Eight people become unlikely friends during a hostage situation created by an inept bank robber. In a town in Sweden, a desperate parent turns to bank robbery to help pay the rent. Unfortunately, the target turns out to be a cashless bank, which means that no robbery can take place. In an attempt to flee the police, the would-be perpetrator runs into a nearby apartment building and interrupts an open house, causing the would-be buyers to assume they're being held hostage. After the situation has ended with an absent bank robber and blood on the carpet, a father-and-son police pair work through maddening interviews with the witnesses: the ridiculous realtor; an older couple who renovates and sells apartments in an effort to stay busy; a bickering young couple expecting their first child; a well-off woman interested only in the view from the balcony of a significant bridge in her life; an elderly woman missing her husband as New Year's Eve approaches; and, absurdly, an actor dressed as a rabbit hired to disrupt the showing and drive down the apartment price. Backman's latest novel focuses on how a shared event can change the course of multiple people's lives even in times of deep and ongoing anxiousness. The observer/narrator is winding and given to tangents and, in early moments, might distract a bit too much from the strongly drawn characters. But the story gains energy and sureness as it develops, resulting in moments of insight and connection between its numerous amiable characters. A story with both comedy and heartbreak sure to please Backman fans. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Marin Ireland has a mere couple dozen audio credits--the majority of them in the last few years--yet she's undoubtedly one of the industry's most versatile, consistently stupendous narrators. Returning for her third Backman pairing, Ireland superbly brings to life the vast cast with enviably distinct and effortlessly fluid characterizations. The story's center is a hostage situation during an open house: a failed bank robbery, financial collapse, adultery, and suicide are just some of the challenges that loom over the crowd trapped inside the apartment. And yet the narrative's soul turns out to be unexpected lifesaving connections. Ireland gets every character just right: the father and son who make up the local police force; the desperate divorced mother who will do anything for her young children; the high-strung real estate agent; the disgruntled, acerbic executive; the lesbian couple about to become parents; the octogenarian waiting for her husband; the always-in-search-of-a-bargain husband-and-wife fix-it team; the bunny-suited stranger hogging the bathroom. Somehow, Ireland becomes a co-conspirator, enjoying the pizza, smoking in the closet, chatting books. VERDICT Balancing--so remarkably well!--big topics with whimsy and charm, Backman continues his bestselling success; Ireland, meanwhile, proves why audiences everywhere need to listen in.--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

When the world's most hapless bank robber inadvertently takes a group of the world's most helpful people hostage, hilarity doesn't exactly ensue as much as it evolves. With a failed marriage, no job, potential loss of child custody, and a looming eviction, the idea of robbing a bank presents itself as an appealing solution to this harrowing list of woes. When the bank turns out to be one of those new-fangled cashless entities, the foiled robber flees and dashes into a nearby apartment building where an eclectic group of potential buyers is suffering through a sale's pitch. Unwitting participants in the developing drama, the group nonetheless warms to their wannabe-bank-robber captor and each other over the course of the day's events. In this small suburb of Stockholm, only the local police are on the scene, a father-and-son team who try hard not to step on each other's toes while deescalating the hostage situation and interviewing witnesses. With poignant and sympathetic care, the always incisive and charming Backman (Us Against You, 2017), gently examines garden-variety insecurities against a quaint pre-pandemic backdrop.

A diverse assortment of Swedes gets caught in an unlikely hostage situation in Backman's witty, lighthearted romp (after Us Against You). On the day before New Year's Eve, in a "not particularly large or noteworthy town," a desperate parent attempts to rob a bank in order to provide for two young children. After the police arrive, the amateur stickup artist flees and stumbles into an apartment's open house. The attendees, including a heavily pregnant, first-time home-buying lesbian couple; an apartment-flipping older couple; and Zara, an executive at another bank, become hostages. Meanwhile, father and son police officers Jim and Jack scramble into action. The appearance of a man wearing nothing but underwear and a bunny mask, hired by the flippers to sabotage the open house, adds to the drama. Backman layers the hostage scene with threads of backstory on Zara's regret for denying a loan to a man ten years earlier, along with developments in Jack and Jim's investigation. While the prose is chockablock with odd metaphors ("Our hearts are bars of soap that we keep losing hold of") and a plot twist leans on societal assumptions, Backman charms with his empathetic description of the robber, who gradually earns sympathy from the hostages. This amusing send-up of contemporary Swedish society is worth a look. Agent: Tor Jonasson, Salomonsson Agency. (Sept.)