Little Siberia by Anti Tuimainen

I first discovered this author when I read his novel, The Healer, a post-apocalyptic story set in a Helsinki beset by the effects of calamitous flooding and climate change. It was a brilliant novel - and with climate change increasingly seen as an emergency - one that was ahead of its time. I next encountered this author’s work when I read one of his first novels to be published by his current British publisher, the always brilliant Orenda Books. The Mine was crime noir set against the backdrop of economic and political corruption and was another gripping tale of noir. 

Tuomainen’s output was crime thrillers at this point, but he then took a turn towards black comedy with his darkly comic book, The Man Who Died. Then followed Palm Beach, Finland, in the same vein. And now his latest book, Little Siberia. This is the third in his darkly comic crime novels, all of which have something of the Fargo about them, none more so than this offering.

A meteorite falling from the sky and crashing into a car is the event that sets this novel’s plot going, for it soon transpires that the space rock is made from rare metals and is worth a fortune. For now, it is being kept in the war museum of the town of Hurmevaara in Finland, an isolated rural spot that is just a short distance from the Finnish/Russian border. In a couple of days it is due to be collected and transported first to the Finnish capital of Helsinki, and then to London, for scientific analysis. 

Joel, a local priest and war veteran (he was a pastor in the Finnish contingent to the international force in Afghanistan), is taking his turn guarding the rock when he is assaulted by burglars intent on stealing it. That robbery is foiled, but it soon transpires that a lot of people have their eyes on the meteorite and wish to swipe it away before it’s taken to Helsinki. Having learnt that his wife has been unfaithful to him, and angered that someone tried to steal the rock from the museum while he was guarding it, Joel becomes obsessed with both discovering the identities of those who assaulted him and protecting the meteorite from those who wish to profit from it. 

Like the television series, Fargo, (or indeed the original film), there’s a cast of weird and wonderfully eccentric characters that Joel has to choose from as to who might be the robbers (and indeed, who might be his wife’s lover, another mystery he wishes to solve). He sets about his investigation with gusto and is soon in greater danger as he gets closer to the truth.

Little Siberia is a wonderful book, just like all the novels Tuomainen has written to date. He’s on a roll with these darkly comic tales, and I look forward to reading what he writes next. Will he return to the more serious noir? Will he pen another dark comedy? Or will he strike out with something different altogether? Whatever he decides, this is an author of great talent and I’m sure I’ll enjoy whatever he comes up with next.

5 out of 5 stars