I am a huge Jonasson fan. I’ve read and loved every one of his books. So for me, it is super exciting that he has a new book releasing, and I’m incredibly lucky to have received an advanced copy.
This book feels vastly different from his other books. It still has a unique level of quirky, and the road taken meanders a lot. But I skimmed a lot of the text in the first half of the book because it wasn’t engaging. However, when Jonasson finally tied the characters together, I truly got drawn into the story.
You don’t have to like Victor to like the book. He’s an awful person, and Jonasson wrote him well because he made you want to reach into the book and wring Victor’s neck. His awfulness is counterbalanced by Ole Mbastian, who is the star of this book. His naivete is as maddening as it is endearing, and it’s a perfect balance of the two.
But then we got towards the end of the book, and things took an even more bizarre turn, and sadly, for me, the book was finishing up. Had it been written differently, I would have happily read about our 4 main characters in another book. But alas, I think this is a goodbye to this cast of characters. So there were some ups and downs with this one, but overall, I enjoyed reading it. Thank you, HarperVia, for sending this along!
Book Links (releases May 31st)
Goodreads
Amazon
Bookshop
B&N
About the Book
Victor Alderheim has a lot to answer for. Not only has he heartlessly tricked his young ex-wife, Jenny, out of her art gallery inheritance, but he has also abandoned his son, Kevin, to die in the middle of the Kenyan savanna.
It doesn’t occur to Victor that Kevin might be rescued and adopted by a Maasai medicine man, or that he might be expected to undergo the rituals expected of all new Maasai warriors – which have him running back to Stockholm as fast as you can say circumcision without anaesthetic.
Back in Stockholm, Kevin’s path crosses with Jenny’s – and they have an awful lot to talk about, not least a shared desire to get even with Victor. So it’s convenient when they run into a man selling revenge services, who has an ingenious idea involving Victor’s cellar, a goat, some forged paintings, four large boxes of sex toys, and a kilo of flour …
Read and like this review on Goodreads (just had to update this link because somehow Goodreads deleted my review?)and Bookbub.
I’m sharing the UK cover because I like it so much more than the US cover. It also has more to do with the book than the US cover. Which one do you like best?
Rae's Reading Lounge 
I’m glad you enjoyed this overall. What an unusual book.
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