As always I'm extremely happy to be part of an Orenda Books blog tour and I was exited to be able to read Antti Tuomainen's next book The Man Who Died after thoroughly enjoying his book The Mine (my review for that is here).
The Man Who Died
A successful entrepreneur in the mushroom industry, Jaakko Kaunismaa is a man in his prime. At just 37 years of age, he is shocked when his doctor tells him that he’s dying. What is more, the cause is discovered to be prolonged exposure to toxins; in other words, someone has slowly but surely been poisoning him. Determined to find out who wants him dead, Jaakko embarks on a suspenseful rollercoaster journey full of unusual characters, bizarre situations and unexpected twists.
My Review
I could not put this book down! Such a cleverly written book and a really interesting concept. Jaakko finds out that he is dying from a slow acting poison and so he decides to try and find out who is killing him. I like the idea of the victim solving their own murder. As Jaakko isn't in the detective business, he's a mushroom exporter, he has no idea how to go about figuring it out and this leads to all sorts of situations that he shouldn't have got himself into.
Jaakko is an interesting character and I enjoyed watching his journey of emotions, his paranoia that it could be anyone and the determination to find out who the culprit is and save his hard earned company from them. He discovers things about the people around him that he never knew and it all adds to the mystery of what has been happening to him.
The translation is excellent and the words flow and it feels very much like it was written in English to start off with. I also have to take a moment to actually mention the cover of The Man Who Died as I think it is absolutely stunning and extremely eye catching.
There are twists and turns throughout the story and each one kept me hooked as I just needed to know who had been poisoning Jaakko and why. I ended up devouring The Man Who Died in one sitting as I didn't want to surface until I knew what had happened. As always with crime novels, I don't like to go into the plot too much as I would hate to ever spoil something for someone wanting to read it themselves.
Overall an excellent book and one which I will recommend with gousto.
I gave this book 5 stars.
About The Author
Finnish Antti Tuomainen (b. 1971) was an award-winning copywriter in the advertising industry before he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. The critically acclaimed Veljeni vartija (My Brother's Keeper) was published two years later. In 2011 Tuomainen's third novel, Parantaja (The Healer), was awarded the Clue Award for 'Best Finnish Crime Novel 2011'. Thus emerged a bright new star in the field of crime and noir. The Finnish press labeled Parantaja – the story of a writer who is desperately searching for his missing wife in a post-apocalyptic Helsinki – as "unputdownable". With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen is one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime genre formula. Antti Tuomainen lives in Helsinki.
Don't Forget To Check Out The Rest Of The Tour
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