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?
Genre: Mystery
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?
Genre: Mystery
Praise for this book
"As this gritty, tightly paced procedural unfolds, deftly weaving past and present, it's clear that Deliver Me is more than a page-turner: it's a poignant examination of place, family, and social class that asks how we become the people we are. It's a character study of two very different boys and how their environments - and their friendship - shaped their fates. Intensely compelling, a true heartbreaker of a novel, Deliver Me is crime fiction at its finest." - Samantha Jayne Allen
"Deliver Me succeeds with something very few crime novels do: Already on the first page, we know who the murderer is. And yet, we keep turning the pages, faster and faster until we reach the harrowing end. Sometimes fiction is needed to understand the reality we live in. Deliver Me is a masterful crime novel that hits like a well-aimed punch to the gut." - Christoffer Carlsson
"Like the Baltimore of The Wire, the Stockholm of Malin Persson Giolito's Deliver Me is revealed to be more than just a hostile concrete backdrop for the age-old crusade of 'good' against 'evil': instead, it's a vast and complex network of familial care and interdependence, of best intentions stymied by judicial bureaucracy, of fear-based panopticons and manufactured scarcity, of the various limitations and empowerments conferred by race, class, and gender. Most importantly, Deliver Me is the story of kids who never got to be kids, to whom love and support is rarely extended on the societal level. Combining the legal savvy of a Grisham thriller with the big-hearted social realism of a Dickens novel, this book is a passionate call for change that ought to be heeded." - Rafael Frumkin
"A brutal and beautiful read, enthralling from start to finish, Deliver Me paints an enduring portrait of two boys caught in an intractable landslide of violence. Malin Persson Giolito writes with unflinching precision and also great compassion for her characters'humanity. A stunning crime novel that grapples with impossible questions about justice and responsibility, and reaches an unforgettable crescendo. You'll read with your heart in your throat." - Katie Gutierrez
"Stunningly crafted and taut with tension, Deliver Me deftly exposes the dark underbelly of suburban Stockholm, where the reverberations of familial trauma and gang violence ensnare communities and hold for ransom the fate and friendship of two young boys. With this page-turning crime procedural, Giolito compels us to consider what justice means when morality is compromised by intolerance and prejudice." - Tania Malik
"Deliver Me succeeds with something very few crime novels do: Already on the first page, we know who the murderer is. And yet, we keep turning the pages, faster and faster until we reach the harrowing end. Sometimes fiction is needed to understand the reality we live in. Deliver Me is a masterful crime novel that hits like a well-aimed punch to the gut." - Christoffer Carlsson
"Like the Baltimore of The Wire, the Stockholm of Malin Persson Giolito's Deliver Me is revealed to be more than just a hostile concrete backdrop for the age-old crusade of 'good' against 'evil': instead, it's a vast and complex network of familial care and interdependence, of best intentions stymied by judicial bureaucracy, of fear-based panopticons and manufactured scarcity, of the various limitations and empowerments conferred by race, class, and gender. Most importantly, Deliver Me is the story of kids who never got to be kids, to whom love and support is rarely extended on the societal level. Combining the legal savvy of a Grisham thriller with the big-hearted social realism of a Dickens novel, this book is a passionate call for change that ought to be heeded." - Rafael Frumkin
"A brutal and beautiful read, enthralling from start to finish, Deliver Me paints an enduring portrait of two boys caught in an intractable landslide of violence. Malin Persson Giolito writes with unflinching precision and also great compassion for her characters'humanity. A stunning crime novel that grapples with impossible questions about justice and responsibility, and reaches an unforgettable crescendo. You'll read with your heart in your throat." - Katie Gutierrez
"Stunningly crafted and taut with tension, Deliver Me deftly exposes the dark underbelly of suburban Stockholm, where the reverberations of familial trauma and gang violence ensnare communities and hold for ransom the fate and friendship of two young boys. With this page-turning crime procedural, Giolito compels us to consider what justice means when morality is compromised by intolerance and prejudice." - Tania Malik
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