{"id":7077668,"date":"2026-10-06T03:59:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T03:59:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668"},"modified":"2026-10-06T03:59:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T03:59:29","slug":"the-winter-job-by-antti-tuomainen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668","title":{"rendered":"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

From the PR:<\/strong> \u201cHelsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go \u2013 and no money \u2013 he\u2019s desperate. <\/p>\n

A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisj\u00e4rvi, the northernmost town in Finland. With the sofa secured in the back of his van, Ilmari stops at a gas station, and an old friend turns up, offering to fix his faulty wipers, on the condition that he tags along. Soon after, a persistent Saab 96 appears in the rearview mirror. And then a right-yellow Lada.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Ilmari realises that he is transporting something truly special.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s<\/em> when Ilmari realises he might be in serious trouble\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

A quick scan back through my reviews of his work has revealed to me that I\u2019ve been reading Antti Tuomainen for a decade now, which while a slightly alarming realisation in itself shows that time flies when you\u2019re having fun. The first of his books I read was The Mine<\/em>, a dark, complex and intelligent thriller that dealt with some pretty heavy themes and had me practically up to my knees in Finnish snow by the time I\u2019d finished it. A year later came The Man Who Died<\/em> and, well, that was something else entirely.<\/p>\n

It was still a thriller, still dark, but it was also ridiculously funny. I loved it enough that it found its way into my 50 Great Reads<\/a> the following year and, thankfully, Tuomainen clearly enjoyed making that switch as much as I enjoyed reading it. Since then I\u2019ve happily followed him through Palm Beach, Finland<\/em>, Little Siberia<\/em> and The Rabbit Factor<\/em>, with that mixture of crime, increasingly bizarre situations and very dark humour becoming something I\u2019ve come to look forward to whenever a chance to read another of his books appears. Hence it being an absolute no-brainer to say \u2018yes please!\u2019 with The Winter Job<\/em> \u2013 which might be the most fun I\u2019ve had with one yet.<\/p>\n

I absolutely tore through this book. It\u2019s ridiculously addictive and, once Ilmari and Antero set off across Finland in their clapped-out old Thames van, I felt as though I\u2019d climbed in alongside them and could practically feel the seat under my bum. Admittedly, \u201ctore through\u201d applies more to my reading than their progress; the van isn\u2019t exactly built for speed and that\u2019s before you throw Finnish winter roads into the equation. But somehow, that makes it even better \u2013 another cassette going into the player, miles of snow-covered road ahead and an increasing number of reasons to keep checking what\u2019s behind us. <\/p>\n

Which kinda brings me back to something I\u2019ve been saying about Tuomainen for years. When I reviewed Little Siberia<\/em> I called it \u201ca Nordic Noir directed by the Coen Brothers\u201d, and The Winter Job<\/em> gave me that feeling again in spades. As Ilmari and Antero\u2019s journey becomes increasingly complicated, the confrontations more dangerous and the whole thing just that little bit more absurd, I could \u2013 in between fits of laughter \u2013 practically see the film playing out in my head. It\u2019s dark, frequently tense and very, very funny, often all at the same time. Credit too, to David Hackston\u2019s translation because comedy is bloody hard enough to get right in one language, let alone another.<\/p>\n

But but but but BUUUUT, this is something Tuomainen has always been really good at; stealthily sneaking in addictive characters and real heart beneath all the comedy. I\u2019ve called his books funny before and I\u2019m doing the same again here yet they\u2019re never simply comic crime novels. There\u2019s always something human underneath the increasingly bizarre situations he puts his characters into and here that\u2019s very much Ilmari and Antero. For all the stuff going on around them, I think I\u2019d have happily spent considerably longer in that knackered van listening to cassettes and watching Finland pass by outside. Ilmari and Antero spend much of the journey seemingly on the verge of making some kind of breakthrough, both about their shared past and themselves. They get close to conversations that feel like they might actually take them somewhere, only to be interrupted by the slightly more pressing matter of being ambushed by communists in a Lada or stalked by an increasingly unhinged psychopath with Eye of the Tiger<\/em> blaring from his car stereo.<\/p>\n

Yet, with every mile, you get the feeling they\u2019re getting there. Slowly but surely, like the Thames itself. Beneath all the chaos there\u2019s something genuinely warm about watching these two men gradually chip away at things that have been left unsaid for far too long. I became as invested in that as I did in whether they could actually survive the journey and get the couch \u2013 and its contents, about which I\u2019m saying absolutely nothing \u2013 safely to where it needs to go. <\/p>\n

In the end it feels as though Ilmari and Antero have travelled considerably further than the distance between Helsinki and Kilpisj\u00e4rvi, and I was genuinely sorry to see the journey come to an end. Thankfully, Tuomainen leaves us with a hint that this may not have to be the case\u2026 if there is more from this \u2018special delivery firm\u2019, then I\u2019ll be there in a heartbeat with my own bag of cassettes.<\/p>\n

My thanks, always, to Karen at\u00a0Orenda Books<\/a>\u00a0for my copy and Anne Cater for inviting me to take part on this blogtour.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the PR: \u201cHelsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go \u2013 and no money \u2013 he\u2019s desperate. A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisj\u00e4rvi, the northernmost town in Finland. With the sofa secured in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7077669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,104445,217349,99037,97438],"tags":[6827,3690,6828,222],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7077668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-literature","category-orenda-books","category-reading","category-review","tag-antti","tag-job","tag-tuomainen","tag-winter"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From the PR: \u201cHelsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go \u2013 and no money \u2013 he\u2019s desperate. A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisj\u00e4rvi, the northernmost town in Finland. With the sofa secured in […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-06T03:59:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-06T03:59:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668\"},\"wordCount\":931,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Antti\",\"JOB\",\"Tuomainen\",\"WINTER\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Literature\",\"Orenda Books\",\"reading\",\"review\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668\",\"name\":\"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-10-06T03:59:29+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg\",\"width\":1559,\"height\":2409},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - Som2ny Network","og_description":"From the PR: \u201cHelsinki, 1982. Recently divorced postal worker Ilmari Nieminen has promised his daughter a piano for Christmas, but with six days to go \u2013 and no money \u2013 he\u2019s desperate. A last-minute job offers a solution: transport a valuable antique sofa to Kilpisj\u00e4rvi, the northernmost town in Finland. With the sofa secured in […]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2026-10-06T03:59:29+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen","datePublished":"2026-10-06T03:59:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668"},"wordCount":931,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg","keywords":["Antti","JOB","Tuomainen","WINTER"],"articleSection":["Books","Literature","Orenda Books","reading","review"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668","name":"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg","datePublished":"2026-10-06T03:59:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/the-winter-job-final.jpg","width":1559,"height":2409},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077668#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Winter Job by Antti Tuomainen"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7077668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7077669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7077668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7077668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7077668"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=7077668"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=7077668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}