The Healer

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

Tersely written, full of twists and sudden violence, this is nothing less than the birth of a new genre: dystopian detection

This chilling novel compels…clever, atmospheric and wonderfully imaginative

Tuomainen's book is set in the near future, but nothing here is less than frighteningly plausible...a compelling crime story

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

The murders and their culprit take a backseat in this fraught thriller as Tuomainen conjures up in spare, softly poetic prose the collapse of social order and human decency in the face of environmental havoc

The ability to use all the tricks of crime fiction and all the tools of poetry makes Tuomainen's work unique, and that combination makes the reader fall in love with his style. You cannot but value things around you more after reading The Healer

Tuomainen's sparse and precise style and rapid dialogue place him in the best noir tradition. The intensity of both the plot and narration enhances the harsh realism of his language

The Clue Award for 'Best Finnish Crime Novel 2011'

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).

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

Lola Rogers

Dark As My Heart, the most lauded Finnish crime novel of recent years, lives up to its acclaim

A dark and thrilling book with unexpected twists.

The king of Helsinki Noir... The novel soon brings James Ellroy to mind, more specifically the brilliant My Dark Places, where Ellroy tries to make sense of his murdered mother's fate

Here is an international crime sensation, a wordsmith who delivers macabre details and close observations in a clear-cut and poetic voice. A dense crime mystery.

Within the framework of an intricate plot sure to delight every puzzle loving crime enthusiast, unfolds a sensitive and multi-layered story

Dark As My Heart is first and foremost a strong psychological story of obsessions and the ways they manifest themselves. Of sorrow and longing. Of revenge and pain. Tuomainen's writing is excruciatingly suspenseful, with a rough masculinity, and yet so beautiful

A breathtaking journey between a deserted estate by the water and a wintery Helsinki." ????

Antti Tuomainen is a poet as well as one of Finland’s most successful crime writers. Dark As My Heart… had a rapturous reception in his home country, where a Finnish crime novel since 2000… The novel contains passages of lyrical intensity, along with bloody scenes that would not be out of place in a Jacobean revenge drama

Scandinavian crime fiction has a reputation for being a class apart, and this gripping Finnish psychological thriller displays the finest hallmarks of the genre.

A novel as icy as Helsinki itself, Tuomainen delivers a dark, chilly and evocatively written novel of obsession and twisted emotion.

The story carries a strong purpose, a downright obsession, under which everything culminates. .. The novel is extremely well written, and is a pleasure from a literary perspective as well

Refined writing and thinking, original and different from the mainstream. *****

Dark as My Heart is definitely THE crime story of this summer. (…) Antti Tuomainen is the freshest success in the Finnish thriller novel field. His new book Dark As My Heart proves it. The book is sensational

With this thriller, Antti Tuomainen shows that he is one of the best crime authors in Finland. The story is believable, exciting and wistful at the same time

From Finland's top crime-writer, the prize-winning author of The Healer 
 
Aleksi lost his mother on a rainy October day when he was 13 years old. 20 years later, he is certain that he knows who's responsible. Everything points to millionaire Henrik Saarinen. The police don't agree. Aleksi has only one option: to get close to Henrik Saarinen and find out the truth about his mother's fate on his own. But as Aleksi soon discovers, delving into Saarinen and his beautiful daughter’s family secrets is a confusing and dangerous enterprise. 
 
Dark As My Heart tells the story of a mother and son and the search for justice. It's a story about the cost of obsessions, the price of vengeance and the power of love. Set against a vividly conjured bleak and beautiful Finnish landscape, Dark As My Heart is both a Hitchcockian mystery tale and a modern Greek tragedy.

Antti Tuomainen

Praise for Dark As My Heart

Dark As My Heart, the most lauded Finnish crime novel of recent years, lives up to its acclaim

A dark and thrilling book with unexpected twists.

The king of Helsinki Noir... The novel soon brings James Ellroy to mind, more specifically the brilliant My Dark Places, where Ellroy tries to make sense of his murdered mother's fate

Dark As My Heart, the most lauded Finnish crime novel of recent years, lives up to its acclaim

A dark and thrilling book with unexpected twists.

The king of Helsinki Noir... The novel soon brings James Ellroy to mind, more specifically the brilliant My Dark Places, where Ellroy tries to make sense of his murdered mother's fate

Dark As My Heart, the most lauded Finnish crime novel of recent years, lives up to its acclaim

A dark and thrilling book with unexpected twists.

The king of Helsinki Noir... The novel soon brings James Ellroy to mind, more specifically the brilliant My Dark Places, where Ellroy tries to make sense of his murdered mother's fate

Books by Antti Tuomainen

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