Blog Tour stop for this utterly enthralling, suspense filled, dark and very funny read.
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"A huge Finnish bestseller, Little Siberia topped both literary and crime charts in 2018, and has gone on to sell rights in 24 countries. "
Synopsis
Fargo meets Nietzsche in this atmospheric, darkly funny thriller by the critically acclaimed author of The Man Who Died and Palm Beach Finland.
A man with dark thoughts on his mind is racing along the remote snowy roads of Hurmevaara in Finland, when there is flash in the sky and something crashes into the car.
That something turns about to be a highly valuable meteorite. With euro signs lighting up the eyes of the locals, the unexpected treasure is temporarily placed in a neighbourhood museum, under the watchful eye of a priest named Joel.
But Joel has a lot more on his mind than simply protecting the riches that have apparently rained down from heaven.
His wife has just revealed that she is pregnant. Unfortunately, Joel has strong reason to think the baby isn’t his.
As Joel tries to fend off repeated and bungled attempts to steal the meteorite, he must also come to terms with his own situation, and discover who the father of the baby really is.
Transporting the reader to the culture, landscape and mores of northern Finland, Little Siberia is both a dark crime thriller and a hilarious, blacker-than-black comedy about faith and disbelief, love and death, and what to do when bolts from the blue – both literal and figurative – turn your life upside down.
My Review
This was my first Antti Tuomainen novel and I can tell you now it will not be my last, this book was original, funny and yet enchantingly dark.
From the start I was hooked, an opening that is played out on the cover of the book, a car been driven in rural Finland, a race car driver who is pushing the car to its limits on dangerous snowy road when bang a meteorite strikes right though his car roof and lands on the passenger seat of the car.
Next we meet Joel a priest and former military man, he also works in the local museum as a guard, the meteorite is placed here before been scheduled for transport to London.
This meteorite is worth a ton of money and when people realise this the fun and games start!
Not only dealing with thieves after the meteorite but also Joel is dealing with his wife's sudden pregnancy, and as Joel cannot father children (so the doctors say?), this creates events and drama all of its own along with the question of Joel's faith, as a priest who can Joel trust? god? the doctors? his wife? or if not who?
I found Little Siberia utterly enthralling, a real suspense filled yet dark and very funny read. Its everything you are looking for in a unique crime tale, with just the right amount of humour or one liners that make you suddenly laugh out loud.
I 100% recommend this for crime fans looking for that bit of something different!
Author Bio
Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author.
In 2011, Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for ‘Best Finnish Crime Novel of 2011’ and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award.
Two years later, in 2013, the Finnish press crowned Tuomainen the ‘King of Helsinki Noir ’ when Dark as My Heart was published.
With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died (2017) became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards.
Palm Beach Finland (2018) was an immense success, with The Times calling Tuomainen ‘the funniest writer in Europe’.
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Thank you to the Publisher and Author for sending me an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel and for the opportunity to review these works.
All reviews are my own unbiased opinion.