Antti Tuomainen - The Rabbit Factor

[Ken, Moderator (U.S.A.)]

Edelweiss + has Antti Tuomainen's book The Rabbit Factor to be published on the 1st of May 2022. Finland.

Soon to be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios**

An insurance mathematician’s carefully ordered life is turned on its head when he unexpectedly loses his job and inherits an adventure park … with a whole host of problems. A quirky, tense, and warmly funny thriller from award-winning Finnish author Antti Tuomainen.

Just one spreadsheet away from chaos…

What makes life perfect? Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen knows the answer because he calculates everything down to the very last decimal.

And then, for the first time, Henri is faced with the incalculable. After suddenly losing his job, Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother—its peculiar employees and troubling financial problems included. The worst of the financial issues appear to originate from big loans taken from criminal quarters … and some dangerous men are very keen to get their money back.

But what Henri really can’t compute is love. In the adventure park, Henri crosses paths with Laura, an artist with a chequered past, and a joie de vivre and erratic lifestyle that bewilders him. As the criminals go to extreme lengths to collect their debts and as Henri's relationship with Laura deepens, he finds himself faced with situations and emotions that simply cannot be pinned down on his spreadsheets…

Warmly funny, rich with quirky characters and absurd situations, The Rabbit Factor is a triumph of a dark thriller, its tension matched only by its ability to make us rejoice in the beauty and random nature of life.

[Carol]

I am in the US, bought a copy of it last October and am reading it now. Orenda's the publisher. I wonder to which market that May release date applies.

In any event, ignore the dippy title. It's quite fun. Not as strong as Palm Beach Finland or the Man Who Died, but bears all the hallmarks of Tuomainen's best - strong, well-developed characters; bad guys who are actually threatening; intelligent female characters; humor but not silliness.

[Icewineanne]

Carol wrote: "I am in the US, bought a copy of it last October and am reading it now. Orenda's the publisher. I wonder to which market that May release date applies.

In any event, ignore the dippy title. It's ..."

Good to know Carol. I’ve had the Man Who Died for quite awhile. I’ll move it up on my list.

[Ken, Moderator (U.S.A.)]

Crime Fiction Lover rap sheet 1/20/22

Crime Fiction Lover Book Club: The Rabbit Factor

Finnish author Antti Tuomainen has been a favourite at Crime Fiction Lover ever since his first novel, The Healer, was first translated into English. Since then, he’s come a long way and his crime writing has grown lighter, funnier and quite a bit weirder – but in a good way. He delights in taking unusual characters and taking them way outside their comfort zone, and in The Rabbit Factor we meet statistical mathematician Henri Koskinen, who has just lost his job as an actuary at an insurance company. Probability theorem rules all his decision making, but what lies ahead he can’t seem to calculate for.

First of all, he inherits an adventure park in Helsinki from his brother, who has suddenly died. Secondly, the park is in debt to loan sharks, they want their money back and they’ll use violence on Henri get it. Thirdly, he unexpectedly falls in love with an artist called Laura who is very unlike him and yet is similar to him in many ways. And finally, there’s a large fibreglass rabbit effigy in the adventure park that plays a role in the plot, but we’re not going to go there right now…

The Rabbit Factor comes with our 5-star seal of approval, and it was also the number one novel of 2021 in my own top five for the year. It’s a superb read, not just for the crime story – it’s also a love story, with a hint of tragedy too, and a personal journey for the main character.

Over on our website, we're starting a Book Club discussion about this excellent novel. If you've read it, head over there and share your thoughts.

[Carol]

Icewineanne wrote: "Carol wrote: "I am in the US, bought a copy of it last October and am reading it now. Orenda's the publisher. I wonder to which market that May release date applies.

In any event, ignore the dipp..."

Icewineanne - I highly recommend it. It's one of my favorite novels in this genre, ever. It wasn't a raging hit in my IRL mystery club I got to read it, but I think they approached it with a rigid expectation of what a Scandi novel must be, and didn't appreciate his elements of dark humor. He includes a romantic relationship element in each of his books, and they're really well done, says the reader who runs swiftly away from any romance. Also, as with the Rabbit Factor, the focus is, "from where/whom is this threat coming, and how will the main character extricate himself from this threat?" as opposed to whodunnit or whydunnit?

[Icewineanne]

Carol wrote: "Icewineanne wrote: "Carol wrote: "I am in the US, bought a copy of it last October and am reading it now. Orenda's the publisher. I wonder to which market that May release date applies.

In any ev..."

Now I’m even more excited to start this series! I love dark humour & have never shied away from a little romance in mysteries.
☃️