The Healer - Hardcover

ROGERS Lola TUOMAINEN Antti

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846555876 ISBN 13: 9781846555879

Publisher: Harvill Secker, 2013

Synopsis

One man's search for his missing wife in a dystopian futuristic Helsinki that is struggling with ruthless climate change

It's two days before Christmas and Helsinki is battling a ruthless climate catastrophe: subway tunnels are flooded; abandoned vehicles are left burning in the streets; the authorities have issued warnings about malaria, tuberculosis, Ebola, and the plague. People are fleeing to the far north of Finland and Norway where conditions are still tolerable. Social order is crumbling and private security firms have undermined the police force. Tapani Lehtinen, a struggling poet, is among the few still able and willing to live in the city.

When Tapani's beloved wife, Johanna, a newspaper journalist, 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 politically motivated serial killer known as "The Healer." Desperate 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...

The Healer by Antti Tuomainen is set in desperate times, forcing Tapani to take desperate measures in order to find his true love. Written in an engrossingly dense but minimal language, The Healer is a story of survival, loyalty, and determination. Even when the world is coming to an end, love and hope endure.

About this title

About the Author:

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 and is being translated into twenty-three languages. He lives in Helsinki, Finland.

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: Harvill Secker
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1846555876
• ISBN 13: 9781846555879
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 246