Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd by Jónas Jónasson

Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd by Jónas Jónasson
UK Publication Date: 1^st April 2021
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★]

This ARC was provided by 4th Estate and William Collins (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

One word review – irreverent

Synopsis from GR: Victor Alderheim has a lot to answer for. Not only has he heartlessly tricked his young ex-wife, Jenny, out of her art gallery inheritance, but he has also abandoned his son, Kevin, to die in the middle of the Kenyan savanna.

It doesn’t occur to Victor that Kevin might be rescued and adopted by a Maasai medicine man, or that he might be expected to undergo the rituals expected of all new Maasai warriors – which have him running back to Stockholm as fast as you can say circumcision without anaesthetic.

Back in Stockholm, Kevin’s path crosses with Jenny’s – and they have an awful lot to talk about, not least a shared desire to get even with Victor. So it’s convenient when they run into a man selling revenge services, who has an ingenious idea involving Victor’s cellar, a goat, some forged paintings, four large boxes of sex toys, and a kilo of flour …

My Thoughts: Time for something completely different. It has been a while since I read anything that amused me as much as this (in fact in may well have been The 100 Year Old Man) this book really appeals to my English sense of humour and yes I do understand that this won’t appeal to everyone.

I did have a few qualms going through the book the first being that Victor is so horrible and the second with the whole idea of Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd as a business. That said once I remembered I was reading an irreverent book and not real life I was able to settle in and thoroughly enjoy the wild ride that is revenge.

Far and away the best character for me was Ole the scenes with the shops and police in Sweden nearly killed me.

The beauty of this book is the humour so in order to whet your appetites here are a few of my favourite non spoilerish quotes:

“He explained to his son that you were born, learned the art of war, got circumcised, got married, and regretted the marriage.”

“She liked her job in customer service at the embassy. The only downside was the customers.”

“One wife is not enough, but two wives are a problem that may cause your head to break.”

“No-one was better than two Englishmen at becoming enemies over basically nothing.”

Who would like this? If the quotes above appeal to your sense of humour you will love this book. If you like your to be serious I would give this a miss.

We want to hear from you! Have you read this book? What did you think?