A black comedy thriller set in northern Finland

28th December 2019

Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen – a black comedy thriller set in northern Finland. Translated by David Hackston.

In style Little Siberia very much follows on from Antti’s last book, The Man Who Died. The comedy is black and the story is a respectable (if somewhat unlikely) thriller. People are killed – sometimes in ‘hilarious’ circumstances. A mystery is solved. It works really very well.

A meteorite descends from the sky one snowy winter’s night. It goes straight through the roof of a speeding car. Such a ‘find’ is said to be worth up to 1 million Euros. The inhabitants of the local village get very excited. They place the meteorite under lock and key in the local museum to await collection from the powers that be… it will be there for several days. But there are various plots afoot…

The story revolves around the local pastor. He takes it upon himself to be the night guard in the museum – not an entirely altruistic act. He needs some time to himself – his wife (whom he loves dearly) has just announced to him that she is pregnant. She is delighted, but he is not for reasons known only to himself. He was injured in the war in Afghanistan and can no longer father a child…On his first night of duty the museum is broken in to. The perpetrators could have taken the meteorite, but take a old wartime grenade by mistake (with disastrous results…). Who, though, were the perpetrators? There were two of them – one male and the other, he believes, female. There are several candidates for the male. Four very different members of the community are behaving strangely – especially when the pastor is around. Then there are two dubious Russians who have come over the nearby border to conduct some ‘business’ in the village. Given their attitude and appearance, it is highly unlikely the business is legal.

There are fewer candidates for the possible female perpetrator… in fact only one. During the botched theft she was wearing a very strong perfume, and our pastor tracks her down. He is, of course, sexually attracted to her – partly to get back at his wife …

There follows a series of plots and betrayals that lead to very bloody ending to the book. The father to be of the child is also revealed.

As with The Man Who Died, there are times when you don’t know whether to gasp in horror or burst out laughing as the plot develops. It is funny, but it is also gruesome. Your emotions jar.

In TripFiction terms, Little Siberia paints what I imagine is a pretty realistic picture of a small northern Finnish village in the middle of winter. The cold seeps through the pages.

Recommended.

Tony for the TripFiction team

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