Deliver Me
A Novel
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Scandinavian noir meets legal thriller in this brilliant, gut-wrenching story of childhood friends torn apart by gang violence and class differences in Stockholm—from the internationally bestselling author of Quicksand.
Unlikely best friends since the age of 6, Billy and Dogge live in suburbs separated only by a highway, yet a world apart. From the outside, Dogge looks privileged: his family has a large home and plenty of money—at first. But his parents are addicts whose negligence becomes a form of abuse. Meanwhile, Billy’s family are poor first-generation immigrants unable to escape the no-go zone where they live, but their cramped apartment is nonetheless a bastion of love.
A ruthless small-time crime boss seeks recruits, and both Dogge and Billy become runners by the time they’re 12. Fast cash, easy access to drugs, and dreams of gaining status draw them in. But when Billy wants to leave the gang and finds himself trapped, the boys must face the violent rules of the adult game they tried to play.
When children commit horrible crimes, who bears the responsibility? With piercing prose and a breathless sense of urgency, Deliver Me is at once a poignant portrayal of the power of friendship and a shattering depiction of what happens when society fails to protect those that need it most. What does justice mean for these lost children, and is the law capable of delivering it?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Swedish crime writer Giolito follows up Quicksand with an ambitious tale of adolescent violence and the forces that enable it. Things kick off with the murder of 14-year-old Billy Ali, an immigrant's son from Våringe, a poor neighborhood of Stockholm. There's no mystery about his killer: Billy's best friend, Douglas "Dogge" Arnfeldt (who lives in the wealthy suburb of Rönnviken), pulled the trigger. But is there more to the story? That's the question facing well-meaning juvenile investigator Farid Ayad, who's been assigned to the case. Giolito interweaves Farid's investigation with a detailed history of the boys' unlikely friendship: Billy was a charming kid who attracted trouble, and after he met Dogge on a public playground when both were six years old, the two became inseparable, eventually cutting school, doing drugs, and working together for a "wannabe gangster" named Medhi Ahmad. It's gang politics that lead to the boys' final confrontation, and Giolito dedicates significant space to the social problems—including restrictive immigration policies, corrupt law enforcement, and economic inequality—that surround gangs in contemporary Sweden. The sociological perspective joins with a strong emotional current to effectively convey the magnitude of the novel's central tragedy. This will strike a chord with genre fans who are just as interested in the "why" as the "who."
