Tag Archives: Jonas Jonasson

Jonas Jonasson, author of The Hundred Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, continues his trend of long book titles with his third novel – Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All. Beautifully translated into English by Rachel Wilson-Broyles, it deals with the trials and tribulations of a misanthropic hotel receptionist who finds himself in an unconventional business relationship with an equally embittered, atheist ex-priest and the titular Hitman Anders. Generally befuddled but still intimidatingly dangerous, the hitman proves to be both a lucrative cash-cow and an unpredictable liability.
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Like the ‘difficult second album’ effect that plagues so many successful bands, some authors face a tricky decision when writing their second novel – do they branch out and try something totally different from their successful first novel, or try to recapture what worked so well and stick to formula? In his follow up to the hugely successful ‘The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared’, Swedish author Jonas Jonasson has stuck pretty close to the formula that resulted in the delightfully absurd ‘Hundred Year Old Man…’ but just about manages not to simply repeat himself.

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