The Mine

Helsinki Today journalist Janne Vuori, the narrator of this grim, thought-provoking crime thriller from Tuomainen (The Healer), receives an anonymous letter asking him to investigate a nickel-mining complex owned by Finn Mining Ltd. in Suomalahti, a town in northern Finland. The letter states that the mining activities there could lead to a “full-blown environmental catastrophe.” Eager for a scoop, Janne first makes an unsuccessful trip to Suomalahti, but he later makes progress after finding a dead journalist’s notebooks about the mining operations and talking to a disgruntled former Finn Mining board member. Janne eventually uncovers enough secrets at Suomalahti to put him and his family in danger. Meanwhile, Emil, Janne’s father, who abandoned his wife and child 30 years earlier when Janne was a year old, re-enters his son’s life. Emil is a professional killer, a fact Janne is initially unaware of. Janne comes to realize that he and his father aren’t so very different in this unsettling excursion into Finnish noir. (Feb.)