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    Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All
    Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All
    Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All
    Audiobook7 hours

    Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

    Written by Jonas Jonasson and Rachel Willson-Broyles

    Narrated by Peter Kenny

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    From the author of the international bestseller The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, a brilliant satirical novel set in modern Sweden—a story of idealism and fanaticism, gangsters and entrepreneurs, sensationalism and spirituality, that explores the values that matter in contemporary life.

    In a former brothel turned low-rent hotel, the lives of three unusual strangers—a former female priest, recently fired from her church; the ruined grandson of an ex-millionaire working as a receptionist; and Killer-Anders, a murderer newly released from prison—accidently collide with darkly hilarious results.

    Seeing a lucrative opportunity in Killer-Anders, the unlikely trio form an unusual new business. The Priest and The Receptionist will handle strategy and public relations, and coordinate Killer-Anders’ “missions.” Using the media’s obsessive need for sensational, headline-making stories to advertise their talent’s superb “skill,” they quickly build a clientele of rich Swedish gangsters. Suddenly, they’re making an altogether different kind of killing of their own.

    But when Killer-Anders begins asking deeper questions about purpose and meaning, his curiosity leads him to an unexpected discovery: he finds Jesus. Desperate to save the money machine they’ve built, The Priest and The Receptionist devise an audacious plan utilizing Killer-Anders’ newfound and decidedly fervent faith.

    Mischievous yet big-hearted, filled with Jonas Jonasson’s trenchant humor and delightful twists, Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All is a delightful comic adventure that reminds us it’s never to late to start over—and to discover what truly matters.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateApr 26, 2016
    ISBN9780062474544
    Author

    Jonas Jonasson

    JONAS JONASSON worked as a journalist for the Expressen newspaper for many years. He became a media consultant and later set up a company producing sports and events for Swedish television. He then sold the company and moved abroad to work on his first novel. Today Jonasson is a global phenomenon. His five novels—The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden, Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All, The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man and The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared—have sold sixteen million copies in forty-six countries. Jonas Jonasson lives on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.

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    Reviews for Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All

    3.5/5

    178 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is so blasphemously hilarious! But make no mistake, behind all that bustles, there's a deep search for the meaning of life.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Great story; it ended up being like a 3 Stooges movie, so if that kind of madcap adventure isn't for you, then I might pass. But I really liked it. They could have edited it down a bit more though. There's quite a bit of rambling.
      I plan on reading another book from this author, so that in and of itself speaks volumes.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I really enjoyed his first two books but this one was something of a disappointment. It wasn't that it was a bad idea for a story, but it was a bit too cartoony and the humour was a bit too forced.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 2/5
      Definitely less engaging than his first two books.
    • 3/5
      Can't say I hated it, but didn't like it too much either. The story seemed to move nowhere at all, there was no sense of danger or accomplishment at any moment. It was just a series of events strung together by luck or plot device.

      But the trademark Swedish humor is still there. It was a brief, brisk read, but don't expect much from it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 3/5
      3.5 Quirky and unusual cast of characters in improbably situations with an understated narration which makes for a pretty funny story overall. Hitman Anders is an ex-con, living in a motel which is staffed by receptionist Per Persson who crosses paths with priest-turned-atheist Johanna Kjellander. This unholy trinity forms a lucrative business doing small "hits" for local criminals - Hitman Anders is not the brightest bulb, so he does the grunt work while the Receptionist and the Priest cash in, taking a huge cut and basically managing the business. Then Hitman Anders gets religion and gets off pills and booze (except communion wine)- an ironic outcome for the Priest-- and the business goes belly-up when Anders will no longer harm his fellow man. The Priest and the Receptionist who are now a couple are not ready to give up the gravy train, so they go with the flow of this new twist and create the mega-church of Anders, which distributes massive amounts of free wine and a nonsensical sermon from Anders with lots of coaching from the Priest and a sprinkling of Hosannas. The collections are staggering and the group is again flush with cash, but they are also the target of the criminal element they left hanging with a number of unfinished but paid for bad deeds before Anders turned good. This all converges in a hilarious way - no good scam ever lasts forever, but the Priest and Receptionist are survivors and have one more good trick up their sleeves for an aging Anders - still easily manipulated and none the smarter after yet another jail stint. Using the "it is better to give than to receive" motto, they tap into online giving - and receiving - with a little bonus for the couple and their burgeoning family. Entertaining read from this Swedish author of The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window.....

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is totally silly fluff, and that's all it aspires to be, and that's all it needs to be, and that's exactly what I wanted out of it. It has Jonasson's typical ridiculous humor with characters who bumble in and out of ridiculous situations, often aided by unbelievable coincidences. A fallen priest and a hotel receptionist take advantage of an alcoholic hitman to earn a nefarious fortune, and hilarity ensues.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I just love Jonas Jonassons books. They are just laugh out loud funny. The plot goes from one absurd action to another but yet somehow they all seem to make sense. It's a fun read, as are all his books, and worth it.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Another great story from Jonas Jonasson!I loved The Hundred Year Old Man and Girl Who Saved the King.This is an even better novel if that's possible!very highly recommended.I was given digital copy of this book by the publisher Harper Collins/Fourth Estate via Netgalley in return for an honest unbiased review.

      1 person found this helpful