A review by thebooktrail88
Secret Passages in a Hillside Town by Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen

3.0

Visit The locations in the novel - Finland

I like this but it’s quite an odd and quirky read. Olli works in publishing and he along with Greta, an old flame, is about to publish some cinematic guides to the local area and cities around the world. What cities have that cinematic quality and what exactly does that entail? Well there’s lots of snippets from the guides to help you explore the sights for real.

That is setting number one but setting number two is quite different and a lot darker. It’s the secret tunnels under the town where they live in Finland. Something happened one night under these tunnels and the truth of that is only starting to come out now.

The writing has a very particular style to it- as if someone is narrating the characters on stage and even controlling them and the sentences are sharp and short and have a child’s simplicity to them which helps form the overall feeling of a old film playing out with watercolour, flickering characters and snowy settings.

It all gets a bit weird towards the end when the secrets come tumbling out and I wanted to shake some sense into Olli. This is a man who loves publishing though so I couldn’t stay confused at him for long.

Overall, a good read with a definite style of its own.