Great idea for a book and really well executed. A thoroughly good read. Highly recommended. .

This book had some good and some not so great moments for me.

I really liked the overall plot idea of this privileged man that leaves one life behind to start another only that it seems that one day his old life catches up with him. That sounds really great!
And i think that part of the book was very well done, too. It was so well done how the characters behaved and how the plot moved along.

What i found a bit overdone was the over analysing of the characters as well as how the characters themselves overanalysed situations. That had a bit of a psychological twist to it i didnt enjoy.
I do like a bit of a character deep dive, i enjoy deep thought and explaining -even just to themselves- why they are doing things and how they came to that conclusion but just something about the way the author wrote it here (or the translation did it?) made it feel a bit too much, too clinical maybe?

All in all i think this book has some great elements and some that are personal to readers to decide if its bothering them or not.
So, give it a go and decide for yourself if its for you or not.

Let me preface this by saying that you have to adjust your expectations before reading this novel. They Know Not What They Do is a slow burn, character driven novel. This is not the read for you for right now if what you are looking for is a fast-paced thriller, However, if you can appreciate a good character driven novel which focuses on familial drama with science fiction elements then this will be the read for you.

I got sucked into this book right away. While reading there was always a feeling that I was missing something important. This feeling got me going through the book, and made me unable to let it go. The ending was so full of suspense that I had to pry the book out of my own hands.

The language could be a little bit easier to read, but only because I would like to read the book faster. It is absolutely a book to read if one like books which quickly build suspense and wondering.

One part of the book was strange to me. This was all the talk of the iAm device. Either I missed something or it was completely irrelevant for the story. These parts only confused me, and seemed to take the story a step back rather than forward.

Have you ever read a book that you thought was messing with your head? This book made me feel like I was missing something from the very beginning and you know what, I loved that. I respect that because for any writer to delve into the intricate thoughts of characters and bring out their flaws in a way that the reader acknowledges, without affecting the narrative adversely is not an easy fete. Hats off to Mr Valtonen!
The story centers around Joe, a renowned Neuroscientist who on the outside seems to have it all; the perfect wife and two lovely daughters. We get a glimpse at his first marriage to Alina and the events that led to him leaving them( Alina and their son, Samuel) behind in Finland for the career he always wanted. Years later, his research is met with resistance and hate from activists and he learns that his son Samuel is one of these activists and he's forced to confront his past when his son shows up on his doorstep.
For Samuel, the only version of his father he's over known is the bitterness and disappointment projected onto him by his mother,Alina. She remarries and with Henri, they proceed to have two more sons; Ukko and Taisto. Samuel feels disconnected from her and in the midst of his teenage angst, he realizes "Apparently bringing mom down from the stratosphere was possible; all it took was a little effort on his part."
I was not taken in by all the scientific terms and focus especially because Joe was self-absorbed in his world and his desired outcomes that it felt like his life was a shouting match. If he yelled the loudest then he'd be seen as the voice of reason but that was wasted on his teenage daughter, Rebecca.
I loved how the author dissected the dysfunction and flaws in the characters. It felt like he was slowly picking away at what was eating them up down to the very last page and for me the turning point, was when Samuel finally uttered two words to Joe "Forgive Me." It was in that moment that Samuel became the one character that I identified with and if there ever was a sequel to this book, I'd read it if it focused on Samuel's life after Baltimore.
I would highly recommend this book to the reader of fiction that involves complex characters and dissects human nature. I am grateful to ONEWorld Publications and NetGalley for granting me an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Overall I don't think this book was for me. Although undeniably well written I found the prose very dry and businesslike, almost scientific (which may have been intended) and I could not care about any of the characters or their situations.

Joe is particularly unlikeable. Self absorbed, narcissistic and shallow, I could discern no real improvement by the somewhat anti climatic ending.

I also found the presentation of the subject matter slightly unpleasant.