The Sons: Made in Sweden, Part II

Anton Svensson’s crime thriller The Sons is a sequel to his 2016 book The Father. In the second novel, based on real-life events, one of the brothers, Leo Duvnjac, is in prison. Leo Duvnjac was a witness to his mother’s brutal beating at the hands of his father. This event changed his life forever, prompting him to live his life as a hardened criminal. While in prison, Leo, along with his cellmates, plans one last heist before he disappears from Sweden. His plan is extremely bold, designed to exact revenge on John Broncks, the detective who put Leo away. One of Leo’s accomplices is Sam Broncks, John’s younger brother. Like Ivan Duvnjac, Leo’s father, Sam’s father was also violent and abusive and often beat his sons and his wife. But whereas Sam chose the life of crime, older brother John became a police detective so he could put the bad guys behind bars.

This is much more than your typical crime thriller. Family ties and loyalty are some of the central themes of the book. The novel also explores the immense psychological trauma of domestic violence and child abuse. Because of that, the central characters are extremely well developed, which perhaps is the strongest suit of the book.