Nordic Noir discussion

For discussions about James Thompson's Inspector Vaara series:

#1 - Snow Angels
#2 - Lucifer's Tears
#3 - Helsinki White

Damn..isn't it hilarious that you and I both go for Jim first?!?!

what can i say ;)

That was funny..I told Jim I would let him know when the group was up..so I posted it on his FB page!

if they have facebook pages, do you want to post the link in their author thread?

Yeah, I think it would work...

I loved Snow Angels, hoping for some gift cards for my birthday to buy Lucifer's Tears.

Marilyn - I have lucifer's tears in print if u wanna borrow it - just let me know

Would love to Dee, thanks.

Pam anf I shared Snow Angels on our kindles and we just bought Lucifer's Tears - hot dog!

I came across this accidently (actually, I think Jim talked about it on his FB page, but I forgot to go back and look at it.)

http://www.davidsbooktalk.com/

Jim's interview was done in March.

My question, for those of you who read both Snow Angels and Lucifer's Tears, do you think that Lucifer's Tears was more "powerful" than Snow Angels? I don't agree with the interviewer's beliefs on that. IMO, I thought SA was a smack you between the eyes read, while LT gave better insight into Vaara while still having a smackdown thriller.

The books just get better as they go, can't wait for Helsinki White.

Yeah, I agree..I think he needs to move it up before March, 2012!! I don't think that series should be a trilogy either.

Didn't James say there were more books up to five?

Oh, I thought he said it was just going to be a trilogy..my bad! Or was it that it was originally a trilogy??

I guess I'll have to research it again. I've read so much stuff lately my
minds fuzzy. It may be in Jimland, Helsinki White was his fifth novel.
I wonder what the other two are?

No, Helsinki White is the one coming out in March 2012...Snow Angels is number one...Lucifer's tears is number 2

Here is the "link" for Helsinki White...number 3...

Helsinki White

Kenneth wrote: "I guess I'll have to research it again. I've read so much stuff lately my
minds fuzzy. It may be in Jimland, Helsinki White was his fifth novel.
I wonder what the other two are?"

I believe he stated he's contracted to write two more books in the series, which would make 5 total after Helsinki White (number 3).

Naomi wrote: "Here is the "link" for Helsinki White...number 3...

Helsinki White"

Hey Naomi, right book but I think that author info is the wrong James Thompson.

He may have written in another gender. "Telling the truth of this story was probably the hardest for me to date (it will be my 5th published novel)." He was talking about Helsinki White. We should ask him.

Here is the explanation:

"An American by birth, James Thompson began his career as a published author in Finland with two thrillers, Across the Green Line and The True Name of God.

With his first internationally published novel, Snow Angels, James Thompson proved himself Finland’s best and most popular representative in the rise of Nordic noir. It was selected as one of Booklist’ s Best Crime Novel Debuts of the Year and nominated for an Edgar Award, an Anthony Award, and a Strand Critics Award. His most recent novel, Lucifer’s Tears, has received critical acclaim from all quarters, including starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus, and seems destined for international success. His next novel, Helsinki White, is scheduled for U.S. release in March, 2012."

I have only read Snow Angels so far. Lucifer's Tears is waiting on my kindle. It is inching it's way to the top of my TBR. I am looking for to it AND Helsinki White.

Way to go Fizzycola. I knew he had other books. I wonder what they're like. Are they similar to his Vaara books?

I couldn't even find a record of them in goodreads...

Nope, looks like they are not in Goodreads at all. The text I quoted is from his author profile though.

They are not Kari Vaara books at all. Across the Green Line seems to be a political thriller from Jerusalem and The True Name of God tells about Russia. I only found reviews of their Finnish translations - in Finnish, sorry!

My bad...thanks, fizzycola...sorry, jim!!

Wow..how flippin' crazy is that..two authors with the same name having a book come out at the same time titled the same thing??? Could GR have screwed up?? That is bizare!

i'm thinking someone associated the wrong james thompson with the book - this guys books are all literature kind of stuff, not thrillers...probably who ever added it...lemme fix

fixed

Naomi wrote: "Wow..how flippin' crazy is that..two authors with the same name having a book come out at the same time titled the same thing??? Could GR have screwed up?? That is bizare!"

Looks like there are a total of 11 authors with the name James Thompson in the Goodreads author list. I imagine someone just picked the wrong one when trying to add Helsinki White. I sent "our" James and a link, so maybe he can get it sorted.

its all fixed - i just disambiguated the author

Lisa B. wrote: "I have only read Snow Angels so far. Lucifer's Tears is waiting on my kindle. It is inching it's way to the top of my TBR. I am looking for to it AND Helsinki White."

Me too! I am going to read one more and then it is on to Lucifer's Tears. I can't wait to get back to Kari and Kate.

He has two other books guys. He says it in his own blog. (see msg 21)

I wonder if he is including a spanish one that I came across..When I went onto his webpage it only showed his two books.

Jim, can you clarify?

Check his author profile in Goodreads. It says there:

"An American by birth, James Thompson began his career as a published author in Finland with two thrillers, Across the Green Line and The True Name of God."

I wonder why he doesn't have them on Goodreads then or on his website..that is odd..

I am beginning to wonder how reliable the author profiles are on Goodreads. If they do not get the profiles from the authors themselves, then who knows?

I did come across a book Across the Green Line, but it was written by a totally different author and set in Cyprus.

Well, those books ARE by him. However, in the books published in Finland he uses the name JIM Thompson.

Check his JIMLAND site, in his blog there is a list of his published books!

http://www.jamesthompsonauthor.com/

Oh, awesome..you know I have been on his blog before for other reasons..following up with stuff he has posted on facebook. I wonder if there are any plans to translate his other two books?

Translate? Umm... you mean published in English? He WRITES in English! So I guess that's a question between his publishers here in Finland and his publishers elsewhere.

this is what one of his blog entries says - http://www.jamesthompsonauthor.com/bl... - he does state that unless it says otherwise assume the book is written in the language of the country of publication...so his first two might be in finnish since they were only released there

Nope. He writes in English. The books are translated into Finnish and then published here.

I read somewhere that the American publishers considered the topic of his first book a bit too controversial.

yeah, but if the finnish publish owns the rights, then they have to be negotiated in the US which explains why...he did explain the english-finnish translation in another post...

hey guys - i'm thinking this convo might be better in his author thread and not the book series one

Is there an author thread for him?

yep - right here - http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/6...

Ah! Thanks! It doesn't show in the "Discussions", you have to click on "Authors" to find it.

Naomi wrote: "Yeah, I agree..I think he needs to move it up before March, 2012!! I don't think that series should be a trilogy either."

Well, trilogy of a kind. Snow is a standalone with closure. Beginning with Lucifer's, there isn't closure at the end, and Helsinki White picks up where Lucifer's left off. And book 4 picks up where Helsinki leaves off. Book 4 will give closure and equilibrium will be returned to the characters, so those three form a trilogy by nature. Book 5, however, will start in a fictional present, the media res based on the equilibrium of the end of book 4.

Kenneth wrote: "I guess I'll have to research it again. I've read so much stuff lately my
minds fuzzy. It may be in Jimland, Helsinki White was his fifth novel.
I wonder what the other two are?"

I've written two novels that haven't been published in English. Maybe that's the confusion. - Jim