(Drivebycuriosity) - Antti Tuomainen belongs to my favorite writers. I like his dark humor & his surreal descriptions of weird characters and situations and I enjoyed his droll novels "Little Siberia", "Palm Beach Finland" & "The Man who died" (my reviews Siberia Palm The Man Who).
The novel "The Healer", first published 2010, is Tuomainen`s first book and very different from the later publications ( amazon). Contrary to the above mentioned novels this book is not funny. Apparently the author tried to follow the popular Nordic Noir Trend (Jo Nesbø, Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson) and created a very sinister, dirty & rough plot set in a hyper-dystopian world. Everything is falling apart. Unfortunately he overdid it and the reader drowns in violence & disintegration.
"The Healer" is - like the later novels - written in first person. The wife of the protagonist is missing. She is a journalist who investigates the case of a serial killer & eco terrorist, known as name giving "The Healer". Tuomainen showed already some writing skill and tried to create interesting atmospheres, but the plot does make no sense. There are too many unanswered questions, the narrator is too naive and the other characters are unbelievable and unpleasant.
Fortunately the author changed his concept.
No comments:
Post a Comment