There isn’t a better feeling for a book lover than to open the door to surprise book mail. And then to find out that it’s one of your most coveted books of the year, by one of your all time favorite authors is positively incandescent.
I first discovered Fredrick Backman when I ordered “A Man Called Ove”. The opening pages are funny, dark, quirky…. masterful. What follows is one of the most special books I think I’ve ever read. I was a convert. I would read this mans grocery list.
When I saw there was a new Backman coming in 2020 I feverishly watched and waited. Added it to my Amazon wishlist immediately, waiting for the day when I could preorder and receive a book in a reasonable length of time because I fully intended on dropping everything to read it.
Lo’ and behold, Atria publishing comes through with an ARC (advanced reader copy), and I hear choirs singing somewhere.
The plot of Anxious People:
This is a poignant comedy about a crime that never took place, a would-be bank robber who disappears into thin air, and eight extremely anxious strangers who find they have more in common than they ever imagined.
Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers slowly begin opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.
As police surround the premises and television channels broadcast the hostage situation live, the tension mounts and even deeper secrets are slowly revealed. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people.
SERIOUSLY, only Backman can make a bank robbery poignant.
Review to come.
The Caffeinated Reader 