Hi and welcome to the first ever (as far as I’m aware) but long overdue Tuomainen Tuesday! Here on FromBelgiumWithBookLove, all the #Orentober Tuesdays will be dedicated to Antti Tuomainen, the Finnish author dubbed “the funniest writer in Europe” by The Times! I am going to work my way through Antti’s backlist but today I’m starting with his most recent book baby, out in eBook since July and available in paperback on 17 October!
So what is Little Siberia all about, I’m sure you’re dying to find out! Little Siberia is about Joel, who is a priest and former military man, and he also works in the local veterans museum as a guard. At the beginning of the book, a race car driver is pushing his car to the limit on the dark and snowy roads of rural Finland, when a meteorite strikes and lands on his passenger seat. I don’t know if you’ve noticed but this opening scene is brilliantly summed up in the striking cover of this book.
The meteorite is placed in the local museum before it will be transported to London. A few of people realise that the meteorite is worth a lot of money and it becomes a target, and in the process so does Joel, who volunteered to take the night shifts in the museum for as long as the meteorite is there. But stopping thieves from getting away with the treasure that fell from the sky is not Joel’s only problem: his wife tells him she’s pregnant and he’s sure that he can’t have created this new life, but then who did?
Both as a priest and as a man his faith has become quite wobbly. Who and what should he even believe in? In God? In himself? In what the doctors told him? In what his wife tells him? In the Almighty Elk? (Don’t ask)
As I’ve come to expect from Antti Tuomainen, I found Little Siberia a suspenseful, dark and funny book. It’s hard to explain to those who are new to Tuomainen, you have to experience it to fully understand it. I think his books are truly unique, I personally haven’t found this Tuomainen trait anywhere else. It’s not what I would call comedy. It’s this very suspenseful crime thriller story, you’re practically biting your nails sitting on the edge of your seat and then there’s this one funny remark or a hilarious observation or a scene filled to the brim with this dark and dry sense of humour and it takes you completely by surprise and you just burst out laughing. And while there are other authors who rely on comic relief to ease the tension, none I’ve read do it quite like Antti does.
Recommended!
Little Siberia is out now in eBook format (get it directly from Orenda Books here), and will be out in paperback on the 17th!
There’s also a Little Siberia blog tour going on this month, check it out:
I love the sound of this one, a darkly humorous thriller is right up my dark alley. 😀
Great! In that case you’ll be in for a treat the coming Tuesdays ?
Can I just copy-paste your review or link to it instead of having to write my own review?? #lostforwords ? I finished this today and I totally agree with you! I can’t wait to read Palm Beach Finland now. Fab review! xx
Aww thank you! These are so hard to review, it’s so difficult to put into words what it is that makes it stand out. xx
Writing my review last night nearly killed me… It took FIVE hours to get something somewhat decent on paper. xD I’m definitely not leaving blog tour reviews until the very last minute again haha. Orenda books are so hard to review in general though! I always feel my rambles won’t do it justice.
I have the same issues! I always fear that its brilliance won’t come across, that I’m not getting it right. It helps that Karen is always so sweet about it though ?