The Healer

Description

In this chilling dystopian detective story, a man searches for his missing wife in a Helsinki devastated by ruthless climate change, and finds himself on the trail of a serial killer 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...

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).

Tersely written, full of twists and sudden violence, this is nothing less than the birth of a new genre: dystopian detection * Sunday Telegraph * Thrillingly atmospheric -- Liz Jensen This chilling novel compels...clever, atmospheric and wonderfully imaginative * Sunday Mirror * Tuomainen's book is set in the near future, but nothing here is less than frighteningly plausible...a compelling crime story -- Barry Forshaw * Independent * I implore you to read one more Scandinavian thriller. Antti Tuomainen's The Healer is a mix between Stieg Larsson and an introduction to Cormac McCarthy's The Road -- Patrick Neale * Booksellers' Choice *