Talking Location With … Rob Starr: SOUTH AFRICA
Scandinoir set in a fictional area of STOCKHOLM
12th September 2024
Deliver Me by Malin Persson Giolito, scandinoir set in a fictional area of Stockholm.
TR: Rachel Wilson-Broyles
Deliver Me, by Malin Persson Giolito, is a story of loyalty and betrayal. It features two boys growing up in neighbouring (fictional) suburbs of Stockholm, who become friends. Douglas Arnefeldt (known as Dogge) is from an affluent family living in a wealthy area called Rönnviken. His parents’ relationship is broken and they are too busy to bother much with him. Across the highway (or rather down through a poorly lit and frightening pedestrian subway) lies a relatively deprived neighbourhood of Våringe. This is where Billy Ali lives. He has little in common with Dogge. His is a loving, immigrant family, but his father is often absent and the family struggles to make ends meet. The boys meet in the playground when they are six and Dogge admires Billy for his charm and daring. They are soon firm friends. Both boys are easily tempted into trouble, and they are soon prey for the local gang leader, who recruits them while they are still very young.
The story is told from two perspectives. It follows the boys’ story as they begin to commit more and more serious crimes. It also describes the efforts of the police, in the person of police Detective Farid Ayad, to address the rising crime rate and solve a murder. Gradually the book presents the dilemma of who is to blame when children turn to crime and whether the children aren’t actually victims of the circumstances they have grown up in.
The key to the success of this book is the incredible skill with which the author manages to portray Dogge and Billy as sympathetic characters, while still condemning their actions. Detective Farid’s empathy is important: he also grew up in Billy’s deprived neighbourhood and knows both the problems and the temptations that the families there are faced with. Farid himself is worn down by the challenges of his job, and he fears that his own family is in danger of suffering the same sort of parental neglect that has wrecked the lives of Dogge and Billy. He wants to crack down on crime, to keep the neighbourhoods safe, but not at the cost of his family’s wellbeing.
The book is crime fiction, but the author lets us believe that we know the circumstances surrounding the victim and the perpetrator from quite early on. Nevertheless it is a page-turner with many revelations still to come and it’s well worth reading on to the pay-off at the end. I loved this book and heartily recommend it for its insight and characterisation, as well as the superb tale it tells.
Sue for the TripFiction Team
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