Winter Job
A desperate father’s Christmas promise sparks a wild Finnish road trip involving an antique sofa, unexpected passengers and danger … A darkly humorous and warmly touching suspense novel about friendship, love and death, The Winter Job flies at 120 kilometres an hour straight into the darkest heart of a Finnish winter night.
'Another wonderfully lean slice of European noir by one of its finest exponents. As darkly fun as any Coen brothers' offering' Vaseem Khan
‘The king of the humorous crime caper’ Abir Mukherjee
'It may seem hard to find good comic crime-writers, but clearly we haven’t been looking in Finland' Telegraph
‘A quirky, murderous road trip … Imagine blending a Donald Westlake comic mishap caper with some famous Nordic levity, and you might have something like The Winter Job’ Irish Times
The NEW standalone darkly funny, poignant and uber-tense thriller from ‘The funniest writer in Europe’ (The Times)
Fargo meets Carl Hiassen and Fredrik Backman … via the Coen Brothers
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Sofas, secrets and a snowbound road to trouble…
Helsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go – and no money – he’s desperate.
A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisjärvi, the northernmost town in Finland.
With the sofa secured in the back of his van, Ilmari stops at a gas station, and an old friend turns up, offering to fix his faulty wipers, on the condition that he tags along. Soon after, a persistent Saab 96 appears in the rearview mirror. And then a bright-yellow Lada.
That’s when Ilmari realises that he is transporting something truly special.
And that’s when Ilmari realises he might be in serious trouble…
A darkly funny and unexpectedly moving thriller about friendship, love and death – The Winter Job tears through the frozen landscape of northern Finland in a beat-up van with bad steering, worse timing, and everything to lose…
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‘Are you ready for the latest dose of dark humour, clever plotting, great characterisation and touching insights into the human soul? … A joy to read’ Nordic Lighthouse
Praise for Antti Tuomainen
‘Humour drier than a desert snake’s belly’ Ian Moore
‘You don’t expect to laugh when you’re reading about terrible crimes, but that’s what you’ll do when you pick up one of Tuomainen’s decidedly quirky thrillers’ New York Times
'Deftly plotted, poignant and perceptive in its wry reflections … and very funny' Irish Times
‘Laconic, thrilling and warmly human’ Christopher Brookmyre
‘Right up there with the best’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Finland's greatest export’ M.J. Arlidge
‘A refreshing change from the decidedly gloomier crime fiction for which Scandinavia is known’ Publishers Weekly
‘Fresh and witty’ Chris Ewan
‘Charming, funny and clever’ Literary Review
‘Thrilling and hilarious’ Liz Nugent
‘A delight from start to finish’ Big Issue
'Tuomainen has a talent for creating offbeat characters that you can’t help rooting for' Guardian