Leena Lehtolainen: Jälkikaiku (Maria Kallio #15)

Uusin Maria Kallio -romaani. Maria työskentelee nyt yksikössä, joka selvittelee etenkin lapsiin ja nuoriin kohdistuneita rikoksia. 

Nuori maahanmuuttaja löytyy kuolleena, häntä on lyöty voimakkaasti päähän jollain tylpällä esineellä. Nuori näyttää aluksi pojalta, mutta ruumiinavauksessa paljastuu, että kyseessä on tytön ruumis. Kyseessä on ollut transseksuaali, jolla sukupuolen vaihdos on ollut kesken - hormonihoidot on aloitettu, mutta mitään leikkauksia ei oltu ehditty tehdä. Onko kyseessä viharikos maahanmuuttajia tai transseksuaaleja kohtaan? Vai ovatko nuoren omat sukulaiset tai maanmiehet loukkaantuneet vahvasti kulttuurin normeja rikkovasta käyttäytymisestä?

Osapuilleen normaalia tasoa sarjalleen, ei ainakaan keskitason yläpuolella. Kieli on keskinkertaista, juoni on ihan vetävä, mutta ehkä turhahkoja sivujuonia hiukan liikaa mukana, sivumäärässä ja kerronnassa olisi ollut napakoittamisen varaa. Kevyttä, nopeaa kesälukemista, ei sen enempää tai vähempää. Taas kerran kirjassa oli muutamia täysin typeriä yhteensattumia, jotka kiusasivat. Ihan sattumalta kissa sattui löytämään perusjuoneen liittyvän irtokorvan ja pudottamaan sen juuri Marian keittiöön? Blääh. Eikä tämä varsinaisesti ainoa  juonen kannalta tärkeä “sattuma” ollut - kyseessä on aika laiskaa kirjoittamista.   

The next book in Maria Kallio series. She is a policewoman who at the moment leads a special task group about crimes against children and adolescents. A young refugee is found beaten to death. The victim, who at first looks like an adolescent boy, turns out to be a transexual female to male with no corrective surgeries done yet. Who killed him? Someone hating refugees? Someone hating transsexuals? Someone from his own family circle who wasn’t happy with his behavior breaking cultural norms?  Light, but entertaining whodunnit style of book, the writing isn’t perhaps the best, but it was easy to read and enjoy between more demanding books.

396 pp. 

The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronaut Universe #3) by Mary Robinette Kowal

Continues the story which was started in two earlier parts. Earth was hit by a meteor in the early fifties. It is calculated to cause severe climate change in a few decades and space exploration, with the ultimate goal of establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars, is hurriedly started. This book happens at about the same time as the second part of the series, The Fated Sky (which strangely was not nominated for the Hugo - and is my favorite installment so far). While The Fated Sky tells what happens on the Mars expedition, The Relentless Moon tells what happens at the lunar colony at the same time. The main character is obviously different. Nicole Wargin has been one of the original astronauts. She had worked in intelligence during the second WW and is the wife of a US senator. There has been some terrorist activity that wants to prevent space exploration, as they want the money spent on Earth, and as everyone can’t escape the Earth, why should anyone? After some problems, the new flight to the Moon starts, but there are some accidents, both during the flight and on the base, and it becomes obvious there is a saboteur on board. Who is he/she and what is his/her goal? And is there more than one?

A pretty good book, but it is not as good as the second part. It took some time to get used to the new main character. At first, she felt less irritating with fewer neuroses than Emma York, the main character of the two other books, but it turned out that Nicole has her own set of problems. In spite of those, she is very capable and by the end of the book ends up with a fair share of responsibility.    

The book was better than the first part but not as good as the second part. In places, everything seemed to happen very slowly and the whodunit plot didn’t felt enough. The characters were well drawn and interesting and the writing was good and at the same time clear and enjoyable to read. As a whole, the series is so interesting that I will most likely pick up the next part even if it isn’t nominated.  

544 pp.