Tappokeli The Winter Job
Helsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to the eve and with no money, he’s desperate. Through a colleague, Ilmari ends up transporting a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisjärvi, the northernmost town in Finland. At a gas station, a childhood friend appears and promises to fix Ilmari’s van in exchange for a ride north. Soon after, a persistent Saab 96 and then an egg-yellow Lada emerge in the rearview mirror, and Ilmari realizes that he is transporting something truly special.
The Winter Job is a darkly humorous and warmly touching suspense novel about friendship, love, and death. With Antti Tuomainen at the wheel, it flies a hundred and twenty kilometers an hour straight into the darkest heart of a Finnish winter night.
Reviews
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“[The Winter Job] is a tender, heartwarming tale about the evolution of friendship. (…) The story flows like December snow, with language that feels particularly subtle. Despite occasional rough and violent twists, The Winter Job is an exceptionally beautiful crime novel. While dark humor remains one of Tuomainen’s trademarks, his expression in this book has taken on a gentler tone. The story unfolds like a Christmas fairy tale, revealing Tuomainen when he’s at his most poignant.”
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“Antti Tuomainen’s excellent novel ponders – amid crime, humor and speed – the meaning of life. (…) A traditional suspense story turns into man’s quest not only for his travel destination but to the quest for himself and his purpose. (…) Tuomainen has been able to entertain for decades now. The crimes in his suspense novels are out of the ordinary also because the characters are real people with real quirks. There is dark humor, but also peculiar experiences that lead to surprising thoughts and solutions.”
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“Like always, Tuomainen serves his fast-flowing writing wrapped in dark humor. There are perhaps fewer dead bodies, but strange twists abound in delicious quantities. (…) The carefully thought-out soundtrack offers a snapshot of the time and adds to the humor of the novel and the relationships between the characters. (…) The ending genuinely warms the heart.”
- Author
- Antti Tuomainen
- Published
- 2024
- Genre
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- Literary
- Pages
- 271
- Reading material
Finnish edition
- Rights sold
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Finland, Otava