The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen (translated by David Hackston)

I'm so pleased to be taking part in the blog tour for the new book from one of my favourites. The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen and translated into English by David Hackston is published by Orenda Books and came out on 23rd October this year. Huge thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours for inviting me and to the publisher for my review copy. I will be buying my own paper copy.

 

The Blurb

Helsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go – and no money – he’s desperate.

A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisjärvi, the northernmost town in Finland.With the sofa secured in the back of his van, Ilmari stops at a gas station, and an old friend turns up, offering to fix his faulty wipers, on the condition that he tags along. Soon after, a persistent Saab 96 appears in the rearview mirror. And then a bright-yellow Lada.

That’s when Ilmari realises that he is transporting something truly special.

And that’s when Ilmari realises he might be in serious trouble…

My Review

One of the things I love about Antti Tuomainen 's books is that he takes ordinary people and puts them into extraordinary situations. Situations which are often perilous but also darkly funny - at least for the lucky reader, if not for the ptotagonist.

Ilmari Nieminen is just a postman but he's a postman who wants to buy his daughter the perfect Christmas present. Unfortunately, that's a piano. And he's broke. And Christmas is a week away. The long distance delivery job he's offered is perfect - he'll be back in time for Christmas Eve with enough money for the piano. But the job turns out to be anything but simple...

There's a lot of fun to be had in this crime novel. Eccentric characters, distinctive vehicles, a frozen landscape, a desperate determined main character and a very special sofa make for a great story. For Ilmari, noting matters except his daughter getting the piano for Christmas, and it's that thought that keeps him going in the darker moments of his trip. I loved his reacquaintance with Antero as the two get to know each other again and try to suss out of they can trust each other. From the other characters, I loved Otto. Well, loved is possibly the wrong word because he's a pretty unlovable man, but I found him very entertaining - I'm not sure how he's feel about that. He also has a very particular way of looking at people and places - some of his comparisons worked for me, some didn't. All the characters are fleshed out, all have their own reasons for being interested in the sofa.

Part road trip, part cat and mouse chase, the chaos mounts up as the journey and the story progress. There are some perilous moments and there are also plenty of moments that will make you smile. Yes, it's a crime novel, but it's one that says a lot about love, family and friendship. And keeping promises. Loved it.


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 and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. In 2013, the Finnish press crowned Tuomainen the ‘King of Helsinki Noir’ when Dark as My Heart was published. 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. Palm Beach, Finland (2018) was an immense success, with The Times calling Tuomainen ‘the funniest writer in Europe’, and Little Siberia (2019) was 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. It was released as a Netflix film in 2025. The Rabbit Factor, the first book in a trilogy that includes The Moose Paradox and The Beaver
Theory, is now in production for TV with Amazon Studios, starring Steve Carell. The Moose Paradox was a Literary Review and Guardian Book of the Year and shortlisted for CrimeFest’s Last Laugh Award. The trilogy was followed in 2024 by The Burning Stones. Antti lives in Helsinki with his wife.