Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

A madcap new novel from the author of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START AGAIN. AND AGAIN.

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 with as many laughs as Jonasson’s multimillion-copy bestseller The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared.

“'Should carry a health warning for spouses or partners easily irritated by the sounds of helpless chortling' Irish Times (on The Hundred-Year-Old Man) 'A mordantly funny and loopily freewheeling novel about ageing disgracefully' Sunday Times (on The Hundred-Year-Old Man) 'Fast-moving and relentlessly sunny' Guardian on The Hundred-Year-Old Man) 'Pure, ingenious fantasy . . . it's "feel-good" set to stun level' Guardian (on The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden) 'A comic delight of love, luck and mathematics' Daily Express (on The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden) 'Fast-paced, likable, refreshing . . . As unlikely and funny as The Hundred-Year-Old Man' Observer (on The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden)”

‘Enormous fun … The subversive charm of it lies in the hints that God, or the Universe or whatever, is smarter and funnier than any of us’ Kate Saunders, The Times

‘Jonasson matches the irreverence of his debut The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared … It’s a thrilling ride’ Financial Times

‘Should carry a health warning for spouses or partners easily irritated by the sounds of helpless chortling’ Irish Times (on The Hundred-Year-Old Man)

‘A mordantly funny and loopily freewheeling novel about ageing disgracefully’ Sunday Times (on The Hundred-Year-Old Man)

‘Fast-moving and relentlessly sunny’ Guardian on The Hundred-Year-Old Man)

‘Pure, ingenious fantasy . . . it’s “feel-good” set to stun level’ Guardian (on The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden)

‘A comic delight of love, luck and mathematics’ Daily Express (on The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden)

‘Fast-paced, likable, refreshing . . . As unlikely and funny as The Hundred-Year-Old Man’ Observer (on The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden)

Jonas Jonasson was a journalist for the Expressen newspaper for many years. He became a media consultant and later on set up a company producing sports and events for Swedish television. He sold his company and moved abroad to work on his first novel. Jonasson now lives on the Swedish island Gotland in the Baltic Sea.

A madcap new novel from the one-of-a-kind author of The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden A GANGSTER, A VICAR AND A RECEPTIONIST WALK INTO A BAR . . . Hitman Anders is fresh out of prison and trying to keep his head down when he meets a female Protestant vicar (who happens to be an atheist), and a receptionist at a 1-star hotel (who happens to be currently homeless). Together they cook up an idea for a very unusual business that's going to make them all a fortune - but then all of a sudden, and to everyone's surprise, Anders finds Jesus . . . 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. As wildly funny and unexpected as The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, this is a madcap, feel-good adventure about belief, the media - and the fact that it's never too late to start again.

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