Never Fuck Up

“Svens” (native Swedes) collide with immigrant groups, from Middle Easterners to ruthlessly organized gangs of “Yugos” and “Turks,” in the gritty second novel in Lapidus’s Stockholm Noir trilogy (after 2011’s Easy Money). Mahmud al-Askori is a pawn in these tribal structures—seduced by promises of easy money, sex, and drugs while trying to shield his family from the collateral damage of his pursuits. Meanwhile, Niklas Brogren, fresh from military service in Iraq, channels his aggression into a garbled feminism devoted to revenge for abused women. And a corpse found in Niklas’s building attracts the attention of xenophobic cop Thomas Andrén, who’s unsettled by an inaccurate autopsy report. Thomas unearths corruption far deeper than the everyday petty dishonesty of Stockholm’s law enforcement; Niklas’s crusade takes an increasingly violent turn; and Mahmud thrashes helplessly against increasing gang pressures. Despite the book’s sprawling length, its morally ambiguous characters and rough street argot will compel reader attention to the last page. (June)