The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomainen (translated by David Hackston)

I am delighted to share my blog tour review of The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomainen today. But I'm also feeling a little bereft as this is the final book in The Rabbit Factor Trilogy and I have LOVED this wee series. Big thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me on to the tour and to the publisher for my review copy. I've since purchased my own hardback copy to complete the set.

The Blurb

Warmly funny, quirky, touching, and a nail-biting TRIUMPH of a thriller, The Beaver Theory is the final instalment in the award-winning, international bestselling Rabbit Factor Trilogy.

Henri Koskinen, intrepid insurance mathematician and adventure-park entrepreneur, firmly believes in the power of common sense and order. That is until he moves in with painter Laura Helanto and her daughter…

As Henri realises he has inadvertently become part of a group of local dads, a competing adventure park is seeking to expand their operations, not always sticking to the law in the process…

Is it possible to combine the increasingly dangerous world of the adventure-park business with the unpredictability of life in a blended family? At first glance, the two appear to have only one thing in common: neither deals particularly well with a mounting body count.

In order to solve this seemingly impossible conundrum, Henri is forced to step far beyond the mathematical precision of his comfort zone … and the stakes have never been higher…

The Beaver Theory is published by Orenda Books and comes out on 12th October 2023. 

My Review

Oh, I LOVE these books! If you've been here a while you may remember that The Rabbit Factor was one of my favourite books of 2021, and the second book in the trilogy, The Moose Paradox, was brilliant too. I've been a fan of Antti's work for a wee while and his  was one of the events I was looking forward to at Bloody Scotland. I still haven't written my review of the weekend (yes, I know it was over two weeks ago but it took me one of those weeks to recover!) but I can assure you that his event with Mark Billingham was lots of fun and a highlight of my festival experience. 

Henri and his team suddenly find that after running successfully for a while, YouMeFun adventure park sudden!y has no customers. None at all. And the reason seems to be rival adventure park Somersault City which is offering free entry and free hot dogs for everyone. Henri sets out to find out more and discoverability are a lot more sinister than at first glance but he knows that for YouMeFun to survive he must take action. At the same time as all this he is settling in to family life with artist Laura Helanto and her daughter Tuuli and embracing all that has to offer by getting involved in school fundraising with a bunch of very enthusiastic dads. But trying to keep everything together takes its toll on Henri as he tries to fix everything in the same way as always. With maths. 

I absolutely adore Henri, have done since the beginning of his journey. My favourite protagonist for a good while. He's an actuary, for a start. How many those do you see at the centre of a crime novel? There's a strong possibility he's on the autistic spectrum, I think, but I have watched him grow over the three books, seen him discover new things about himself, develop skills for mixing with people to a point where he enjoys it, develop an appreciation of art, fall in love and find a family. All while still having a deep faith in mathematics which often comes out in the way he speaks meaning he's often funny without realising it. He has grown into himself and it's been such a joy to see that. But there are still problems to solve and nasty folk to confront - can maths be the answer this time? 

Some of the bigger changes in Henri are down to artist and former YouMeFun employee, Laura Helanto, who fell in love with Henri and all his quirks and brought out in him  feelings he'd never experienced before. Things beyond maths. And I can tell how comfortable he is with her as he actually refers to her sometimes in this book without using her surname too - it has always been 'Laura Helanto' until now, but sometimes she's simply 'Laura' here. It shows the depth of Henry's feelings in his usual understated way. I loved the group of dads he accidentally falls in with, especially Taneli when he was talking about the planned school trip to Paris and 'how important it was for children to experience all of the above and how at a young age such experiences have an effect comparable to that of compound interest'. He and Henri were destined to become friends! I can't go without mentioning the park employees. They're all quirky and wonderful but my favourite is Head of Security Esa who takes his job very seriously but is quite possibly as mad as a box of frogs. Love him and 'his organic-toxicological challenges'.

Of course, the bad guys are just as colourful as the good guys and there is some very real peril for Henri in this book and one very memorable scene that had me wincing and laughing at the same time! There is a lot going on for Henri, he's juggling all sorts of balls and trying not 'to dwell on the fact that it is hard to remember a time when my problems were of a purely mathematical nature and weren't to do with finding a balance between family life and solving homicides'. It's a challenge for him and one he is determined to rise to. 

I have to mention David Hackston who has done a fabulous job at translating these books. I am so thankful for skilled translators who enable us to read fantastic foreign fiction - they are stars. Also in this book I loved the cheeky wee shout out for a previous novel - '...is like some kind of little...Siberia...'.

The Beaver Theory has a bit of everything - laughter (for the reader, not Henri), family, love, friendship, personal growth, murder, peril and threat. And maths, of course. And a giant beaver. Tuomainen is a skilled writer who has created a fabulous protagonist who is easy to love, and given us another crime story full of warmth and humour. It's much more gentle than the crime I usually read (can crime be gentle?) but just as good. This is a brilliant ending to a trilogy which I have loved but I am so sad it's finished, I will miss Henri. But I very much look forward to whatever comes next from Antti Tuomainen. 

The Author

 

Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, his third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel and shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. 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 became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards and now a Finnish TV series. Palm Beach, Finland (2018) and Little Siberia (2019) were 

shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The Rabbit Factor, the first book in the trilogy will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios, and the first two books were international bestsellers. Antti lives in Helsinki with his wife.