All good things must come to an end. The Beaver Theory is the final book in Antti Tuomainen’s trilogy that began with the excellent The Rabbit Factor. Actuaries, crime, and theme parks feel like a mash-up unlikely to produce good results, and yet Tuomainen has delivered a set of books that takes heart-warming to another level. This is in spite of a not-inconsiderable body count.
Why Read The Beaver Theory? (And the Other Two Books!)
Let’s be honest, if you’re in this far, you’re probably going to pick up a copy of Beaver Theory anyway. But just in case you’re new to the series, I’ve inverted my usual review format so you can read why you should read The Rabbit Factor trilogy, spoiler-free.
For me, the novel’s defining factor is the juxtaposition of the absurd alongside the extremely logical. This is writ large in the huge animal rides that appear on the covers of the books. They’re absurd, yet pivotal to the plot for entirely logical reasons. Henri Koskinen, our hero, is a former actuary. He’s a principled mathematician who doesn’t do anything unless it is logical to do so—even when he finds himself in the most illogical situations.
It’s a clever device that, by removing human emotion from his decision-making, he confounds expectation at every turn. The even neater trick that Antti Tuomainen pulls off is that despite being ruled by logic, Henri is extremely likable and, remarkably, a romantic soul. It’s a deft sleight of hand and one that works every time, making the books deeply empathetic and enjoyable to read.
Tuomainen also uses Henri to create some excellent jokes and makes the reader consider how comedy actually works. It is often the confounding of expectation with logic.
“My Dad took me to the zoo last weekend,
but all it had was one dog.
It was a shih tzu.”
A perfect encapsulation of logic over expectation! That joke isn’t one from the book. It just happens to be my current favorite, but Tuomainen’s humor works thanks to this sort of misdirect. In short, reading these books is like being treated to my favorite kind of humor over and over.
I recently reviewed Terry Pratchett’s lost stories from A Stroke of the Pen. I was struck reading The Beaver Theory by the many similarities between the two writers. Comic fiction is hard to write well. Pratchett is one of the few who did so over an extended period of time. Tuomainen has a grasp of the absurdities in life and the deftness of touch to highlight them, and that enables him to write funny books that strike a chord. Long may it continue.
Finally, none of the above would hang together if the stories weren’t great too. They’re well-plotted and very exciting. The Beaver Theory, perhaps, has the weakest mystery story of the three, but this is compensated for by the devotion of more time to Henri’s new life as part of a family. By the end of the novel, I was entirely warmed. I was saddened that this was the final story we’d hear about Henri but happy with where things had been left. Also thrilled at the prospect of reading whatever Antti Tuomainen writes next.
What Is The Beaver Theory?
If you’re still with me I’ll be assuming that you’ve read the first two books in the series, so there may be mild spoilers for those books ahead.
As we’ve come to expect, the titular beaver is another adventure park ride, one that is going to hold the key to the success of the park run by the loveable, logical mathematician, Henri Koskinen. As the novel opens everything is coming up roses for Henri; he is moving in with Laura Helanto, he has seen off the attentions of Helsinki’s crime lords, and his brother has faded into the background. Henri’s adventure park is set to make some money, and all the employees are working together in harmony.
So we know it’s all about to go wrong.
On the other side of town, another park has opened, one with a crazy marketing budget, a theme park that must be losing money hand over fist. This new attraction has decimated visitor numbers to Henri’s park. If it continues Henri will have to close and lay off all the staff who have worked so hard for him.
Henri crosses town to check out the competition, where he finds an altogether too familiar setup. Crime is in the air. During one of Henri’s trademark late-night reconnaissance missions, a gun goes off and a man lies dead. Wrong place, wrong time again. For one last time, Henri has a mystery to solve.
Go check it out!
If you would like to pick up a copy of The Beaver Theory, you can do so here in the US and here in the UK. (Affiliate Links)
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other book reviews.
I received a copy of this book in order to write this review.
