Finnish author Antti Tuomainen has been a favourite at Crime Fiction Lover ever since his first novel, The Healer, was first translated into English. Since then, he’s come a long way and his crime writing has grown lighter, funnier and quite a bit weirder – but in a good way. He delights in taking unusual characters and taking them way outside their comfort zone, and in The Rabbit Factor we meet statistical mathematician Henri Koskinen, who has just lost his job as an actuary at an insurance company. Probability theorem rules all his decision making, but what lies ahead he can’t seem to calculate for.
First of all, he inherits an adventure park in Helsinki from his brother, who has suddenly died. Secondly, the park is in debt to loan sharks, they want their money back and they’ll use violence on Henri get it. Thirdly, he unexpectedly falls in love with an artist called Laura who is very unlike him and yet is similar to him in many ways. And finally, there’s a large fibreglass rabbit effigy in the adventure park that plays a role in the plot, but we’re not going to go there right now…
The Rabbit Factor comes with our 5-star seal of approval, and it was also the number one novel of 2021 in my own top five for the year. It’s a superb read, not just for the crime story – it’s also a love story, with a hint of tragedy too, and a personal journey for the main character.
Join our CFL Book Club discussion
We thought it would be fun to open a discussion about the book, and see what other readers thought of it. If you’ve read it, please join in. Here are our questions and discussion points:
1 – What did you think of Henri Koskinen as a character? What did you relate to most, did he remind you of anyone you know and how much were you able to sympathise with him?
2 – The supporting cast are fascinating too, and they’re portrayed in a funny way. Which left the biggest impression on you and why?
3 – I always struggle to describe the humour Antti Tuomainen uses in his novels. There’s a touch of satire, it’s dark in places but also gets pretty absurd and gonzo at times. What do you think of his use of comedy in The Rabbit Factor and how would you best sum it up?
4 – If anything bothered me about this novel it was the bad guys. They didn’t feel real to me. I don’t necessarily mean they were unrealistic, but I had a hard time believing in them and relating to them. Maybe there’s a reason they’re like this, though. What did you think of them?
5 – The Rabbit Factor is being turned into a TV production by Amazon Studios with Steve Carell from the American version of The Office as Henri. Do you think this is good casting, and if so why? If not, who should play the role and why?
If you don’t have a copy, grab one from Amazon or Bookshop.org. Please post your responses in the comments below – it could be an interesting discussion…
I love Tuomainen’s dark humour. The situations often start out violent and dark, but things quickly descend into the farcical. Yet, behind the laughter, there is always quite a sobering or even tragic reality. I like the fact that the author also has a lot of compassion for his characters (even the ones he makes fun of).
That’s an interesting observation about the bad characters in this novel… Now that you mention it, I do wonder if the author intentionally made them like that.
I wondered if they might be like that because they are so far beyond the main character’s everyday reality that the author might have wanted them to seem unreal or abstract. Well, to Henri, at least.
I could see Steve Carell playing Henri, as so many of his characteristics would suit this new character and bring out everything that we imagine while reading the book. He would probably be brilliant, funny and awkward as intended, and in the process would make people get interested in Antti’s writing. Hopefully the American and international audience would want to read and find out more. But I would still see the same person that I’ve seen in other films. So I reserve my judgement until the film hits the screens. And I do hope it will.
On the other hand The Rabbit Factor is pure abstract entertainment with some dangerous undertones and whatever we say: big focus on love
First let me say THANK YOU to CFL for introducing and reviewing works from so many different writers from around the world. Love this site for that reason alone.
I also need to say this is my first time participating in a book discussion, so I’ll start with just a few comments.
The Rabbit Factor was a lot of fun, maybe a little uncomfortable because I recognized much of myself in Henri. For such an introvert, he does quite well dealing with so many different personalities – it takes a lot of courage that he seems to have a lot of.
I thought the supporting characters were as flat as the “bad guys”, if not more so. I personally like it when writers leave something to the imagination of their audience, so I had fun picturing AK and Lizard Man. They were just meant to be foils…how “real” do we need them to be?
We have to keep in mind that this is a mystery novel, not a character study. I enjoyed the twists in the plot. The humor made the book fun but also did some part in creating the requisite red herrings. Whoever adapts this to film should maintain the suspense.
Thanks Mike and welcome to the discussion. Those are great points re the bad guys and the other supporting characters.