The Healer - Softcover

Antti Tuomainen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099569574 ISBN 13: 9780099569572

Publisher: Vintage, 2014

Synopsis

It's two days before Christmas and Helsinki is battling ruthless climate catastrophe: subway tunnels are flooded; the streets are full of abandoned vehicles; the social order is crumbling and private security firms have undermined the police force. Tapani Lehtinen, a struggling poet, is among the few still willing to live in the city. When Tapani's journalist wife Johanna goes missing, he embarks on a frantic hunt for her. Johanna's disappearance seems to be connected to a story she was researching about a serial killer known as 'The Healer'. Determined to find Johanna, Tapani's search leads him to uncover secrets from her past: secrets that connect her to the very murders she was investigating...

About this title

About the Author:

Antti Tuomainen was born in 1971 and lives in Helsinki. He was an award-winning copywriter in the advertising industry before 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 2011'. The Finnish press labelled The Healer 'unputdownable'. Critics praised his piercing and evocative style, and acknowledged him as one of the first writers to challenge the Scandinavian crime genre formula. The Healer was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel in 2012 (previous winners include Henning Mankell, Stieg Larsson, Jo Nesbo, Arnaldur Indridason, Karin Fossum and Hakan Nesser).

From Booklist:

*Starred Review* This dystopian tale snagged the Clue Award for best Finnish crime novel of 2011, and U.S. audiences should prepare to be every bit as enthralled as the Finns. Global climate catastrophe has blanketed Helsinki in perpetual rain; flooding erodes infrastructure; and private security companies are replacing the police force. Tapani Lehtinen and his wife, Johanna, an investigative journalist, have remained in the city instead of fleeing north to escape spreading natural disasters and pandemic disease. So, when Johanna goes missing, Tapani resolves to find her himself and wield some control amid chaos. Johanna had been investigating the Healer, a serial killer targeting those he labels responsible for the climate damage, and is confident she’s close to tracking him down. Tapani works backward from the location of her last phone call, linking bits of information he gets from Johanna’s jaded editor and the head of Helsinki’s almost-defunct homicide division. The trail leads to Johanna’s past and reveals buried connections between Johanna and the Healer. Tapani’s amatuer sleuthing is all the more fascinating in light of the unimaginable barriers posed by the changing city, with inhabitants focused on their own survival. Readers attracted either to dystopian fiction or to Scandinavian crime will find gold here: Tuomainen’s spare, nostalgic style emphasizes the definitive nature of climate catastrophe, where neither revolution nor cure offers respite. --Christine Tran

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0099569574
• ISBN 13: 9780099569572
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256