Mad. In a good way. That’s how I’d describe Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All by Jonas Jonasson, author of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden. Here’s the blurb:
It’s always awkward when five thousand kronor goes missing. When it happens at a certain grotty hotel in south Stockholm, it’s particularly awkward because the money belongs to the hitman currently staying in room seven. Per Persson, the hotel receptionist, just wants to mind his own business, and preferably not get murdered. Johanna Kjellander, temporarily resident in room eight, is a priest without a vocation, and, as of last week, without a parish. But right now she has two things at her disposal: an envelope containing five thousand kronor, and an excellent idea . . .
Featuring one violent killer, two shrewd business brains and many crates of Moldovan red wine, Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All is an outrageously zany story.
I haven’t read any of Jonasson’s previous works, so I had no idea what to expect when I picked up this novel. Well, not quite. I did expect something offbeat, something a little out there. I got that and more. This book is a madcap story from start to finish, peopled with zany characters who get themselves into all sorts of pickles. I laughed, I rolled my eyes, I suspended disbelief, but most of all, I had fun. All I need to tell you is … the hitman finds Jesus, the priest is an atheist and somehow they start a church. If you like your books a bit left of centre, give this a try. I’ll be reading more by this author.
Available from good bookstores (RRP $29.99AUD). My copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
Monique Mulligan
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David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television