“A bank robbery.”

From Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People.

After a completely bad idea to rob a bank goes terribly wrong, the life of one thirty-nine year old is changed forever.  When the robbery fails, the robber runs and is only able to find shelter in an apartment across the street.  The real problem, though, is that the apartment is currently being shown as an open house.  With nowhere else to go, the failed bank robber is now a hostage-taker of a real estate agent and seven potential buyers.  When the standoff finally ends and the hostages are released, the local police are thoroughly confused after they storm the apartment to find only a pool of blood by the front door and a bank robber that has disappeared.  As a young, overwhelmed police officer, Jack, tries to figure out how the robber could have escaped; he tries to gain information from the victims, but the trauma has made them all helpless.  Jack also finds himself constantly at odds with his fellow officer and father, Jim, because their differing approaches to their work leave Jack feeling smothered.  As Jack and Jim interview the teller from the almost-robbed bank, the Realtor, and the other witnesses—Zara, Anna-Lena, Roger, Jules, Ro, Estelle, and Lennart—they continue to come up empty handed for answers about what really happened in the apartment.

What initially seems like a random group of characters together at the wrong place at the wrong time, the story and characters are more connected than anyone could have imagined at the book’s start.  Backman again creates characters that are unique and a story that builds until the final page.  Anxious People is a fun book that offers readers a relaxed, yet captivating page turner from start to finish.