The Man Who Died by Finnish author Antti Toumainen is not your run of the mill mystery novel and certainly not the kind of novel that has come out of that part of the world with much fanfare as of late. This one is a strange tale of a dying man and his hunt for his own killer.

"...I'm sorry,' he says. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. We can't say for sure what kind of poison has caused this. It appears to be a combination of various natural toxins. And like the poison itself, judging by your symptoms and the account you've given, the extent of your poisoning seems, from a toxicological perspective, to be an optimal combination of exposure over an extended period of time and exceptionally highly developed levels of tolerance. If this were a case of specific, one-off poisoning that we were able to attend to promptly, there are a number of measures we could have taken-antidotes we could have administered. But, in your case, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do. There is nothing that will return your body to its normal state or that will change the...how should I put it? ... the direction of travel. It is simply a matter of waiting for the body's functions to shut down one by one. I'm sorry, but the condition will inevitably lead to death..."

Jaakko Kaunismaa is a successful entrepreneur in farming gourmet mushrooms for his exclusive clientele. But his life is about to take a turn for the worse. His wife is having an affair with a temp hire and another company has just started up across the street and they are trying to muscle in on his business. A group that has no problem using violence to do so. And now, at the age of 37 he has just found out he is going to die. Someone has been systematically and deliberately been poisoning him. Now, with what little time he has left, Jaakko is going to find his killer. But who could it be? His wife and her lover? Or his new competition? But as Jaakko begins to investigate, it seems like the killer is not willing to let the poison finish its work. Now the killer may want to finish the job even quicker!

The Man Who Died is a murder mystery that begs not to be taken too seriously and that is half the fun of it. If you come into this expecting the dark and brooding feel of Scandinavian Noir, you will be taken by surprise. There is violence but what there is, is somewhat comical. The deaths happening in bizarre and somewhat funny fashion. Jaakko himself becomes a spectator to the tragedy that has become his life.

What makes this novel work on so many levels is the character of Jaakko himself. His overload of despair, from learning he is not only dying but has been slowly poisoned, to coming home and finding his wife and temp employee having sex on his patio to finding his largest clients being stolen out of from under to him to a myriad of other failures, turns into a slow slide of madness. He hatches his plan of revenge but really doesn't have the heart for it. Instead he embarks on the path of saving what little he has left.

A terrific dark comedy of a mystery novel.

The Man Who Died is a page-turning thriller surrounding life and death, and love and betrayal told with lots of black comedy and full of exciting plot twists,

This b0ok was hilarious, which I did not expect. The book is written as the main character is on his deathbed due to being poisoned, so who would expect it to be funny? That is the result of good writing.

Jaakko Kaunismaa: CEO of mushroom business. After finding out he is dying, he walked in on his wife cheating on him with one of his employees. Jaakko suspects his wife, Taina, she is poisoning him and decides to embark on an investigation to discover the truth. I often found myself chuckling to Jaakko's dark sense of humor.

The other characters were pretty boring for me and lacked personality. This story focused more on plot than characters, which is often the case for thrillers. I couldn't put it down and read it quickly. I just HAD to know if his wife was trying to kill him, what the guys from the new mushroom company were up to, and if the cop would figure out what Jaakko's been up to.

The Man Who Died is a dark, odd, funny thriller about a quirky mushroom business man.

Would not have expected a novel about a Finnish mushroom grower who has been slowly poisoned to be funny, much less really entertaining. Jaakko's life is really coming apart at the seams when he learns he's more than just sick, he's doomed. He decides to use what time he has left to figure out who did this to him. There's a lot of possibilities, starting with his wife Taina. Jaakko's investigation really comes out of left field. This is well written, dry, and sneaky (great translation too!). Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is not true Scandanavian noir because it's just so darn chuckle worthy.

One-Line Summary:

When Jaakko learns he’s dying, he has to not only solve his own murder but also save the mushroom business that will become his legacy.

Summary:

"The sun rises, the sun sets. Life is a single day."

At 37, Jaakko is dying from exposure to natural toxins, such as those found in wild mushrooms. In other words, he’s been poisoned, to the extent that his organs are shutting down and he has months, at best. Before he dies, Jaakko is determined to find out who has killed him, but the more he digs, the more mysterious circumstances he digs up. Nothing in his life seems as straightforward as it had just days before, and now, it seems many people want him dead. But only one has succeeded, and Jaakko is determined to find out who before it’s too late.

The Positives:

- The writing style is flowy and poetic, sometimes bordering on purple prose, but I liked the unique descriptions and felt many descriptions were written beautifully. Because this is a translation, and the original was written by a Finnish author, I wasn’t sure what to expect on the writing front, but it really was lovely. Some of the descriptions were just beautiful and really brought the scene to life. Some were interesting, things I never would have thought to compare, but they worked well, and I liked the uniqueness of it.

- Nothing is quite what you expect, and an otherwise mundane life becomes a mysterious roller coaster ride. Jaakko thinks he has it solved right from the start, so of course I expected him to be wrong, and in my smugness, I was like, nope, I’ve got this one solved. We were both wrong. There were so many twists as far as what one might expect to happen that it kept me on my toes.

- Tuomainen has a wonderful sense of dark humor that, while overdone in a few places, I found I really liked. Then again, I do have a thing for dark humor, so this shouldn’t really come as a surprise. It’s subtle and not at all in your face, but there were quite a few tongue-in-cheek or morbidly ironic moments that I enjoyed.

- The Man Who Died raises important questions about life and death, but not in an obnoxious, in-your-face sort of way. It’s very subtle, as Jaakko faces his own mortality and starts considering what things are worth it and how his personality should change in his final days. He’s less inhibited in life, and it does wonders for him and really opens his eyes. A lot of these questions are raised with dark humor, which I thought was a different way to do it, rather than on-the-button philosophical musings from the character.

The Negatives:

- The main character, Jaakko, comes across as very emotionless and cold; we’re told he feels X, Y, or Z, but he never actually shows it or describes reacting to anything, leaving the character feeling a bit monotone. This is especially problematic, because he’s the point-of-view character and we’re in his head the whole time. But I don’t feel like I’m in his head. The whole book feels very emotionless, even though a lot of things happen that should justifiably be very emotional in different ways, so I never really felt like I connected to the book fully.

- Time and time again, Jaakko’s actions make no sense, and I just find myself shaking my head wondering why. There’s no explanation for the illogical things he does. It’s not a facet of his character, even. He just … does them? I couldn’t suspend disbelief that much, and it yanked me out of the story every time because I was so annoyed with the random choices Jaako makes seemingly just to serve the plot of the story.

- Actually, none of the character’s motives really make sense, and they act in a way that forces the plot forward but which lacks motives and reasoning. But why, you might ask, would a character take such wild risks or act in such an unseemly manner? Because the plot needs them to, I suppose. There were too many times I found myself asking why a character would choose to do X, Y, Z, and there were no explanations except that the plot would stagnate if they didn’t. This became particularly obvious during the “big reveal” (which ended up falling flat to me) when Jaakko finds his killer.

- If Jaakko mentions how fat he is one more time, I swear … I get it. He’s 37, not 18 anymore. He’s put on weight. Is this really the most pressing thing he has to harp on? A couple mentions of it would be fine, throw in a joke or two. It’s all good. I mean, hey, while you’re questioning your life, of course it would be natural to question how you’ve changed physically. But it’s mentioned every chapter, often multiple times in a chapter, ad nauseum, and I’m picturing this guy as, like, 15 pounds overweight, and I have no idea if that’s accurate, but it makes his whining even more unbearable.

- As much as I like the descriptions, at times it becomes obvious that it’s a translation because they don’t always work or make sense. There were several times where they just yanked me out of the story and made me go, “What?” One such instance is when a redhead’s hair in the sun is compared to a brand-new copper roof. Which I guess works, but it’s awkward and odd and gave me pause.

Overall:

I picked this up because I love reading things from foreign authors, and I enjoy seeing how different cultures approach certain books. This was a little hit or miss for me. While I enjoyed it, there were times I considered just setting it down and walking away as a DNF. It’s definitely not a thriller in the sort of page-turners that I’m used to, and it dragged a lot in some places. All in all, it was an okay read. I liked that Jaakko was just an ordinary person, which lent an interesting perspective to the story. The things that happened to him, though, were extraordinary, and a bit too much so to be believable, which made it hard for me to read. I might recommend this to someone who enjoys dark humor and something maybe more literary, as if you’re going in expecting an American thriller, you’ll be sorely disappointed.

The book was a great read even though the main character was slowly dying from being poisoned . The book was entertaining and funny and one never knew what predicament Jaakko would find himself in as he tried to save his mushroom business.

Jaakko Kaunismaa is having the worst day of this life. At the beginning of The Man Who Died, by Antti Tuomainen and translated by David Hackston, Jaakko learns that he has been fatally poisoned and that his wife is cheating on him with the delivery boy of their mushroom company. He only has a few weeks to live, according to the doctor, in which to figure out who wants him dead.

In almost any murder investigation, the family and friends of the victim are asked if the deceased had any enemies. As the soon-to-be-deceased, Jaakko is discovering that there are a surprising number of people might want him dead. There’s his wife. There’s his new competitors, a trio of very threatening men who want in on the surprisingly lucrative mushroom business in Hamina, in southeastern Finland. Jaakko can’t go to the police because there’s no proof that his poisoning is intentional or accidental yet. Because he’s not dead, there’s not really a crime for them to investigate. So, in spite of his declining physical condition, Jaakko sets out to solve his own murder.

Because Jaakko is an amateur detective, he blunders through his investigation like a bull in a china store. He makes radical decision about his company. He says provocative things to watch people’s reactions. He asks his employees to spy for him. His actions stir up hornets nests all over the place and no one has a clue what’s going on. Then, the stakes get raised even higher when some of those competitors try to speed up his murder.

The Man Who Died is a blackly comic novel, surprisingly given its premise, and I chalk it up to the fact that most of the characters have no idea what they’re doing. Things go spectacularly and hilariously awry more often than not. Jaakko does eventually find out who poisoned him, but I think this mystery ended up being more about the journey than the destination. It is a story about a man who is murdered, yes, but his murder is a catalyst to rip off his blinders and really examine his complacency. Once those blinders are off, Jaakko gets the chance to go out with a bang.

I strongly recommend this book for readers who like puzzles and off-kilter fiction. I loved this book, so much that I read it all in one sitting.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.

Thank you NetGalley and Orenda Books for the eARC.
What a great treat this book is! So different, unique and extremely well translated, I tore through this book forsaking all my household chores. Love the Finnish setting as well.
Jaakko is a 37-year old Finnish mushroom exporter who owns his company with wife Taina. Their mushrooms are enormously popular in Japan and business is booming. Unfortunately a shady trio has set up a competing, highly modern facility practically next door.
The book starts with Jaakko at his doctor's, being told the results of his urine test. What he thought was a case of influenza proves to be a fatal case of poisoning ... he is dying and has only days or perhaps weeks to live. On his way home to discuss this horrific news with Taina, he finds her wrapped around the young, buff company driver on the sun lounger on their patio. Talk about bad luck, poor Jaakko, my heart went out to him.
Determined to find out who is killing him (Raina obviously at the top of the list) and desperate to keep his company thriving even after his death, he embarks on an intense investigation. Not experienced in detective work, he ends up in some gruesome and hilarious situations. His ponderings on life and death are at once poignant and funny. I found myself chuckling quite a bit and loving Jaakko more and more as the story went on, rooting for him all the way.
I highly recommend this read; it's even better than Anti Tuomainen's prior book The Mine, which I also loved. So glad Orenda is publishing his books - more please!

A unique reading experience—a Finnish thriller with humor and mushrooms. You will never find another book like it so read it. Well written , interesting, sardonic, and you will learn a lot about the meaning of life and the mushroom business in Findland(and the book has some sexy parts too)!

I think Antti Tuomainen really out did his other books with this one. I couldn't put it down, I wanted to keep reading it. He begins with Jaakko in the doctors office giving them a urine sample and he learns that he has days or weeks till he dies. He wants to find his killer before he dies. Tuomainen uses humor to show how much Jaakko is at finding his killer. Many attempts come at him but lady luck keeps him alive for now. The book has the police looking at Jaakko for looking in his competitors building and looking at their Samurai Swords. It builds on this and it has a dark kind of humor but it's so crazy you can't believe it. Its a really good read from the normal mysteries and thrillers. I highly recommend this story.

Really loved this book. I do like Scandinavian mysteries, but had not read any from Finland. I do love the language, as tough as it is, and as lyrical as the town names are. There is such a great attitude of snark here- that is one of the best parts of this book.

The hero discovers he has been poisoned, has little time before he inevitably dies and sets out with the time he has left to figure out who did him in. It's an unusual combination of of places, occupations. strange characters and revelations of betrayal.

The sense of humor and voice of the narrator is what makes this such a fun read. I can't wait for more.