Praising reviews for Johanna Sinisalo’s STRANGERS INSIDE

Johanna Sinisalo’s new novel STRANGERS INSIDE was published in Finland a few weeks ago. The novel combines family drama, horror and science fiction into a stylish mix of genres – compared to Rosemary’s Baby and Stephen King. Strangers Inside has already gathered amazing reviews:

Psychological thriller featuring steadily intensifying tension, following one family’s journey to inevitable destruction.

Sinisalo has a wonderfully felicitous way of describing the slide from normal to weird. The internal dynamics of the family acquire ugly new features; the tensions grow as the strange events unfurl.

Stylish body-horror without any clichés. It is extremely relatable, as we all have bodies after all. This could almost happen to anyone of us. A human body has still some unknown elements  strangers inside.
 Five-star review from Turun Sanomat daily paper, Marissa Mehr 5.5.2020
Strangers Inside is classic horror updated! The tension grows beautifully and the horror seeps into the story nice and slow. It is a fresh and brilliant story that is both current and timeless.
– National Horror Competition Jury

About the book:
The marriage of Siiri and Essi is already going through a rough patch, but when their 6-year-old daughter is caught cutting herself with scissors, their family-life is thrown upside down. What could cause such a young child to something like that? Is there someone – or something – telling her to do so? The parents turn against each other while trying to find an outsider to blame, but sometimes the true threat comes from inside…

You can listen to Johanna Sinisalo’s interview (in Finnish) here: https://areena.yle.fi/audio/1-50485050

Strangers Inside
Vieraat, Karisto 2020, 448 pp.

About author


Johanna Sinisalo

Johanna Sinisalo (b. 1958) is a Finlandia Prize-winning superstar of Finnish speculative fiction. In addition to her ten novels, she has also written short fiction and film and television screenplays. Her works have been translated into twenty languages.

Sinisalo has won several literary prizes also abroad, such as the 2004 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2017 Prometheus Award, and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2008, the Prix Escapades in 2012, and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in 2017. In 2022, Johanna Sinisalo was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal for services to Finnish literature.

Photo credit: Katri Kallio

Bibliography


2025, Literary Fiction, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Swan Song

Johanna Sinisalo


2021, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Storm Flute

Johanna Sinisalo


2020, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Strangers Inside

Johanna Sinisalo


2018, Fantasy & Science Fiction

IRON SKY: RENATE'S STORY

Johanna Sinisalo


2013, Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Core of The Sun

Johanna Sinisalo


2011, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Blood of Angels

Johanna Sinisalo


2010, Middle Grade (8-12 Years)

The Möbius Twist

Johanna Sinisalo


2008, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Birdbrain

Johanna Sinisalo


2000, Fantasy & Science Fiction

Troll

Johanna Sinisalo

Related news

Pre-Frankfurt deals and new reviews for our fiction highlights

Frankfurt is around the corner and we’re gearing up for the biggest and the most beautiful book fair of the year. In Frankfurt, we’re happy to showcase the best of Finnish fiction, nonfiction and children’s books. We’ve got a lot of new, exciting titles from our talented authors.

We’re glad to share the news regarding Max Seeck’s gripping thriller The Mephisto Touch. This action-packed standalone sequel to Seeck’s acclaimed debut The Angels of Hammurabi, the winner of the Best Crime Debut prize of 2016, was sold to Seeck’s Icelandic publisher Forlagid.

The Mephisto Touch by Max Seeck is a gripping page-turner right from the start. I was drawn to the action-packed narrative and I think Max has done very well in creating sympathetic characters. This is definitely something for readers of Nordic Noir, but still way more Nordic Cool than Noir.”
– Stella Soffía Jóhannesdóttir, editor, Forlagid, Iceland

Seeck will be visiting Reykjavik in late November for the Iceland Noir festival, but already before that, his German readers can meet him in Berlin at the Nordic Crime Night.

Here’s a round-up of the most recent reviews for our newly-published titles of fiction:

The Call of Hades by Max Seeck
”The evil grows so sneakily – I have never read a Finnish thriller with this kind of suspense! Annika Lehto and Daniel Kuisma are here to stay!” – Kotivinkki magazine
“The best there is in the Finnish thriller field right now.” – Suomen kuvalehti magazine

The City Wall by Mikko-Pekka Heikkinen
”The novel is a wickedly humoristic, but also a serious and topical play of different discourses. The City Wall shows how easily people can be divided under any circumstances, in any country.” – Savon Sanomat newspaper

The Red Marsh by Marko Hautala
”Hautala gets better and better each time, and his latest, The Red Marsh, is brilliant! I got scared after the first sentences.” – Etelä-Saimaa newspaper

Renate’s Story by Johanna Sinisalo
”Sinisalo’s novel is an intelligent, critical study of the society. The many layers of the story are revealed to the reader deliciously slowly.” – Aamulehti newspaper

Get in touch with us to request reading materials by clicking here!

See you in Frankfurt – tables 17L and 18L in LitAg!

About author


Johanna Sinisalo

Johanna Sinisalo (b. 1958) is a Finlandia Prize-winning superstar of Finnish speculative fiction. In addition to her ten novels, she has also written short fiction and film and television screenplays. Her works have been translated into twenty languages.

Sinisalo has won several literary prizes also abroad, such as the 2004 James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the 2017 Prometheus Award, and was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2008, the Prix Escapades in 2012, and the Grand Prix de L’Imaginaire in 2017. In 2022, Johanna Sinisalo was awarded the Pro Finlandia Medal for services to Finnish literature.

Photo credit: Katri Kallio