STORY OF DARING HEIST SETS THE PULSE RACING AND PALMS SWEATING
THE HELICOPTER HEIST Jonas Bonnier Zaffre Publishing Review: Karen Watkins
A ROBBERY at a security cash service depot in Västberga, Sweden, across the river in southern Stockholm, is nothing out of the ordinary.
Except that the getaway vehicle used by the robbers is a stolen Bell 206 Jet Ranger helicopter.
The first half of this edge-of-your-seat thriller details the background as
Bonnier introduces the main characters. One of them is Sami Farlam, who married his childhood sweetheart and has a history of petty crime. His wife gives birth to their second child and he is training to become a chef and is ready to lead a quiet life. But when a past business deal goes awry he needs to pay back those who have lent him money.
This adds a certain pathos and sympathy to his character and at one point there is a humorous scene when he jumps from a car to chase through the busy Västberga streets in pursuit of the antagonist who duped him.
Michel Maloof and his family fled a bloody civil war in Lebanon. He grew up in the suburbs of Stockholm, surrounded by poverty and criminals. He’s trying to turn over a new leaf, but the past just won’t let him go.
Niklas Nordgren is the quiet one who has travelled the world and made an effort to become a person people talked about. He did not quite make it.
Zoran Petrovic is a Yugoslavian businessman, a wheeler dealer who sometimes comes unstuck. He has contacts.
The story has a love angle as one of the men gets more than he bargained for when he gets involved with Alexandra to suck information from her about where she works at the security company.
The police receive a tip-off about the crime but have no idea when it is going to take place or where. Criminal investigator Caroline Thurn suffers insomnia and is a workaholic who will not rest until she knows what is happening.
In the second half of the story the suspense is killing as the pace builds to lightning speed as the palms sweat and the clock ticks while the crime goes down. Each chapter is short, sharp, addictive and leaves us on a cliff edge as Bonnier takes us on twists and turns from the crime to the police and special task team interaction.
After being dropped by helicopter onto the roof of a cash depot they break into the building through a roof window, set up ladders and set off explosives before sorting the high denomination notes, before hoisting themselves and their bounty back up. No one gets harmed in the process.
We are not privy to how the 10 people were involved in the actual crime but this adds to the mystery.
The ending is epic and will blow your mind and stay with you for days. What the heck? You might even go back to the beginning and want to read it again to see what you missed. Maybe, and hopefully that will become a sequel for the next in a series of books from this talented author.
What makes this story special is that it is based on an actual event. It became one of the largest police investigations in Swedish history. In July 2010 Stockholm prosecutors charged 10 men with the theft of 39 million Swedish kronor (R80m).
Bonnier conducted lengthy interviews with the four guys put behind bars after they pulled off the daring, glamorous robbery but he also uses creative licence in putting it all together in a thriller.