As Red As Blood by Salla Simukka

As Red As Blood (Snow White Trilogy, #1) (As Red as Blood, #1)

by Salla Simukka

The first story in the thrilling Nordic crime series The Snow White Trilogy, an international success published in 52 territories worldwide and soon to be a Hollywood film.

'Fans of Nesbo and Larsson won't be disappointed' Publishers Weekly

The streets of Finland are frozen and white with snow. And nothing is as red against snow as blood . . . Seventeen-year-old Lumikki Andersson is hardly your average teenager. She lives by herself in the city of Tampere, Finland, and has a firm rule to mind nobody's business but her own. But that rule is put to the test when she happens upon five hundred washed euro notes hanging up to dry in her school's darkroom, and it is shattered once Lumikki realises who owns them.

Caught in an increasingly tangled web of deception, corruption and danger, Lumikki finds herself navigating Tampere's dark underbelly in her quest to expose its shocking connection to the international drugs trade. Lumikki is smart, but is she smarter than a master criminal? Can she bring down the infamous 'Polar Bear' - or will she become another one of his victims?

Reviewed by readingwithwrin on

4 of 5 stars

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"She was the puzzle piece that didn't have its own place but could suddenly fill in almost any hole you needed it to."
This book is told in 3rd person and we get to see multiple pov, but mostly it does focus on Lumikki.
Lumikki is a loner who has been severely bullied which has caused her to learn how to be unseeable, un-smellable(is that a word) and basically act as much like a ghost a physically possible.
We also get to see things more Elsie's and her friends pov, a random woman who we don't learn much about until later in the book, Elsie's dad, and of course some very bad people.

"Remember you aren't really here. This character is not you. Someone else is walking through these rooms in white high heels and a red evening gown. None of this can touch you. "

Lumikki is a character that while extremely cautious and prefers solitude will also willing interact with people if they initiate it and will help if someone asks her. She is also very protective of Elsie and others because of how badly she was bullied.
I could kind of guess what her backstory was and why she acted the way she did now before we learn the full story.

When it came to the bad guy part of it, I would have liked a little more backstory on some of it, because it was rather confusing at times and I'm still not exactly sure how certain people started working together.

"The easiest way to get along in life is to meddle as little as possible."

Overall I really did like this story and was able to completely understand it and it read just like a book would that was originally written in English. When it got towards the last few chapters of the book I was so nervous for Lumikki because of the type of situation she was going into. But she handled everything like such a pro and it was just amazing.

I can't wait to read the next one to see what Lumikki gets up to next!

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 7 July, 2017: Finished reading
  • 7 July, 2017: Reviewed