#Blogtour #Review - The Beaver Theory by Antti Tuomainen

The Beaver Theory (The Rabbit Factor, 3)

Antti Tuomainen, translated by David Hackston
Orenda Books, 12 October 2023
Available as: HB, 300pp, audio, e   
Source: Advance copy
ISBN(PB): 9781803367149

I'm grateful to Karen at Orenda for sending me a copy of The Beaver Theory to consider for review, and to Anne for inviting me to join the book's blogtour.

It was wonderful to return to the world of Henri Koskinen, actuary and accidental owner of a Helsinki adventure-park.

Since taking the reigns at YouMeFun after his brother's death, Henri has confronted various challenges - financial, managerial and criminal - and to do this he's developed a methodology that, while seeing the world very much in mathematical terms, is flexible enough to take account of a range of other factors too. In the course of the books he has developed and become more confident and The Beaver Theory very much shows him at the top of his game, as a rival adventure-park tries to undercut YouMeFun. Drastically undercut, as in, offer free admission and food. It's hard to see how YouMeFun can go on, even though Henri isn't above a little gentle burglary to resolve the issue - especially as things spiral into murder and he's faced with the need to prove his innocence as well as develop a business plan.

I loved that in this book Tuomainen raises the stakes not only by piling on the threats but also by giving Henri a deeper personal life. At the start of The Beaver Theory, Henri moves in with his girlfriend, artist Laura Helanto, and her young daughter. Not only does this give him new challenges to overcome - the dads at Tuuli's school, who induct Henri into their fundraising team, are truly terrifying and he spends most of this book coping with that - but it adds a resonance by giving him more to lose as well as more to love. One of the joys of these books is the depiction of Henri's internal life. Tuomainen has created a character who could have been pigeonholed as merely a depiction of someone on the spectrum or otherwise neurodiverse. Perhaps he is - but Tuomainen makes sure that's not all we see. Henri's a rounded, warm and complex man, a character it's truly fun spending time with, Tuomainen's writing really bringing him alive (helped in no small part I'm sure by David Hackston's lucid and compelling English translation).

And Henri's a person one can't help but fear for, surrounded as he is by rogues who may have a comic aspect but are nevertheless deadly (we witness several killings in the course of the book). And Henri's nemesis in the Helsinki police, Osmala, is also back, with a couple of rather sinister young colleagues who feel free to try and shake done YouMeFun.

All this, and a twisty, complex plot as well, makes The Beaver Theory very readable from the first page to the last and left me wanting more - though given what Henri goes through here I have to concede he deserves a bit of peace and quiet and the chance to spend time with his new family (not to mention his cat, Schopenhauer).

Overall a fun and satisfying read.

For more information about The Beaver Theory, see the publisher's website here - and of course the other stops on the blogtour which you can see listed on the poster below. 

You can buy The Beaver Theory from your local high street bookshop or online from Bookshop UK, Hive Books, Blackwell's, Foyle's, WH Smith, Waterstones or Amazon.