Fra blokken On Parole

Danny, Malik and Christian grew up on the same block on the outskirts of Copenhagen. Once the best of friends, they’re now nothing alike. While Danny went down the path of the criminal, Christian and Malik chose another track somewhere along the way. Now, Christian is a policeman and house-owner with a wife and children; Malik is studying to become a dentist while helping out at his father’s restaurant.

Danny is serving his sixth year in prison for a violent offense when he’s unexpectedly released on parole. The first thing he wants to do is find his old friends. But no one has seen Malik in weeks, and though Christian is part of the police, his search is bound by the limits of the law. But laws have never been an obstacle to Danny. He sets out to find his lost childhood friend.

Reviews

“The author’s mixture of hard-boiled social realism and crime noir does not disappoint. Bengtsson keeps the quality high till the last sentence. Jonas T. Bengtsson knows hard-boiled stylistics and employs them with a sure hand.”

Berlingske, Denmark
“[A] hard-hitting and powerful novel, delivered with exquisite linguistic richness. Bengtsson is back. And with a bang.”

Litteratursiden, Denmark
“A captivating and raw Northwest tragedy.”

Børsen, Denmark
“This new hard-hitting novel brings Tarantino to mind. /…/ As with Tarantino, you get plenty of bang for your buck and a driven plot. No boring passages or affected self-importance. Bengtsson’s ambition is sympathetically enough something as old-fashioned as entertaining without moralizing.”

Jyllands-Posten, Denmark
“Jonas T. Bengtsson’s new book On Parole is a detective novel in the ultra-noir genre. One is perfectly entertained.”

Information, Denmark
“On Parole is […] written in a fragmentary style where you get to follow each of the three friends in snapshots that offer violence as well as great environmental depictions, and yet others glimpses of rare tenderness. The comparison with Jakob Ejersbo is a given one, and if you are on the hunt for both suspense and social realism, On Parole is the obvious choice to dive into.”

Søndag, Denmark