Read Online Palm Beach Finland Antti Tuomainen James Lailey Books
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Sex, lies and ill-fitting swimwear...sun protection factor 100.
Jan Nyman, the ace detective of the covert operations unit of the National Central Police, is sent to a sleepy seaside town to investigate a mysterious death. Nyman arrives in the town dominated by a bizarre holiday village - the ‘hottest beach in Finland'. The suspect Olivia Koski, who has only recently returned to her old hometown. The mission find out what happened, by any means necessary.
With a nod to Fargo and dark noir, Palm Beach, Finland is both a gripping thriller and a black comedy about lust for money, fleeing dreams and people struggling at turning points in their lives - chasing their fantasies regardless of reason.
Read Online Palm Beach Finland Antti Tuomainen James Lailey Books
"If you enjoy Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, you should read this Finnish take on some similar themes: incompetent and possibly well-meaning criminals, dreamers, losers, everyone with an understandable but probably unattainable dream."
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Palm Beach Finland Antti Tuomainen James Lailey Books Reviews :
Palm Beach Finland Antti Tuomainen James Lailey Books Reviews
- If you enjoy Elmore Leonard and Carl Hiaasen, you should read this Finnish take on some similar themes incompetent and possibly well-meaning criminals, dreamers, losers, everyone with an understandable but probably unattainable dream.
- Palm Beach Finland is an odd little book. If it was made into a film it would rival some of the strangest movies ever made. At times I wasn’t sure whether it was the way the author intended or the translation that made the plot so ‘out there’ – Think of it as a Tarantino-Esq book.
The story begins with someone being killed in a house, accidentally and in a most bizarre way, but the person isn’t the owner and no-one knows who they were. We then move onto the owner of the property returning. Olivia Koshi has inherited the family home after the death of her father. The house is in need of a lot of repairs and Olivia is flat broke. The house is also on the edge of the new holiday resort, Palm Beach.
Detective Jan Nyman is going undercover to find out who the killer or killers were. His cover is that he is a maths teacher on vacation. What Jan discovers is an exceptionally strange holiday resort – Palm Beach, run by Jorma Leivo. Jorma is a man who is determined to make the holiday resort a success and throws everything at making it that way – Legally or not.
As you can tell from the small snippet I have given you, the book is completely and utterly different from anything I have ever read. I was unsure how I was going to fair with it at first and three chapters in I was thinking of giving up as I kept on having to re-read sections to fully understand them. However, I like wacky things, so why should this book be any different, so I continued.
The book has an undertone of having a dark sense of humour, I was never quite sure whether I should be laughing or in shock at some of the scenes. The character development is superb and I especially loved Jan and his detective skills.
After my initial concerns, I soon realised that I was whizzing through the pages and I was fully submerged in this outlandish book. Sometimes you need a break from the norm and this book will certainly give you that.
Book Reviewed on Whispering Stories Blog
*I received a free copy of this book, which I voluntarily reviewed - Here’s why the story works Tuomainen has an autistic eye. His characters are two-dimensional cardboard cut-outs and this is why they are so hilariously funny. We do get their back story as the novel develops, and they begin to get rounded out. The author’s unique talent reminds me of Kurt Vonnegut Jnr. He, too, could see the absurdities and foibles of people, situations and life with clarity. Hence, his being the master of satire. Tuomainen similarly, trying his hand at scandi-noir sees only too clearly the absurdity of this genre. We see it, too, as Tuomainen elevates the humble Finnish bum to the glamorous heights of scandi-crime and murder. His methods of despatch are imaginative and extreme; the symbolism of destroying a Finnish sauna is not missed. The person/s who did it is showing this is personal and that nothing is sacred. Heh.
Jan Nyman is an undercover policeman sent by Helsinki police to a seaside resort to investigate a murder. The resort is the brainchild of Jorma Leivo who copies the garish themes and designs of resorts in sunny regions such as Florida, the Mediterranean or the Pacific. Problem is, it is set in Finland. We meet Olivia Koski, in whose house the killing took place, Chico and Robin, who represent Tuomainen’s stock regular ‘Finnish Guy’ characters, complete with grey Led Zeppelin t-shirt and dreams of playing guitar like Bruce Springsteen. They are a duo clown act, like a Shakespearean Dogberry and Verges. There is Nea, the sex object, and a shady gangster character, Holma.
Nyman and Holma are both on a mission to find the killers and arsonists, each for a different motive. Leivo is on a mission to expand his enterprise. Getting in his way is Olivia, whose house stands on a prime beauty spot by the shore which he wants as part of Palm Beach Finland. His aim is to persuade her to sell it to him or for Chico and Robin to harass her into leaving. Very soon, there is a comedy of errors as each character with their own ulterior motive seeks to deceive the other characters by promises of large sums of money and subterfuge.
Compared to Tuomainen’s previous book, the Man Who Died, this is a much more polished scandi-noir pastische, albeit rather short. The Man Who Died, whilst good and well worth reading, was flawed in that the killings seemed senseless and random. Here, Tuomainen has mastered the crime noir to a T, keeping the reader hooked and turning the pages. It begins with the classic body, the detective, the suspects and then a love interest thrown in. The author constructs a well-honed series of events each adding to the knots that need to be untied to solve the crime
It is these sharp social observations which make the author a great stand-up comedian. Oh all right, a sit-down writer of black crime-noir Finnish-style, then. - I was really looking forward to reading this one and I have to say that it certainly did not disappoint!
I thought that the plot was great and it was definitely a page turner and a tad quirky at times which makes it stand out from other books in this genre. The characters were well developed and I enjoyed their interaction. This is the first book I have read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Four stars from me for this one, I really enjoyed it, well written and a great, gripping story! Highly recommended!!
