The Rabbit Factor: The tense, hilarious bestseller from the ‘Funniest writer in Europe’ … FIRST in a series and soon to be a major motion picture

By Antti Tuomainen

An insurance mathematician’s carefully ordered life is turned on its head when he unexpectedly loses his job and inherits an adventure park … with a whole host of problems. A quirky, tense and warmly funny thriller from award-winning Finnish author Antti Tuomainen, FIRST in a series…

**Soon to be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios**

'Laconic, thrilling and warmly human. In these uncertain times, what better hero than an actuary?' Chris Brookmyre

‘The antic novels of Antti Tuomainen prove that comedy is not lost in translation … Tuomainen, like Carl Hiaasen before him, has the knack of combining slapstick with genuine emotion’ The Times

‘A thriller with black comedy worth of Nabokov’ Telegraph

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Just one spreadsheet away from chaos…

What makes life perfect? Insurance mathematician Henri Koskinen knows the answer because he calculates everything down to the very last decimal.

And then, for the first time, Henri is faced with the incalculable. After suddenly losing his job, Henri inherits an adventure park from his brother – its peculiar employees and troubling financial problems included. The worst of the financial issues appear to originate from big loans taken from criminal quarters … and some dangerous men are very keen to get their money back.

But what Henri really can’t compute is love. In the adventure park, Henri crosses paths with Laura, an artist with a chequered past, and a joie de vivre and erratic lifestyle that bewilders him. As the criminals go to extreme lengths to collect their debts and as Henri's relationship with Laura deepens, he finds himself faced with situations and emotions that simply cannot be pinned down on his spreadsheets…

Warmly funny, rich with quirky characters and absurd situations, The Rabbit Factor is a triumph of a dark thriller, its tension matched only by its ability to make us rejoice in the beauty and random nature of life.

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‘Inventive and compelling’ Vaseem Khan

‘Readers might think they know what to expect from Nordic noir: a tortured detective, a bleak setting, a brutal crime that shakes a small community. Finnish crime novelist Tuomainen turns all of this on its head … The ear of a giant plastic rabbit becomes a key weapon. It only gets darker and funnier’ Guardian

'The funniest writer in Europe, and one of the very finest … original and brilliant story-telling' Helen FitzGerald

‘Full of refreshing wit and wisdom … a treat’ Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW

‘A dark and delightful novel with an intelligent, brave, and persnickety hero’ Foreword Reviews

'Antti Tuomainen turns the clichéd idea of dour, humourless Scandi noir upside … Dark, gripping and hilarious. Tuomainen is the Carl Hiaasen of the fjords' Martyn Waites

‘A triumph … a joyous, feel-good antidote to troubled times' Kevin Wignall

‘Finland's greatest export’ M.J. Arlidge

'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

‘Tuomainen is the funniest writer in Europe’ The Times

‘Right up there with the best’ Times Literary Supplement

‘Tuomainen continues to carve out his own niche in the chilly tundras of northern’ Daily Express

For fans of Fargo, Fredrik Backman, Richard Osman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ORENDA BOOKS
• Release date: Oct 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781913193867

Antti Tuomainen

Finnish Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when 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 and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. In 2013, the Finnish press crowned Tuomainen the ‘King of Helsinki Noir’ when Dark as My Heart was published. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards. Palm Beach Finland (2018) was an immense success, with The Times calling Tuomainen ‘the funniest writer in Europe’, and Little Siberia (2019) was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The Rabbit Factor, the prequel to The Moose Paradox, will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios.

Reviews for The Rabbit Factor

[anniik_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.This was a strange book to say the least, but I did truly enjoy it. The Rabbit Factor is the story of an unemployed actuary (who thinks of everything in mathematical terms) who inherits a failing adventure park from his free-spirited brother. Almost from the beginning this is full of intrigue, as he also inherits his brother's debts and relationship with a criminal element.Well written and easy to read, I nonetheless felt that in a few places the translation did not do the actual text justice, but that's to be expected in any translated book. The humor and the book are dark, but it's still quite a good read and I recommend for fans of books such as ~Anxious People~.

[lostinalibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"I am an actuary.As a rule, I don't own adventure parks, and I certainly don't batter people to death with giant, plastic rabbit ears.But...my life hasn't been following the probability calculus for some time now.' Henri Koskinen is forced to quit his job as an actuary when he refuses to become part of the team of 'functionally innumerate psychobabblers' ie. sensitivity training. But just as it seems that all companies have the same addiction to psychobabble, thereby lowering his probability to find another job, karma steps in. His brother dies of a heart attack and leaves Henri his adventure park - don't call it an amusement park. "I resigned because I couldn't stand watching my workplace turn into a playground. Then I inherited one'"Suddenly, he is having to deal with a bunch of quirky employees, a huge mechanical rabbit, and an idea of 'fun' for which there seems no mathematical calculus Henri can conceive of. And, if all that isn't bad enough. it seems like his brother had got himself into debt with some very dangerous people who want their money back. Sometimes karma can be a bitch.If you're looking for the usual Scandi noir, The Rabbit Factor by Finnish author Antti Tuomainen definitely ain't it. What it is is a rollicking good crime? thriller? story - well, whatever you call it , it's a whole lot of fun from beginning to end and I recommend it highly to anyone who likes their crime mixed with a lot of humour, some very quirky characters, plenty of action, and even a little romance.Thanks to Edelweiss+ and Orenda Books for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review