Well written. Really good story that moves along at a good pace. ( )

I’m not sure how to categorize this novel; perhaps it’s best identified as a darkly comedic Nordic noir crime caper with romance elements.

Henri Koskinen, an insurance actuary, inherits an adventure park, YouMeFun, near Helsinki after his brother’s death. Along with the park come some peculiar staff members and an enormous debt to dangerous criminals. Henri’s carefully ordered life is turned into chaos, and his emotions after meeting one of his staff, Laura Helanto, leave him totally discombobulated. (Am I the only one who thought of The Rosie Project when Laura is introduced?) Will Henri be able to save the park as his brother wished? Since the criminals are willing to go to murderous lengths to collect their money, will Henri be able to save himself?

I liked the protagonist. At times he reminded me of Spock in the Star Trek series. Henri relies on reason and logic: “I just wanted things to occur in a good, logical order and that I based all of my actions on rational thinking.” For him, the application of mathematics provides “Happiness, comfort, hope. Sense and logic. And above all: solutions.” He’s social awkward, unwilling to engage in ordinary pleasantries: “’I don’t need to know how other people are doing. I don’t want to know what they’re thinking, what they’ve done or how they experience things. I don’t want to know what they are planning, their hopes and aspirations. So I don’t ask.’” He even uses logic to choose a restaurant: “’Given the average rating review, the distance from our respective bus stops, the prevailing weather, the day of the week, the time of the year, your predilection for spicy food, and the fact that the point of a date is to try and make an impression on the other person, this seemed like the optimal choice.’”

Of course Henri, the man who sees math and logic as the solution to all problems and so wants to calculate everything, is presented with situations and emotions that do not lend themselves to easy computation. So he is very much a fish out of water, a purely logical man in an emotional world full of illogical and irrational behaviour. In the course of the novel, he learns that it’s not just “calculations that tell us what is beautiful and what is not” and that it’s possible and perhaps desirable to live “’with less of a focus on probability calculus.’”

Though it relies on the “love conquers all” trope, I can accept Henri’s emotional growth, but I had difficulty with his transformation from a meek and mild actuary to a take-charge hero who successfully bests professional criminals. Even for someone who dismisses emotional responses, his lack of a reaction to some of what he witnesses doesn’t make sense.

There are parts I found humorous. I liked Henri’s comments about management psychobabble, and his mathematical perspective on everything certainly amused. Unfortunately, some of the scenes are too far-fetched for my liking. The opening scene with Henri battering a man to death with a giant, plastic rabbit ear was my first indication that the book with this type of humour was probably not for me. Other events just require too much suspension of disbelief. And though the book is described as a “dark thriller,” I found it lacked tension and suspense. Given the book’s tone and that Henri is the narrator, it’s obvious that he will emerge victorious and all will end well.

I feel like I’m breaking up with someone when I state that it’s not the book. I am the problem. Offbeat stories with absurd plots are not to my taste. It’s an easy read, but I didn’t engage with it, finding it more contrived that funny. Others will undoubtedly love this book, but the combination of dark and silly didn’t work for me. The book is followed by The Moose Paradox and The Beaver Theory, but I think I’ll not read these. My sense of humour, or lack thereof some would claim, is not a good fit for this trilogy.

Note: Please check out my reader's blog (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/) and follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/DCYakabuski). ( )

Actuary Henri Koskinen learns in one day that he has lost his job and his brother. His brother leaves him his adventure park in his will, with an admonition to ensure that it keeps running. Henri feels obligated to do so, despite his misgivings.

The park has a strange assortment of employees, including one worker who never shows up, a maintenance man who claims to have been promised the general managership, and Laura, a wannabe artist managing the office. The latter persuades Henri to back her idea of a bunch of murals for the park, which the mathematically-minded Henri starts to find a strangely enticing idea.

Henri also finds out pretty quickly that his brother had been involved in some shady goings-on with local criminals, and that keeping the park operating is going to be a lot riskier than he thought. He sets about using his mathematics and logic skills to both deal with these thugs, and with the various demands of his staff.

This book is miles away from "The Healer", a rather grim dystopian Scandi-noir about a serial killer, indeed it's hard to believe the same writer came up with both. This one is more of a light-hearted crime novel, with a protagonist who reminded me quite a lot of Don Tillman, from The Rosie Project, in his social stiffness and logic-oriented approach to life. ( )

Marvellous! ( )

Henri Koskinen grea up with disorganized parents, and as a child, looked to mathematics to help sooth his disordered world. As a result, he becomes an actuary, who lives by actuarial principles. This obviously makes Henri an oddball. He’s unfortunately fired from his actuarial job, and shortly afterwards, finds out that he’s inherited a children’s adventure park from his brother, who died prematurely. Unbeknownst to Henri, the park is saddled with high interest debt from local mobsters.

The Rabbit Factor takes this mix, and brews a fascinating novel. I’ve never quite met such an eccentric fictional character as Henri, and the author skillfully brings him to life. We see how Henri’s life changes as he grows into his new role as park manager, deals creatively with the mobsters, and falls in love. This was such a great book, and due to Henri’s quirks, was quite different from other books I’ve read in a good while.

My thanks to Independent Publishers Group, and to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion. ( )