The Moose Paradox
The Rabbit Factor Series
An unlikely adventure park owner tries to keep his business afloat in Antti Tuomainen’s humorous mystery novel The Moose Paradox.
After inheriting an adventure park and a mountain of debt from his brother Juhani, Henri’s careful planning enabled him to get the business back on track—just in time for Juhani to somehow muck his plans up again. With his staff in revolt and his ride supplier refusing to supply rides, Henri deals with a bevy of forces that could destroy the park, including inconvenient corpses, a cold-blooded investor, and a suspicious police inspector. He also navigates a blossoming romance with a beautiful artist.
Henri is a neurodivergent man with a singular perspective on life who loves numbers and logic. He’s a perfect foil to his irresponsible brother, whose disposition even death cannot not improve, and to the mayhem of the park. Still, it takes him a while to realize that, in order to save the park he has grown to love, he may have to give it all up to the last person who deserves it.
Henri’s situation is serious, but his story is not: its unforgettable characters and understated comedy make for an engaging, suspenseful romp. The setting—YouMeFun, a struggling adventure park that soon fills with dangerous people and rides that Henri didn’t ask for—is used to maximum effect. It lends distinctive humor to even the most harrowing scenes, as when a would-be assassin is himself killed by a plastic strawberry. Best of all, even as this odyssey ends, another seems to begin, promising more madcap mysteries in the future.
The Moose Paradox is a fun mystery novel about the surprising dangers of the Finnish adventure park business.
Reviewed by
Eileen Gonzalez
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
