Hitman Anders and the Meaning of It All is the third novel by Swedish author, Jonas Jonasson. It is translated from Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles. Hitman Anders (Johan Andersson) fell into his profession by accident rather than by design. And after spending most of his adult life in jail for it, he emerged at the age of fifty-six vowing to stop killing, drinking alcohol and taking pills. He would still maim, though, for a price: a man has to live, after all.

He takes a room at the Sea Point Hotel where the receptionist, Per Persson avoids contact with the world, which has not treated him too well so far. On his lunch break one day, he encounters a grubby, but very hungry priest who, despite her utter disgust with God and religion, tries to sell him a prayer. Back at the hotel, he’s about to give this priest, Johanna Kjellander, the room next to the hitman, when a gangster-type drops in half the agreed fee for a job half done by the hitman. And before they know it, they are managing agents for the hitman.

The cover describes the three as “likeable characters pushed into absurd situations”, but in fact only the rather unintelligent hitman fits this description. Both the priest and the receptionist start off OK: robbing gangsters and giving money to charity has a Robin Hood element about it (although the giving is instigated by the hitman, who has found Jesus). But when their money-making scheme targets well-meaning churchgoers, they become much less appealing.

When they frame their companion and send him to jail, they are even less so. When they go to live cheaply on an island in Gotland and wreak environmental havoc in the process, they lose all remaining appeal. By the time they finally decide to be less selfish, their good intentions will have been lost to many readers. While it starts well, and Jonasson’s third novel is perhaps a slight improvement on the second, the formula of zany characters in absurd situations has worn rather thin. Ho hum.

Clever writing