Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

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The characters are all so morally corrupt, that no matter how much good they try to do, it always left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Overall: diverting enough if you want a well-written farce to dip in and out of and don't mind the lack of a strong linear plot. I’m not religious at all and firmly believe religion does more harm than good but I’m extremely bored with people pointing and laughing at Christianity. Anders' sudden interest in religion might be good for his soul but it's not good for business, and the vicar and the receptionist have to find a new plan, quick.

This time a recently freed hitman who refuses to kill any more teams up with a homeless receptionist and an athiest priest to make their fortune only maiming people. The story line is complex and with the book originally written in the Swedish language and translated into English, it feels quite clunky and difficult to constantly keep going. Nothing outright irritated me, nor did it feel like I was reading a bad book, but it wasn't really the book for me. Using the media's obsessive need for sensational, headline-making stories to advertise their talent's superb "skill," they quickly build a clientele of rich Swedish gangsters.Seriously, the plot just doesn't make any sense and the religious elements really started to get on my nerves. För fem år sedan så läste jag ”Hundraåringen som klev ut genom fönstret och försvann” och den fick en fyra i betyg från mig. In an ironic aside in Chapter 57, the narrator acknowledges this lack of plot progression when he comments, "In some sense, one could say that they [the two main characters] were back in the vicinity of Chapter 16 of this story," but making a joke about this absence of forward progression doesn't make it ok. The opening chapters are promising, as translator Rachel Willson-Broyles tries to channel Douglas Adams’ dry humour. Devo dire che sono rimasta molto delusa da questo terzo romanzo di Jonas Jonasson, anche perché ho amato tantissimo i primi due.

The book also contains Swedish politics which I found at times Boring and unnecessary and detracts from the storyline. Desperate to save the money machine they've built, The Priest and The Receptionist devise an audacious plan utilizing Killer-Anders' newfound and decidedly fervent faith. As testament to Jonasson's breezy style, the opening chapter gives us the full life-story (including family history) of our first protagonist; a receptionist lumbered through circumstance with the somewhat silly name of Per Persson - ".

I should have been warned sufficiently by the low Goodreads rating, but I thought this would be one of those unpopular opinion books.

And then he meets a receptionist at a 1-star hotel and a female Protestant vicar who happens to be an atheist. Contemporary light reading is so often based in one of a handful of genres, and Nombeko’s zany, farcical adventures were an enjoyable exception just as Allan Karlsson’s had been in The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

Nu har jag läst ”Mördar-Anders och hans vänner (samt en och annan ovän)” och den får en trea i betyg från mig.

I’d heard good things about this author’s previous books but I was very disappointed with his latest, pitiful effort – I won’t be looking for more novels from the hacky Jonas Jonasson and his dull writing.When Anders gets Christianity, he says “Hosanna” a lot without knowing what it means – that’s the “comedy” by the way.