The Defenceless by Kati Hiekkapelto
When an old man is found dead on the road – seemingly run over by a Hungarian au pair – police investigator Anna Fekete is certain that there is more to the incident than meets the eye. Anna’s partner Esko is entrenched in a separate but equally dangerous investigation into the activities of an immigrant gang. Then a bloody knife is found in the snow, and the two cases come together in ways that no one could have predicted.
First Impressions: Another complex and compelling crime for Anna and the team to solve!
Highlights: Many of the things I loved about The Hummingbird carry over to this second novel in the series. What I didn’t mention before was the way the author so perfectly captures the pull between two geographic locations, neither of which feels 100% like home. The author is also really clever in not just sensationalising problems with the arrivals of refugees and asylum seekers but describing matter of factly the long term social problems of those granted residency. How she has managed to do all this and still have at the core of the novel an intriguing police procedural is amazing! I also liked how Esko’s character is developing. I have a soft spot for the gruff and cantankerous detective!
If I was an editor: It’s hard to find fault with this novel but I can say that I did prefer the crime in the previous novel but that really would be hard to top! Also, I would have liked more mystery with the Hungarian nanny. What else could she be hiding? Maybe we find out in the next book…
Overall: How many months until book 3 is published?
Orange Pekoe Reviews 
I’m really enjoying the question/answer style of your reviews.
Thanks! I started doing this a couple of years ago after my son was born to save time – no longer could I spend days reflecting on the wording of lengthy reviews… I actually prefer the question format as it takes some of the pressure off when I have a backlog of reviews to write (which is most of the time!).