Tag: crime fiction

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Chemical Code – Fiona Erskine

ramblingmads

Racing towards the dark heart of Brazil, explosives expert Jaq Silver has one goal – vengeance. When her enemies take what she treasures most, she resolves to make them pay. Unsure who to trust, alert to hidden agendas, Jaq is hunting solo. As summer temperatures rise, the web of danger and corruption tightens around her. What is in the mysterious box, Jaq has inherited from her grandmother? Can Jaq be sure she is chasing down the right target? And who is pursuing her?

An exhilarating tour around Brazil from the gold mines of Goiás to the glorious beaches of Rio, THE CHEMICAL CODE combines non-stop explosive action and Bond-style villainy with the scientific know-how that makes the Chemical Detective series so unique.

FIONA ERSKINE is a professional engineer based in Teesside, although her work has taken her around the globe. As a female engineer, she has often been the lone representative of her gender in board meetings, cargo ships and night-time factories, and her fiction offers a fascinating insight into this traditionally male world. She is the author of The Chemical Detective, The Chemical Reaction and The Chemical Cocktail, all published by Point Blank. The Chemical Detective was shortlisted for the Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award and The Chemical Reaction was shortlisted for the Staunch Prize in 2020.

@erskine_fiona @PointBlankCrime #ChemicalDetective

My thoughts: Jaq Silver has inherited a gold mine somewhere deep in the Brazilian rainforest, only she’s not interested, but plenty of other people are. She just wants to find her son, given away and adopted at birth. He’s out here somewhere but the people chasing her will stop at nothing to get the mining rights and keep her away, they’ll destroy and kill in order to stop her.

On her trail is federal police officer Gracà Nunes, she’s new to the job but has good instincts, and something tells her Jaq is a woman to watch out for. As the women’s paths lead them to the same place, but from different angles, bodies pile up and they both face danger. But can Jaq outwit her enemies and find her son? Will Gracà catch up with her and get to keep her job by solving the big case?

There are subplots involving bank managers and environmental scientists, stolen moments with kitesurfers and daring ocean rescues. It’s all very high adrenaline stuff, Jaq’s a bit of an action hero as well as a clever engineer, but not necessarily a great detective. As she zigzags across Brazil searching for her son, doing the odd spot of actual work and plotting revenge, other things rumble on in the background and she seems to be connected to it all.

Intelligent and drawing on real events for inspiration, this will hook you and suck you into its fast paced tangled web of corruption, crime and crazed colonels.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: You Can’t See Me – Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, translated by Victoria Cribb

ramblingmads

The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’s remote Snæfellsnes peninsula. Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event, and her troubled teenage daughter, Lea, whose socialmedia presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers. Ageing carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he’s the boyfriend of Petra’s aunt, but he’s struggling to avoid alcohol because he knows what happens when he drinks … Humble hotel employee, Irma, is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters … perhaps too close… As the weather deteriorates and the alcohol flows, one of the guests disappears, and it becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark. But is the real danger inside … within the family itself?

Born in Akranes in 1988, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir studied for an MSc in globalisation in Norway before returning to Iceland to write her first novel. Combining writing with work as a stewardess and caring for her children, Eva finished her debut thriller The Creak on the Stairs, which was published in 2018. It became a bestseller in Iceland, going on to win the Blackbird Award. Published in English by Orenda Books in 2020, it became a digital number-one betseller in three countries, was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Awards in two categories and won the CWA John Creasey Dagger in 2021. Girls Who Lie, the second book in the Forbidden Iceland series was shortlisted for the Petrona Award and the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger, and Night Shadows followed suit. With over 200,000 copies sold in English alone, Eva has become one of Iceland’s – and crimefiction’s – most highly regarded authors. She lives in Reyjavik with her husband and three children.

My thoughts: family reunions never end well, all those very different people linked only by blood or marriage, in one place, in this case a remote Icelandic hotel, with lots of booze. Recipe for disaster. Secrets bubble up, people are revealed to be more something other than they seem, old resentments flourish and nobody has a nice time. Except maybe the oblivious patriarch, although the heartburn and indigestion he’s due won’t be pleasant.

There’s a member of hotel staff with a secret connection to the family, a years old secret comes to light, an unhappy teenager, a miserable mother who won’t stop picking on her adult daughter. You can tell they don’t have these gatherings too often, better if they don’t speak at all in some cases.

Then there’s the dead body, the possibly missing girl and the police, summoned to the hotel to investigate. With all the suspects handily in one place, it shouldn’t take them long to sort out.

Moving back and forth between the police investigation and the weekend that proceeded it, we get a long hard look at the family, at their messy relationships, resentments and all the awkward moments you could want, as long as they’re not your relatives.

As a prequel to the Arkanes set Forbidden Iceland series, it’s only in the final moments the connection is made, this is much more about the wealthy Snæberg family and their chaos than it is about the police or the town. It works quite happily as a standalone, although I do recommend the rest of the series too.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Rum Affair – Dorothy Dunnett

ramblingmads

Tina Rossi, the world’s leading coloratura soprano has travelled to Edinburgh, ostensibly to sing in the Festival, but in reality to meet her lover, top scientist Kenneth Holmes. But instead of finding Kenneth at their rendezvous, she discovers an unknown corpse. Enter Johnson Johnson, a famous but enigmatic portrait painter, whose yacht Dolly is about to sail in a race to the Hebrides where Holmes was conducting his top-secret research. Soon Tina and Johnson are sailing the high seas together to investigate his disappearance, but as the Dolly nears Rum, the race becomes one for life rather than prize money…

Dorothy Dunnett (1923-2001) gained an international reputation as a writer of historical fiction. She later turned to crime writing with the acclaimed Dolly books, aka the Johnson Johnson series. She was a trustee of the National Library of Scotland, and a board member of the Edinburgh International Book Festival. In 1992 she was awarded an OBE for her services to literature. A leading light in the Scottish arts world and a renaissance woman, Dunnett was also a professional portrait painter and exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy on many occasions.

My thoughts: Johnson Johnson and his beloved yacht Dolly are back. This time they’re in a race around the Scottish Hebrides. On board is opera singer Tina Rossi and her slimy manager. Ostensibly on holiday, Tina is trying to track down her absentee lover, Dr Kenneth Holmes, a government scientist. He might be on the isle of Rum, but she’s not sure.

Along the way Tina will have to avoid the clutches of a amorous yacht owner, learn to help sail Dolly, keep a lot of secrets to herself and pose for one of Johnson’s famous and brilliant portraits. But what else is the painter, and possible spy, up to? Who is he, and his team, watching on this adventure around the Scottish coast?

All sorts of capers ensue, some of the other racers aren’t exactly as they appear either, and there’s islands to visit, a five grand bet to win and a submarine blows up. Great fun.

This series is very enjoyable and I am delighted it’s all being reprinted, as I’d never come across Dorothy Dunnett (perfect name for a crime writer too) before.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Voices of the Dead – Ambrose Parry

ramblingmads

EDINBURGH, 1853.
In a city of science, discovery can be deadly . . .

In a time of unprecedented scientific innovation, the public’s appetite for wonder has seen a resurgence of interest in mesmerism, spiritualism and other unexplained phenomena.

Dr Will Raven is wary of the shadowlands that lie between progress and quackery, but Sarah Fisher can’t afford to be so picky. Frustrated in her medical ambitions, she sees opportunity in a new therapeutic field not already closed off to women.

Raven has enough on his hands as it is. Body parts have been found at Surgeons Hall, and they’re not anatomy specimens. In a city still haunted by the crimes of Burke and Hare, he is tasked with heading off a scandal.

When further human remains are found, Raven is able to identify a prime suspect, and the hunt is on before he kills again. Unfortunately, the individual he seeks happens to be an accomplished actor, a man of a thousand faces and a renowned master of disguise.

With the lines between science and spectacle dangerously blurred, the stage is set for a grand and deadly illusion . . .

Ambrose Parry is the penname for two authors – the internationally bestselling and multi-award-winning Chris Brookmyre and consultant anaesthetist of twenty years’ experience, Dr Marisa Haetzman. Inspired by the gory details Haetzman uncovered during her History of Medicine degree, the couple teamed up to write a series of historical crime thrillers, featuring the darkest of Victorian Edinburgh’s secrets. They are married and live in Scotland. The Way of All Flesh, The Art of Dying and A Corruption of Blood were shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Book of the Year. A Corruption of Blood was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger in 2022.
@ambroseparry

My thoughts: Victorian Edinburgh, seat of learning, home to the odd scandal like bodysnatchers, which make even the most August doctor a bit twitchy when an identified foot turns up in the College of Surgeons. Invited by his friend Henry to help look into this, Will Raven is drawn into a world of illusions, mis direction and mesmerism. Sarah too is attracted to the ideas of an American doctor turned mesmerist, claiming to treat serious conditions with this unusual method. Could this be a way into medicine for her?

The Victorians were fascinated by spiritualists, mesmerists, illusions and magic, magicians were popular and people flocked to theatres to be delighted and amazed. Some of these performers were more genuine than others – stating openly that it was an act, a trick, others swindled the naive and vulnerable. Of course people wanted to hear from their dead loved ones or be relieved from pain.

Will is sceptical of all of this hokum, and thinks there’s more going on here than genuine science. Plus there’s the body parts he keeps finding. Someone is a killer, but who?

His wife is also about to have their second child but he doesn’t seem that interested, and he’s been asked by an old acquaintance for a very particular favour. And there’s another familiar face around, with a new name. Is Sarah in danger?

Blending science and detective work, Will and Henry dig into the murders, chasing red herrings and theories around town, but still find time for their day jobs, just about. Fun and a bit gory, this is another excellent book in this series.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.

books

Cover Reveal: The Puppet Maker – Jenny O’Brien

ramblingmads

The scrap of paper looked as if it had been torn from a diary. The words written in faint pencil. The letters rounded, almost childlike: Please look after her. Her life and mine depend on you not trying to find me. 

When Detective Alana Mack arrives at Clonabee police station, in a small Irish seaside town on the outskirts of Dublin, she doesn’t expect to find a distressed two-year-old girl sobbing on the floor. Abandoned in a local supermarket, the child tells them her name is Casey. All Alana and her team have to go on is a crumpled note begging for someone to look after her little girl. This mother doesn’t want to be found. 

Still recovering from a terrible accident that has left Alana navigating a new life as a wheelchair user, Alana finds herself suddenly responsible for Casey while trying to track down the missing mother and solve another missing person’s case… a retired newsagent who has seemingly vanished from his home.

Forced to ask her ex-husband and child psychiatrist Colm for help, through Forensic Art Therapy, Alana discovers that whatever darkness lies behind the black windows in Casey’s crayon drawing, the little girl was terrified of the house she lived in. 

Then a bag of human remains is found in a bin, and a chilling link is made – the DNA matches Casey’s. 

Alana and her team must find the body and make the connection with the missing newsagent fast if she is to prevent another life from being taken. But with someone in her department leaking confidential details of the investigation to the media, can Alana set aside her emotional involvement in this case and find Casey’s mother and the killer before it’s too late? 

Heart-pounding and totally addictive, The Puppet Maker is the first in the Detective Alana Mack series that will have fans of Ann Cleeves, Angela Marsons and LJ Ross racing through the pages late into the night. 

Publication Date: 17th October

Amazon UK
Amazon US

Born in Dublin, Jenny O’Brien moved to Wales and then Guernsey, where she tries to find time to write in between working as a nurse and ferrying around 3 teenagers. 

In her spare time she can be found frowning at her wonky cakes and even wonkier breads. You’ll be pleased to note she won’t be entering Bake-Off. She’s also an all-year-round sea swimmer.

Jenny is represented by Nicola Barr of The Bent Agency and published by Storm Publishing and HQ Digital (Harper Collins).

Twitter Instagram

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Terminal Black – Colin Garrow

ramblingmads


A stolen identity. A hitman. A bent cop.
Relic Black takes things that don’t belong to him—credit cards, golf clubs, toothbrushes. But when a hitman mistakes him for someone else, Relic lands himself in a difficult situation. With a dead man
on his hands and a guilty conscience, he sets off to save the life of the man whose identity he has stolen. And that’s when the real trouble starts…
Purchase

Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland. He has worked
in a plethora of professions including: taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor, and has occasionally masqueraded as a pirate. All Colin’s books are available as eBooks and paperback.
His short stories have appeared in several literary mags, including: SN Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, Word Bohemia, Every Day Fiction, The Grind, A3 Review, 1,000 Words, Inkapture and Scribble Magazine. He currently lives in a humble cottage in North East Scotland where he writes novels, stories, poems and the occasional song.
He also makes rather nice cakes.
Website/Blog Amazon Twitter Smashwords
Facebook The Watson Letters

My thoughts: stealing someone’s identity doesn’t normally mean a hitman comes calling but for Relic Black, this time it does. Checked into a hotel under someone else’s name, he has to defend himself with whatever he can find – in this case a toothbrush, and then he steals the man’s car, complete with a body in the trunk. And that’s just the start of his problems.

Blackly comic and full of hitmen, con men, thieves and bent coppers, this is a slim volume with a lot going on. If you like your crime dark, violent and messy, you’ll enjoy this.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: I Am The River – Kelly Romo

ramblingmads

I am the River copy

Welcome to the tour for I Am the River by Kelly Romo. This is the bone-chilling sequel to Dead Drift. Read on for more details!

I am the river Cover

I Am the River (A Whitewater Thriller)

Publication Date: June 15, 2023

Genre: Thriller/ Serial Killer

HE is the river. HE takes who he wants and releases who HE wants.

Ashely Covington struggles to raise her three young daughters on what little life insurance is left from her husband’s death while fighting a woodland fire. Her family does not have the resources to help her, so they pressure her to move on to find a new husband and a father for her girls.

Emmy Jenkins knows what it feels like to have a serial killer come after her. She escaped HIM twice. Emmy and Brian must start over in a new town, away from the tragic events and the killer’s family. Unfortunately, HE escapes custody. The authorities think the killer committed suicide by drowning himself in the river. They do not locate his body, but they do find a girl drowned in Elk Lake. Her death is ruled an accidental drowning, but Emmy knows HE is still alive. And HE is coming for her.

To prove himself worthy of immortality, HE follows the river to its source in the Cascade Mountains, where HE will accept whatever the headwaters offer. Suddenly, his destiny is revealed when the perfect nymph with three little girls appears on the shore.

Now Available Here

Dead Drift Cover

Dead Drift (Whitewater Thriller #1)

Publication Date: May 15, 2022

Genre: Thriller/ Serial Killer

Two teenage girls on the run with fake IDs and a beater car…what could go wrong?

Emmy has always been impulsive. She is no longer a minor and has aged out of foster care. When her best friend, Amber, is the target of a perverted uncle who lives in the basement of her group home, they plan her escape.

They head for Canada, where Amber will be safe, and the foster care system can no longer control their lives. When they come across a whitewater rafting brochure, they decide to take a detour for one last adventure before leaving the country. Emmy and Amber have no idea it will be a decision that will forever change their fates.

The rafting town is so far in the middle of nowhere that Emmy’s car radio catches nothing but static. They consider turning around until a truck pulls up, loaded with hot whitewater rafting guides and rubber rafts–just the fun they were looking for. Ignoring every instinct, they turn off the pavement and follow the truck down an isolated dirt road. They end up in Lodell, the town where a girl went missing the previous summer…and she will not be the last.

Purchase Here

About the Author

Kelly Romo Author Photo

Kelly Romo grew up in California but has lived in Oregon for over twenty-five years. She teaches writing, literature, and social studies. She is the mother of three grown children: Brittany, Brennan, and Ryan. She is an avid outdoorswoman who loves to kayak, hike, and fish.

Kelly has a Master of Fine Arts in Writing (Fiction) and a Master of Arts in Teaching, both from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon USA.

For more information, please visit Kelly’s website at http://www.kellyromo.com

Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Readers Club

Book Tour Schedule

June 26th

http://rrbooktours – Kick-off

https://www.instagram.com/jenalreads/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/niveditha_preeth – Review

https://ilovebooksandstuffblog.wordpress.com – Feature

http://ramblingmads.com – Feature

https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature

https://readsandreels.com – Feature

June 27th

http://blackcoffeebrowncow.blogspot.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/brandikaedesigns/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/creepylilbookworm/ – Review

https://onemoreexclamation.com/ – Review

https://latishaslowkeylife.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/latishaslowkeylife/

https://ontheshelfreviews.wordpress.com – Feature

June 28th

https://www.instagram.com/2manybooks2littletime/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/katierichardauthor/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/ninas_booknook/ – Review

http://www.thefaeriereview.com – Feature

https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/samanthainfantasyworld/

https://samanthainfantasyworld.wordpress.com/ – Feature

https://bookwormbunnyreviews.blogspot.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/shelbe_reads/?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM%3D – Feature

June 29th

https://www.instagram.com/BookBaddies4Life/ – Review

https://mayisuggestblog.com/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/nicmedia/

https://www.instagram.com/itputs.the.book.upon.the.shelf/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/suzanhlarson/ – Review

https://www.thesexynerdrevue.com – Feature

June 30th

https://www.instagram.com/calhoun.crew/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/author.rowan/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/booknerd_jen22/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/laura_cover_stories/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/mels_booksandhooks/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/elinasbookstagram/ – Feature

Book Tour Organized By:

R&R Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Death in the Highlands – Fliss Chester

ramblingmads

There’s a dangerous killer lurking by this loch… and only canny Cressida can track them down.

Scotland, June 1925. Socialite Cressida Fawcett has been invited to cast her interior design eye over the Stirling family’s new seat, Ayrton Castle, up in the Scottish Highlands. Thrilled to be spending the summer at the historic estate, Cressida fills her suitcase with this season’s hunting jackets – and some tartan for her little pug Ruby, of course!

But before the party is ready to tramp through the glens, shocking news puts paid to their plans. Hamish Glenkirk, former owner of Ayrton, has been found dead inside a turret room of the castle. The door was bolted from the inside, and the room is three storeys up, surrounded by impenetrable stone walls… How did the murderer get in? And out?

With Detective Andrews of Scotland Yard at least a day’s journey away, Cressida knows she needs to get to the bottom of this case – and fast. There’s no end of suspects among the hunting party. Could it be the local doctor whose wife left him for a fling with the now-dead laird? Or is the gamekeeper hiding secrets under his kilt?

Just as Cressida is closing in on the truth, a blood-curdling scream echoes through the mist. Another member of the party, and one of the suspects, has been shot. With a wee dram in hand, can Cressida find the killer before the bagpipes play for another victim?

An unputdownable and gripping cozy mystery which fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss will love.

Amazon

Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.

Instagram Twitter
up to be the first to hear about new releases from Fliss Chester here

You can sign up for all the best Bookouture deals you’ll love

My thoughts: I do enjoy this series, Cressida, Dotty and Ruby are lots of fun and getting very good at crime solving.

This time they’re in Scotland, for the 12th August, the “Glorious Twelth” when the grouse shooting season starts. Only someone has decided it’s not birds that need to die but a local laird, Hamish Glenrick. Found stabbed in his former home, which just so happens to be where our intrepid detectives are staying, of course.

Once they start putting the clues together, a story of sadness, betrayal and long held grudges starts to emerge. Plenty of people had motive to kill Glenrick, but who is DM and why was he found clutching a blackmail letter?

With police inspector Andrews on his way, Cressida explores secret passages, interviews her suspects and builds up a picture of a deeply unpleasant man, up to his eyeballs in debt, disliked by his children and peers. But the clues, and red herrings, might lead closer to home than Cressida originally suspects. Another cracking case for this flapper detective and friends.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Not So Perfect Strangers – L.S Stratton

ramblingmads

Two strangers – a Black woman and a white woman – who discover that each has a husband she’d be better off without, find their lives entangled in increasingly sinister ways following one fateful encounter, leading to a shocking and violent conclusion.

Tasha and Madison may live in different parts of the country and have different everyday realities, but they have one thing in common: marriages they need out of. Tasha and Madison want to help each other, but they have very different ideas of what that means…The women are on a collision course that will end in the case files of the D.C. MPD homicide unit. Unravelling the truth of what really happened may be impossible…and futile. Because what has the truth ever done for women like Tasha and Madison?

Combining dark humour with classic domestic thriller tropes, Not So Perfect Strangers offers a fresh take on a classic story, in a brilliantly updated homage to Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. Featuring a cast of diverse female leads living in modern America, L.S. Stratton’s latest release delves into pressing contemporary issues regarding feminism, gender dynamics, racism, and the white saviour complex.  

Fans of Lucy Foley’s The Guest List and Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer are sure to enjoy this highly anticipated domestic thriller.

Writing under numerous pen names, L.S. Stratton is an NAACP Image Award-nominated author who has written dozens of books across multiple genres from romance to thrillers.

L.S. Stratton is a NAACP Image Award-nominated author and former crime newspaper reporter. She is a member of the Crime Writers of Color organization founded by Kellye Garrett, Walter Mosley, and Gigi Pandian and has written more than a dozen books under different pen names. Her writing varies from thrillers to romance to historical fiction – she enjoys writing just about every genre. She currently lives in Maryland with her husband, their daughter, and their tuxedo cat.

Instagram: shellystrattonbooks Twitter: ellisromance

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this clever thriller, with its unhinged murderer, Madison, Tasha – who really doesn’t want to be involved in Madison’s craziness, and the twists that come out of nowhere and that ending, excellently done.

After a row with her husband, Madison gets in Tasha’s car and begs for a lift. Tasha, already in her own crisis, agrees and sets in motion a chain of events she just can’t seem to stop.

Madison wants to trade their husbands’ deaths, Strangers on a Train style, only Tasha isn’t a killer. And when she doesn’t hold up her end of their “bargain”, Madison becomes threatening. Tasha’s also worried about her son – could be become an abuser like his dad?

But as she tries to warn people about Madison, no one believes her, her life starts to fall apart and she needs to prove that Madison killed her husband. Tasha’s doing everything she can, if only she’d thrown the crazy woman out of her car. One good turn leads nowhere nice it seems.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Moose Paradox – Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston

ramblingmads

Out now in paperback from Orenda Books and all good bookshops!!

And in case you’re not sure, I’m resharing my review from last year’s hardback blog tour so you can see what I thought below.

Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen has finally restored order both to his life and to YouMeFun, the adventure park he now owns, when a man from the past appears – and turns everything upside down again.

More problems arise when the park’s equipment supplier is taken over by a shady trio, with confusing demands. Why won’t Toy of Finland Ltd sell the new Moose Chute to Henri when he needs it as the park’s main attraction?

Meanwhile, Henri’s relationship with artist Laura has reached breaking point, and, in order to survive this new chaotic world, he must push every calculation to its limits, before it’s too late…

Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards. Palm Beach Finland (2018) was an immense success, with The Times calling Tuomainen ‘the funniest writer in Europe’, and Little Siberia (2019) was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger, and won the Petrona Award. The Rabbit Factor, the prequel to The Moose Paradox, will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell.

My thoughts: back to Finland’s maddest adventure park we go. Just as Henri thinks he’s solved all his problems, more appear. There’s shady businessmen/gangsters who seem to be determined to ruin the park, with inferior equipment and a hostile takeover, the staff are in revolt, and he’s not sure about whether to take the next step with the lovely Laura. Just another day’s work at YouMeFun then.

Although we never find out exactly what the Moose Shute does (and some of the other creations of Toy Finland sound downright nuts and beyond dangerous), the lengths Henri goes to to secure it are hilarious. For someone who spends their time calculating risk, he’s prepared to go to extremes for the park.

This book might actually be even more fun and ridiculous than The Rabbit Factor, as chaos lurks around every corner, not to mention the police, furious criminals, the park’s own staff (no one else would hire them) and a blast from the past that could destroy everything Henri has worked so hard for. 

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.