Wexi Korhonen: Pahempi kuin murha (Kari Salo #3)

Seuraava osa “siinä toisessa” tamperelaisessa dekkarisarjassa. Poliisista potkut saanut ja yksityisetsiväksi ryhtynyt Kari Salo on sairaalassa toipumassa edellisen kirjan vammoistaan. Samalla hänellä todettu kurkun alueen syöpä on onnistuttu hoitamaan ilman merkittäviä jälkiseurauksia. Kesken toipumisen hänen huoneeseensa hyökätään ja osaston sairaanhoitaja vammautuu pahasti. Salosta tulee ykkösepäilty, sillä hoitajaa ammuttiin Salon aseella. Salo itse loukkaa selkänsä uudelleen ja lyö päänsä tässä rytäkässä eikä muista tapahtumista mitään. Poliisi kuitenkin tutkii muitakin vaihtoehtoja kuin hänen syyllisyyttään, ja sairaalan lukkoja näytetään käsitellyn, joten on mahdollista, että Salo ei kuitenkaan ole syyllinen ja hän pääsee vapaalle jalalla. Hiukan aikaisemmin kaupungissa on kadonnut kaunis ja fiksu teinityttö selittämättömällä tavalla, tämä arvoitus on päätynyt koko valtakunnan kiinnostavaksi arvoitukseksi. Hänen löytämisestään on tarjottu runsas palkkio, ja Salo alkaa tätäkin tapausta tutkimaan - siinä määrin aktiivisesti, että poliisi alkaa ärtyä asioiden sotkemisesta pahasti, siinä määrin, että Salo päätyy lopulta putkaan. 

Tämä ei tietenkään estä kunnon dekkaria tutkimasta asiaa ja tietenkin tyttö löytyy melkoisen vauhdikkaiden käänteiden jälkeen - mutta oliko elävänä löytäminen kuitenkaan se paras mahdollinen lopputulos?

Tämä sarja tuntuu kohentuvan edetessään. Tarina oli vauhdikas, ja paremmin kirjoitettu kuin edellinen osa. ja etenkin huimasti parempi kuin avauskirja. Hiukan kliseinen sankari Salo on, mutta ei se tässä lajityypissä liikaa haittaa. Juuri mitään järkeähän ei kirjan tapahtumissa toisaalta ollut, mutta missä toimintatrilleri tyyppisessä kirjassa olisi. Etenkin alun tapahtumiin ei oikein oikeasti järkevää selitystä ollut - että kaunan vuoksi olisi oltu valmis tappamaan ihan ulkopuolinen henkilö vain, jotta Salo olisi saatu ikävään tilanteeseen ja teosta epäillyksi – tämä on hiukan liian pitkälle menevää. Eikä lopun tapahtumat älyttömyydessä juuri tästä jääneet jälkeen. Hyvin viihdyttävää kuunneltavaa kirja kumminkin oli, sellainen “aivot narikkaan” kirja. 

356 pp. 

  

 

My Hugo award votes 2026, Part 1: Novellettes

Novellettes felt pretty average. There was none that was excellent, but there were no bad stories, either. It wasn’t easy to put them in order, as all of them left me mostly lukewarm. And almost all seemed to end too soon, often just when the more interesting part would start. The writing in all of them was very good. I haven’t been a great fan of Valente, but this was perhaps my favorite story by her, and I believe this the first time I put her story to the top position. After that the order could have almost anything, but this was the order what I decided - mostly just by feeling alone with no real rational justification. 

“Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)

A guardian has been dormant at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean for millennia. When humans use nuclear weapons, it awakens and creates a creature that would warn humanity away from nuclear weapons. It doesn’t really work. Humans attack it with nuclear weapons. Well, perhaps the answer is a bigger monster attacking even more severely (while trying to avoid too many casualties, but of course, they can not be entirely avoided), resulting in even more nuclear attacks by humans. It even tries to negotiate, but the human leader refuses to give up the nuclear arsenal and believes they could beat the monster (which they have no chance of doing). Eventually, another approach leads to mutual benefit, even if the guardian/sea monster doesn’t at first exactly understand what monetizing licenses, duties, taxation, and corporate investments mean.

A nice take on Kaiju stories, where the monster has a reason for his rampages, and the ending has nice mutual benefits. 

“Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025)

A story connected to the Murderbot series. A group is going to a corporate space station on a relief mission of sorts. The station has just undergone a corporate takeover and is in turmoil. The computer of the ship is very helpful and starts to seem to have unusual behavior, traits, and capabilities, some of which seem pretty similar to those of another character, Murderbot. The members of the group start to get suspicious, but are accepting at the same time. A shortish novellette, which seems to be a pretty superfluous side story, and it is nowhere near the quality of the Murderbot series.

“Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220)

A transfer of embryos to a new colony world has gone badly. The AI piloting the ship has somehow lost 95% of its embryos, and the colony faces a dire shortage of people and manpower. What happened and why? That is evaluated twenty years later, perhaps because the colonists, who are overworked and pressured to have plenty of children, are old enough. On the other hand, they are not the ones conducting the evaluation and, at first, don’t really have their voices heard. The story is told in different time domains. Nice writing, but somehow I didn’t really get into the story. 

“The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025)

A woman (who is trans) wasn’t able to get pregnant (she has purchased a full reproductive organ set). She was supposed to carry a clone of one of the richest women on Earth. After birth, she was supposed to live an ordinary lower-middle-class life with a spouse, so that the child would have had as similar an upbringing as possible to the original. As she didn’t get pregnant, she lost her job and faced poverty. But the woman who did get the job and is pregnant with the clone falls in love with her, or at least she claims so. So, the job as a spouse is fine also, and the pregnant woman is nice, even though her claims of love are hard to believe. They spend time together at a vast building owned by the rich woman, but it is attacked by the opposing company. They narrowly (but fairly effortlessly) escape and decide to raise the kid together as their own. A nice story, but it ends a bit hurriedly. I was expecting a twist which didn’t happen - at least in this story. Maybe in the next part.  

“When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65)

A woman lives with her dear husband in a house in a small village. She loves her husband dearly. One day, they encounter a stunning woman at the village store. Soon after, the husband starts disappearing for nights, and eventually, he doesn’t come home before morning. He loses his appetite, starts to look very pale, and his behavior becomes more irrational. Eventually, she binds her husband to bed. He doesn’t eat, vomits a black substance, and seems to have a craving for blood. Eventually, the beautiful woman arrives. The two women have a discussion (and the temptress survives a rifle shot to the chest, even when it is loaded with silver) about who will get the man. A pretty nice vampire story with a somewhat open resolution.   

“The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67)

A girl works as part of a vaudeville show. Her act is mindreading or mentalist style - she learned that from her father. She performed as a boy because, as a girl, no one would take her seriously.  One day, a new performer arrives, another girl who performs magical acts. Her performance is based on humor, as no woman could perform a “real” magic or illusionist show. She has some ambitions, however, and designs wonderful illusions. The resident magician on the vaudeville claims that the trick was stolen from him. The girl runs away and isn’t heard of for years. Later, she invites all the leading magicians to a great event. She performs wonderfully until the last act - which isn’t described, but no one who saw it performed ever again. And she wasn’t seen after that. A pretty good story, but there was little fantasy until the very end, and even then, the fantasy was very undefined. I was waiting for something more. The writing was good, and the characters were finely drawn, as always by Sarah Pinsker. 

My voting order will be: 

1. “When He Calls Your Name” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 65)

2. “Kaiju Agonistes” by Scott Lynch (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 62)

3. “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, Issue 67)

4. “Rapport: Friendship, Solidarity, Communion, Empathy” by Martha Wells (Reactor, July 10, 2025)

5. “The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For” by Cameron Reed (Reactor, April 2, 2025)

6. “Never Eaten Vegetables” by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld, Issue 220)