The arrival of a meteorite in a small Finnish town causes chaos and crime in this poignant, chilling and hilarious new thriller from the King of Helsinki Noir
***The Times BOOK OF THE YEAR***
***Shortlisted for the CrimeFest Last Laugh Award***
***Shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger***
‘With moral dilemmas, plenty of action, and the author’s trademark mixture of humour and melancholy, this is Tuomainen’s best yet’ Guardian
‘Scandinavia’s answer to Carl Hiaasen delivers another hectically silly crime caper involving a military chaplain, a suicidal rally driver and a very expensive meteorite’ The Times
‘Finnish criminal chucklemeister Tuomainen is channelling Carl Hiaasen in this hilarious novel’ Sunday Times
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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 crime novel 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.
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‘Tuomainen is the funniest writer in Europe’ The Times
‘By no means Nordic noir of the familiar variety, this is eccentric, humorous fare, reminiscent of nothing so much as a Coen Brothers movie’ Financial Times
‘Tuomainen continues to carve out his own niche in the chilly tundras of northern Finland in this poignant, gripping and hilarious tale’ Daily Express
‘While the plots of many Nordic noir writers are turning ever more grim, Finland’s Antti Tuomainen opts these days for a wittier, lighter touch … quite the ride’ Observer
‘The biting cold of Northern Finland is only matched by the cutting dark wit and compelling plot on this must-read crime novel’ Denzil Meyrick
‘A brilliantly inventive and gloriously funny novel from Finland's greatest export’ MJ Arlidge
‘Told in a darkly funny, deadpan style … The result is a rollercoaster read’ Guardian
‘Right up there with the best’ The TLS
‘Through it all, Tuomainen maintains his singular tone, which mixes black humour with genuine, sometimes biting, sympathy for desperate people, provided that none take their needfulness too far … Little Siberia is a gripping thriller whose complications pile to precarious, intoxicating heights’ Foreword Reviews
‘Tuomainen also persuades readers how hard life makes it to do the right thing in a universe that too often feels like a profound personal insult. Fans of Scandinavian noir will relish this one’ Publishers Weekly
'You don’t expect to laugh when you’re reading about terrible crimes, but that’s what you’ll do when you pick up one of Tuomainen’s decidedly quirky thrillers' New York Times
What’s that got to do with prayer? Does the hunting club pray? Is that what you mean? “Lord, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy elk? Give us this day, our daily moose”?’