Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen (translated by David Hackston)

For my last Orentober post (for this year anyway) I am delighted to share my review of Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen to close off the blog tour, together with Jane Hunt. Thanks, as always, to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me, and Karen Sullivan at Orenda Books for my review copy.

This was my first book by Tuomainen, although I have three others in my teetering TBR pile. I'd heard Antti speak at an Orenda Roadshow in March, and knew he was a very funny man (with an excellent taste in shirts!), but I wasn't sure what to expect from the book. Now I've finished it, dear reader, I can tell you Little Siberia is a dark delight.

The Blurb:

Fargo  meets Nietzsche in this atmospheric, darkly funny thriller by the critically acclaimed author of The Man Who Died and  Palm Beach Finland. A huge Finnish bestseller, Little Siberia topped both literary and crime charts in 2018, and has gone on to sell rights in 24 countries.

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.

Little Siberia was published by Orenda Books as an eBook on 17th August 2019 and in paperback on 17th October 2019. You can buy it from the publisher, Waterstones, Amazon UK, Amazon US and other good booksellers.


My Review:

A man is driving his car at breakneck speed - with amazing skill, considering he's drunk and still drinking - towards a stone wall, when a meteorite tears through the car roof and lands on the passenger seat beside him. How's that for the opening of a book?

The Finnish town of Hurmevaara is small and quite isolated - the nearest police station is an hour away. It's also very, very cold, going as low as -23 degrees! I'm moaning about being chilly at 8 degrees so I can't even imagine -23! There are a few days before the meteorite is to be taken to London for analysis, and rumours abound that the rock could be worth a million euros. A team of volunteers is put together to guard it at night in its temporary home of the town museum. On the first evening local pastor, and ex military chaplin, Joel Huhta is on guard duty when there is a bungled attempt to steal the meteorite. He has just learned of his wife's unexpected pregnancy, and resolves to keep the meteorite safe - singlehandedly - and also solve the mystery of Krista's pregnancy.

It's the start of a very eventful few days for Joel. He views everyone with suspicion. And actually, many of the townsfolk are not terribly likeable so it's easy to be suspicious of them, but they're definitely colourful and fun to read. I particularly liked the grocer, with his 'tasty greetings' for Krista - at 7.30 in the morning!

Joel is such an interesting character. As Karoliina (more later) says he's 'pretty cool for a pastor'. The events in the book shake his faith in God, but it doesn't seem to have been that strong beforehand. There are sections of the book that are quite introspective as Joel mulls issues, often deep, over in his mind. We see him at his work (I'm worried he wasn't getting enough sleep!) and he actively encourages his parishioners to question things. He doubts the value of prayer. His almost daily sessions with the man preparing for the end of the world were a highlight for me, not so much for Joel. But he's a good, principled man, who loves his wife very much, but has been rocked to the core by her news.

Karoliina is also fascinating. A barmaid at the Golden Moon Night Club which seems never to close, she's beautiful, mysterious and very possibly dangerous. And she arouses feelings in Joel that a pastor just shouldn't have.

The writing is wonderful and vivid. I picked out a phrase that made me smile, and another that tugged at my heartstrings:

'The smell of alcohol...like an aftershave made from garlic and toilet cleaner...'

'The bruise takes the most direct route to my heart, wrenching my chest open...' 

This is a dark crime caper, laced with equally dark humour and full of fascinating characters. The scenery and the weather are both integral to the story. It was easy for me to picture the scenes as the writing is so evocative. But it's also full of philosophical and religious questions, and looks at what's really important to us. It has real heart. I loved this quirky book and as soon as I get a chance, those other three Antti Tuomainen books will be moving further towards the top of my TBR pile.


The Author:

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’.