by Sariola, a former criminal comrade who wants money from Nygren, solely because he has run through his share of the loot from a robbery they did together. He thinks Nygren might be a soft touch since he is near to death. He winds up in the hospital with painful burns after a pot of hot coffee is dumped in his crotch. Later he and an accomplice come after Nygren and Raid and barely escape with their lives although Sariola has his hand mangled by a shotgun blast.

They then drop in on Rusanen who was formerly in prison with Nygren and who now is a drug kingpin. Rusanen ends up with a bullet in his head.

While notching the butcher's bill the travelers visit Nygren's daughter, a person he has barely seen in decades. He meets his six year old grandson for the first time and leaves his daughter with a envelope full of cash. Another wad of money goes to a former convict who served time with Nygran and who is now trying to straighten out his life.

There are a couple of subplots involving the police officers including one of their colleagues who has a real transformation while trying to figure out what the criminal protagonists are trying to accomplish.

Well worth reading for fans of Nordic crime fiction. Harri Nykanen is a welcome addition from the land of sauna and cell phone.

[Rich Hammett]

Very enjoyable! Nykänen paints a vivid picture, with great characters I can picture from the TV series. Pertti Koivula has the voice and style I need to see the story.

[Grada (BoekenTrol)]

I've finished this book today and I liked it. Which means that I kept reading because I wanted to know how it end, this story of Nygren and the men who seek him, cops and criminals alike.
It was an unusual crime story. On the one hand, this made me read on, because I wanted to know how this unusual story ends. On the other hand n I found it a dull story.
There was not a lot of excitement, the police could prevent not a single action of Nygren and Raid.
For me it were two stories, one of Nygren and Raid and the other from Jansson & the police that ran side by side. Only when Jansson and Nygren met and at the end when Kepmas ended up being toothey intertwined.

I do not know if I will a thriller / mystery by Nykänen again. If they are all this unusually, maybe only if I find one AND if I'm in the mood. But a big "super!" this crime story does not get from me.

[Petr Pláteník]

Cesta černých ovcí
S velkým nadhledem vystřihnutá novodobá variace hard-boiled krimi, ve finském kabátě. Oproti televizní adaptaci nepůsobí tak roztomile parodickým dojmem, kdy se zdá, jako by se tvůrci pokusili zahrát si na americká televizní 50. či 60. léta. Knižní Raid je melancholickým vyprávěním o dinosaurech zločinu, kteří ještě respekují nějaká pravidla a jsou navíc dost tvrdí na to, aby si poradili s mladými, bezkrupolozními dravci. Tento příběh je konkrétně je vlastně elegií skládanou při příležitosti odchodu jednoho z těchto velikánů.

[Bill Hoyler]

Redemption and retribution

The only reason I gave this novel 4 stars and not 5 is because the story is too short. I didn't want it to end. If you like Nesbo, Sipila, Adler-Olson.......Scandinavian and Finnish crime novels you will enjoy Nykanen too

[Jer Hogan]

A pretty standard crime on the road novel with the exotic location of Finland.

[Timo]

Tämä olikin yllättävän hyvä vaikka taide välillä ontuikin ja osasta hahmoja oli vaikea tunnistaa, kuka on kuka. Mutta toimi.

[Joe Kosarek]

Pleasant enough reading, but kind of superficial without any real character development.