Karo Hämäläinen
Karo Hämäläinen (b. 1976) has two passions: literature and the stock market. He works as the managing editor of the leading Finnish investment magazine, Arvopaperi (“Securities”), and as the editor-in-chief of the online literary criticism magazine Kiiltomato, which is supported by a long list of Finnish professional literary associations. Hämäläinen’s new novel, The Buyout, combines his two passions for the first time. The Buyout was shortlisted for the Savonia Prize in 2011.
Hämäläinen has studied both in the humanities and in economics. Following stints in Helsinki, Munich and Berlin, he now lives in Tampere, Finland. He is a popular lecturer and guest commentator, and has had his own radio show. In his professional work, he uses Finnish, English, German and Swedish. In his spare time, Hämäläinen likes reading and running; his record marathon time set in 2010 is 3:04:04.
“A Bonfire of the Vanities for the new millennium, flavored with a … thriller plot.”
Kauppalehti Optio
“The atmosphere is like on the savannah, where scavengers lie in wait for their prey and each other (…)” Helsingin Sanomat
Written by Karo Hämäläinen
The Buyout
In the world of big money, there are two emotional states. The markets are dominated either by fear or greed.
The international financial crisis is mangling capital markets, fortunes are being crushed in seconds and others are being made just as quickly. A Finnish asset management company founded by three friends descends into the eye of the storm, setting off a fierce competition: who will buy the company for themselves – and with whom?
The Buyout is a financial thriller. Instead of the world politics and violence characteristic of action thrillers, the suspense arises from the intrigues of people working in the capital markets. Karo Hämäläinen has combined the excitement of an action thriller with page-turning narration in a social novel. The result is a hybrid – a novel of unusually depth and narrative control that is also highly readable and entertaining.
As an investment expert, Hämäläinen has his facts straight and reveals a whole range of pitfalls present in the world of high finance over the course of the novel. The repurchase of the Finnish asset management company that functions as the framework for the action of the novel is based on actual events, the downfall of the Icelandic Glitnir Bank. Hämäläinen spent the blackest day of the financial crisis of 2008 in the offices of Glitnir, observing the actions and emotions of the toughest Finnish capital market professionals. He has also interviewed the most important Finnish bankers who were involved in the sale of Glitnir, receiving valuable behind-the-scenes information.
Shortlisted for the Savonia Prize 2011
Praise:
“The managing editor of Arvopaperi, author Karo Hämäläinen, has written a book that verges on patricide.” – Henrik Muukkonen, Talouselämä (Finland’s leading business weekly)
“If you’re interested in the movements of big money and the fates of the people who operate on the dark side of the investment funds, you could hardly spend an evening better. – Hämäläinen’s latest is a chillingly realistic financial thriller. The story reads like reality, which the author can take as a compliment. – The Buyout could be considered one of the landmarks of the continuing economic crisis.” – Matti Posio, Aamulehti (Finland’s second largest daily newspaper)
“This hefty work keeps a hold on you until the very end. Instead of high-speed chases and firefights, the suspense of this thriller is created by investment risk, white-collar crime, corporate takeover negotiations, and power games. – What makes this carefully constructed, believable novel extraordinary is the analysis that parallels the plot. – The novel’s account of what happens behind the scenes in the banking and financial sectors will speak to every bank account holder.” – Joni Pyysalo, Suomen Kuvalehti (Finland’s leading current events weekly)
“The atmosphere is like on the savannah, where scavengers lie in wait for their prey and each other – This is the hidden appeal of Hämäläinen’s book. Negative humanity arouses the reader’s interest. The reader wants to know what will happen to these people. This is a book you have to read to the end. If you have to read a thriller to the end, then its author has succeeded in his work. Hämäläinen has.” – Juhana Rossi, Helsingin Sanomat (Finland’s largest daily newspaper)
An Interview with Karo Hämäläinen
Why did you write a thriller set during the fall 2008 financial crisis?
Novelists are interested in people, and unusual times bring out unusual sides of people. Humanity is at its most naked when people are being driven by primitive forces.
Like fear and greed?
Those are the emotions that drive the financial markets, and they are followed by euphoria and destruction. In the fall of 2008, limitless greed turned to limitless fear in just a few months. Financial professionals had constructed all sorts of extremely risky instruments, which were bound to fall apart. At the same time they were dominated by fear: how many other similar houses of cards had everyone else constructed? Fear follows greed.
If a banker screws up, he gets a pink slip and a huge severance payment. What does he need to be afraid of?
It is true that financial professionals have considerable economic parachutes, but people who work in the financial sector are extremely competitive. They aren’t motivated by the exchange value of money – it’s all the same for their standard of living whether their bank account balance is 51 or 52 million. Instead, money is their primary measure of success. If you passionately want to be better than others – richer, because money is a sign of being in the right – you can drift into a state of hubris in which the other aspects of life become secondary. The lust for success can also drive a person to actions that can undermine the meaningfulness of life. Like the downward spiral of a gambler.
The characters in your novel seem ready for some pretty extreme acts.
They are the elite athletes of their own field. When an extremely ambitious person is striving to win and has been striving for that his whole life without sparing himself, the lines between what is forbidden and what is permissible, between appropriate and inappropriate means blur. There can come a temptation to sell your soul to the devil and resort to doping.
How did you end up in this genre, financial thrillers?
After I figured out the topic, I started thinking about an appropriate literary form, and very soon I realized that the narrative style of thrillers with their fast cuts and fast cars was an excellent fit. At first I was writing an action thriller set in the financial world, but the critical “aha” moment for the book came when I realized that instead of an action thriller I was writing a financial thriller.
So what is a financial thriller? How does it differ from an action thriller?
In a financial thriller, the things the characters do and the suspense are fundamentally motivated by the investment world. Financial events aren’t just the milieu like in some action thrillers set in the world of high finance, but instead everything in the thriller starts from the logic of money. Instead of the characters primarily fearing death, they’re afraid of something even more important: losing their reputations and their money.
Critics have compared The Buyout to Tom Wolfe’s Bonfire of the Vanities. How did you like that?
I like Wolfe’s book, so I can’t be anything but flattered. There are a lot of differences too, but maybe there is something similar in the ethos of the books.
How long did it take to write?
Three years, but during the first year I still didn’t know I was writing a book like this. The first year was taken up in wondering about and analyzing events. In the early fall of 2009 I drew up an outline and started writing.
The Buyout has a dash of factual basis, right?
Yes. I did an extensive article for Arvopaperi about how some bankers who sold out to Iceland a few years ago for an unbelievable amount of money bought their life’s work back. I got to interview the central people involved in the buyback of Glitnir Finland (now FIM). Unfortunately – or maybe luckily – I wasn’t able to put everything in the article, so I had to write a novel.
Are there any revelations in the book?
I can’t answer that in the affirmative. And if there were, they wouldn’t be substantial. The acquisition just forms a rough framework for investigating humanity. Humanity, not particular humans.
Did you let representatives of the bank read the manuscript in advance?
No. When the book was published, I received an e-mail from FIM’s communications director: “What is this?” I was afraid for a second about when the call would come from their lawyers, but no – less than two hours later I received a text message from the same communications director: “I went and bought your book. No complaints yet. This book is good!”
You paint a pretty wretched picture of what men and women working in this world are capable of. What kind of feedback have you gotten from industry insiders?
Of course I only hear about the positive feedback, because not very many people are going to bother to write to say that a book was bad or just OK. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback though, and a lot of people in the industry have read it. Professionals have been particularly pleased about how the book captures the feeling of those days of catastrophe during the fall of 2008. Industry people are also delighted that the terminology and logic are on the mark.
Which of the characters have the most of yourself in them?
Hard question. All of the characters have a little of myself, because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to describe them. The elderly industrialist Jaakko Leino analyzes the nature of the economic crisis in much the same way as I do, but maybe I click most with the star portfolio manager Rainer Olavi Oras’ assistant Marko Auvinen. He came over to the financial sector from the social sciences, he’s caught a whiff of the stench of money, and at the same time he gets to examine practices in the industry really close-up. He desperately wants to be like the others, but at the same time he’s unsure.
Like you?
You said that, not me.
Children’s Literature
Written by Karo Hämäläinen | Illustrated by Salla Savolainen
Hooray for Helsinki – Our Very Own City
Hooray for Helsinki – Our Very Own City is a rich, fully illustrated picture book created in honor of Helsinki’s role as World Design Capital 2012.
A story about a family spending a summer day together in Helsinki provides a frame for introducing children to design, Finnish design in particular. Written for 5-10-year-olds, child-friendly Hooray for Helsinki approaches its subject from a practical point of view – design is part of our daily lives; it flourishes in the tiny details and everyday objects that surround us. Hooray for Helsinki is a cheerful, exciting journey through the city of Helsinki.
Helsinki, together with Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti, is the World Design Capital of 2012. The theme for the Design Capital year is “Open Helsinki – Embedding Design in Life”.
Produced in co-operation with WDC Helsinki 2012.
Full English text available!
Elina Ahlbäck Literary Agency Oy Ltd.
info(at)ahlbackagency.com | +358 400 512 101 | www.ahlbackagency.com | Korkeavuorenkatu 37, FI-00130 Helsinki, Finland
