The 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

`With echoes of writers such as Christopher Brookmyre and Carl Hiassen, this is delicious stuff, expertly juggling dark humour and quirky characterisation against the backdrop of a frigid northern landscape´ Financial Times

`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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`A madcap chase through a bleak winter landscape … damn hilarious and Tuomainen's dark humour is displayed at its best in what must surely be the best road movie of the year´ CrimeTime

`This suspenseful tale of a desperate father's journey across the frozen landscape is filled with Tuomainen's trademark dark wit and unexpected thrills. Another winner´ Culturefly

`It may seem hard to find good comic crime-writers, but clearly we haven't been looking in Finland´ Telegraph`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

`Laconic, thrilling and warmly human´ Christopher Brookmyre

`Right up there with the best´ Times Literary Supplement