Jarkko Sipila in English

Helsinki Homicide: Nothing but the Truth

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Helsinki Homicide: Nothing but the Truth –
How much should you have to sacrifice?

Third translation from the author of the 2009 Best Finnish Crime
Novel

A young cocaine dealer is gunned down at the door of his apartment on the outskirts of
downtown Helsinki. Detective Lieutenant Kari Takamäki and his homicide team find the
trigger man—but who was working behind the scenes?

A woman from a neighboring building comes forward with an image of the getaway driver's
face burned into her memory. After testifying in the trial, she finds herself the target of an
escalating spiral of threats. Not wishing to uproot her life, she and her twelve-year-old
daughter risk death by spurning the police's offer of a safe house. As the threats mount, the
witness is torn between her principles and her desire to keep her family safe. How much
should an ordinary citizen sacrifice for the benefit of society as a whole?

Helsinki Homicide: Nothing but the Truth is yet another thrilling read from Sipila. A prequel
to previously published Against the Wall and Vengeance, this is the third of his books to be
translated into English. Against the Wall won Finland’s 2009 Crime Novel of the Year
Award.

Jarkko Sipila is a Finnish author and journalist. He has reported on Finnish crime for more
than 20 years, has written 13 books, and co-wrote a TV-series based on the Takamäki
books. Through realistic characters and story lines, he explores current topics surrounding
life in contemporary Finland.


Jarkko Sipila was nominated for the prestigious Glass
Key Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel

The books vying for the best Scandinavian Crime Novel have been announced. Jarkko
Sipila's novel Seinaa Vasten (Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall) originally published by
Gummerus in 2008 is representing Finland. It has been translated into Swedish as Ställd
mot väggen. Previous winners of the award include Stieg Larrson.

The other nominated authors are:

- Ävar Örn Josepsson (Iceland),
- Tom Egeland (Norway)
- Anders Roslund and  Börge Hällström (Sweden)
- Jussi Adler-Olsen (Denmark)

Jussi Adler-Olsen won the award.

Interview in Minneapolis Star Tribune:

See an interview of Jarkko in July 28, 2010 Minneapolis Star Tribune here.

Helsinki Homicide: Vengeance

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The continuation of Jarkko Sipila's award-winning Helsinki Homicide series is now
available.  Chilling Helsinki Homicide: Vengeance was published in English February 2010.  
Here is the back cover:

Tapani Larsson, a Finnish crime boss, walks out of prison with one thought on his mind:
Vengeance. Wanting to reclaim his gang's honor and avenge those who have wronged him,
Larsson targets Suhonen, the undercover detective who put him in prison. Meanwhile,
Suhonen's best friend, an ex-con himself, wants to wash his hands of crime, but in the
process, is driven deeper into it.

With the help of his boss, Lieutenant Takamäki, and the National Bureau of Investigation,
Suhonen hunts for the loose thread that could unravel the entire gang. But with every string
he pulls, he flirts with death itself.

Helsinki Homicide: Vengeance is another thrilling read from Sipila. It is the second of his
books to be translated into English. The first, Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall, won the
2009 Finnish Crime Novel of the Year Award.

Jarkko Sipila is a Finnish author and journalist. He has been reporting on Finnish crime for
20 years, has written 11 books, and co-wrote a TV series based on the Takamäki books.
Through realistic characters and story lines, he explores current topics surrounding life in
contemporary Finland.

"A thrilling, captivating story." - Helsingin Sanomat

"Guaranteed reading enjoyment." - Pohjolan Sanomat

"Truly top-notch work." - Kansan Uutiset

The book is published by U.S. based Ice Cold Crime, LLC.


Book review - Scandinavianbooks.com
Helsinki Homicide: Vengeance
Review by Peter Ohlsson (Apr 2010)

This is the second book in the Helsinki Homicide series by Finnish author Jarkko Sipila that
has been translated into English. The previous book, Against the Wall, was the winner of
the 2009 Best Finnish Crime Novel award. In Vengeance, the dark story from the violent
underbelly of Helsinki continues more or less where it ended in Against the Wall.

Suhonen, the undercover detective who runs surveillance of the criminals and the crime
gangs in Helsinki, by chance witnesses a meeting between one of the high ranking criminal
operators and an unknown man. The meeting seems important, and Suhonen decides to
track down the other man. He turns out to be a Russian gangster operating out of Lithuania,
a man high up in a Russian gang there. Something is about to happen, but nobody seems to
know exactly what.

At the same time, Tapani Larsson, the vice president of the violent and criminal motorcycle
gang The Skulls walks out of prison after having finished his sentence. It was Suhonen,
working undercover, who had placed him there. Now the president of the gang is behind
bars as well, serving a life time sentence, and Larsson is the boss, controlling all the
resources of the gang. He has big plans for expansion, and wants to rebuild the gang and
restore it to its former glory after all their recent losses in their ongoing war with the police.
But foremost in his mind is revenge. Vengeance. He is determined to take down Suhonen.

Suhonen and his colleagues in the Violent Crimes Unit led by Lieutenant Takamäki in the
Helsinki Police do all they can to stem the tide of crime, but they are seriously understaffed.
And when the situation provides them with an unexpected opportunity to insert an
undercover agent into the headquarter of the Skulls – a snitch, a friend of Suhonen who is a
very difficult tangle and can be used – they grab it. However, bad luck strikes them a
severe blow when the undercover agent is seen meeting with Suhonen by someone who
knows the value of such information. The undercover agent’s cover is blown, and the
Skulls use that valuable piece of information to set a deadly trap.

Vengeance is a truly chilling and extremely dark crime fiction book – a real Helsinki noir.
We meet drug addicts, snitches, ex-cons, gang members, gang bosses, drug couriers, and
all sorts of people from the thriving, throbbing and ever expanding world of crime in
Helsinki. We also meet the tired, disillusioned and overworked cops, whose resources are
stretched far too thin.

I loved it. Vengeance is suspenseful, exciting, fast paced, and written in a crisp style, full of
cynicism and dark humor. It simply doesn’t get any better than this. An excellent book,
strongly recommended.

DOWNLOAD A ONE PAGE SUMMARY OF VENGEANCE
HERE


Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall

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Click HERE to buy it for Kindle through Amazon.com

Jarkko Sipila's award winning book, Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall (see below) has
been now published in English in June 2009.  Here is the back cover:

An abandoned house in Northern Helsinki, a dead body in the garage. Detective Lieutenant
Kari Takamäki's homicide team gets a case that looks like a professional hit, but they are
perplexed by the crime scene.

Takamäki's right-hand man Suhonen goes undercover as "Suikkanen," a gangster full of
action. In pursuit of the murderer, he must operate within the grey area of the law. But will
the end justify the means?

Jarkko Sipila is a Finnish author and journalist. He has been reporting Finnish crime news
for MTV3 TV News and the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper for almost 20 years. He has
written 11 novels and co-wrote a TV-series based on the Takamäki-books. Following in the
footsteps of popular Scandinavian writers, Jarkko Sipila is introducing his critically
acclaimed Takamäki
series in English.

Helsinki Homicide: Against The Wall, the winner of the 2009 Finnish Crime Fiction of the
Year Award, is the first of Jarkko Sipila's nine Takamäki-novels to be translated into
English. Through realistic characters and complex plots, he discusses current topics
surrounding Finnish society and unveils glimpses into his esoteric homeland.

"Skillful plot construction, a narrative that sticks closely to its subject, and straight-faced
humor hidden in the text make Sipilä's newest a fine crime novel. - Turun Sanomat

"Jarkko Sipilä writes naked, unrelenting crime fiction - Ilkka

The book is published by U.S. based Ice Cold Crime, LLC.


Book Review - Scandinavianbooks.com:
Against the Wall by Jarkko Sipila
Reviewed by Peter Ohlsson (Jun 09)

Jarkko Sipila is a Finnish journalist / author, and one of the most read crime fiction authors
in Finland. He is 45 years old. He has been reporting Finnish crime news for MTV3 TV News
and the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper for almost 20 years. He has written 11 crime novels.
Some of his books have been translated into German, but this is the first translated into
English.  Against the Wall (Finnish title Vasten seinää) - the 2009 Winner of the Best Finnish
Crime Novel - has been translated excellently by Peter Ylitalo Leppa. The language used
flows nicely and underscores the style of the novel. The sentences are short and to the
point.
Sipila's style is somewhat noir and hard boiled. His writing is direct with little commentary.
He has good knowledge about modern police methods and the stresses of police work.

The main character in Sipila’s books is Lieutenant Detective Kari Takamaki. He is the head
of the Helsinki Police Violent Crimes Unit. He is professional and team oriented in his work.
In this book, most of the police work is done by on e of his team members, the undercover
policeman Suhonen, who goes undercover using the name Suikkanen and posing as a
hardened criminal.

The action in the book starts immediately. A man is killed by a hitman. Later, in an
abandoned house in Northern Helsinki, his dead body is found in the garage by the police.
Detective Lieutenant Kari Takamäki’s homicide team gets the case from a snitch that
reports it to Suhonen. The case has all the markings of a professional hit. Even so, some
traces are found at the murder site. And clearly the police informant knows more than he
has told the police.

The book describes a hard and tough underworld in Finland, with organized crime, gangs,
and connections to the Russian underground. The story moves in a world of gangsters,
prisons, snitches, corrupt officials, undercover police and hardworking detectives.

Against the Wall is very well plotted. It is written is a slow-moving and direct style. Pieces
of the puzzle and the larger plot become visible gradually, and this serves to build the
excitement
towards a plausible and interesting ending. As well, the characters, while not being fully
drawn are realistic and very interesting. I enjoyed reading it, and strongly recommend it.

LINK TO SCANDINAVIANBOOKS.COM HERE

DOWNLOAD A ONE PAGE SUMMARY OF AGAINST THE
WALL HERE

Jarkko Sipila won the "Clue" award for the best Finnish detective
novel in 2009.

The award was given by the Finnish Detective Novel Society and it basis of the ward was
as follows:

Critical analysis of modern Finnish society has always been Jarkko Sipila’s trademark.
Sipila doesn’t underline the issues nor point fingers. Rather, serious public issues are
wound throughout the entirety of his books. A central theme of “Against the Wall” concerns
police conduct in the legal grey area. This is a very current topic, as some Finnish narcotics
officers have been suspected of using illegal methods. Another key theme of the book
concerns the connections that government employees have to organized crime – as
without them, many crimes would not be possible.

Sipilä’s motto could be "less is more". This can be seen both in his use of language as well
as the construction of the novel. Sipilä’s storyline isn’t ornamental. He tells only what is
necessary. Small, seemingly disparate details or events end up being necessary parts of a
very tightly wound book. His use of language is clear and disciplined, expressive,
unembellished prose that avoids all excessive language.

His characters, whether police, or big- or small-time criminals are believable , human
beings that come alive in the book through their happiness and sadness. Sipilä has
compassion for people who live on the edge of society. When his expert description of
police work is added to the whole, the result is an award winning book.

Background

Jarkko Sipila is a Finnish journalist / author. He has written over 11 crime novels since
1996. In the signature series, his protagonist is Lieutenant Detective Kari Takamaki.
Takamaki is the chief of the Helsinki Police Violent Crimes Unit. Takamaki, unlike most
Finnish fictional police characters is not a boozing wildcat, but the ultimate professional
who directs his team to track down criminals in an organized fashion. He is also a family
man who strives to spend any extra time with his family, sometimes to no avail.  

Sipila's style is direct, realistic, and action packed. He comprehensively describes modern
police work in Finland and discusses, but without lecturing, many issues facing today's
societies, such as racism, immigration, witness protection, and legality / morality of police
activity around the grey areas, etc. Sipila also address the difficulties and stresses of
ordinary police work on the police force and the dedication of Takamaki and his team to
their jobs.

Jarkko Sipila's award winning (Best Finnish Crime Novel 2009) has been translated into
English as Helsinki Homicide: Against the Wall. Also, two of his books are available in
German. Kosketuslaukaus (‘Touch shot’, Gummerus) has been translated as Im Dämmer
des Zweifels: Komissar Takamäki ermittelt, Also, Likainen Kaupunki, ('Dirty City',
Gummerus) has been translated as Die weiße Nacht des Todes. Both are available on
amazon.com. (Amazon.com - Jarkko Sipila )

Sipila also co-wrote a TV series in 2006 called 'Detectives Don't Sing' with his friend Jouni
Molsa. Almost a million Finns watched the series premiere

Links in English:

Interview
HELSINKI HOMICIDE:
"NOTHING BUT THE
TRUTH" is now available. It
joins both "Vengeance" and
Wall" as Jarkko's books
translated into English.
Jarkko's Helsinki Homicide:
Against the Wall has just been
published in Italian.

To see the Aliberti Editore's
page on the book, please use
this link.