The Father

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1990s: A fictionalised but true story of a family gang who terrorised Stockholm in the early 90s

ISBN: 978-0751557817
Translator: Elizabeth Clark Wessel
Genre: Crime, Inspired by true events

What you need to know before your trail

The Father is inspired by the extraordinary true story of three brothers who held Sweden to ransom, committing ten audacious bank robberies over just two years.

None had committed a crime before. All were under 22 years old. All of them would be changed forever.

In this intoxicating, heartbreaking thriller, the fourth brother, who was not involved in the real robberies, tells of three boys who grew from innocent children to become public enemy number one – and of the man who made them that way.

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Sweden

Stockholm

Anton Svensson is a pseudonym for Stefan Thunberg and Anders Roslund , the brother who wasn’t involved with the crimes his family perpetrated but who has written this book.

It’s the story of a notorious Swedish family but one which delves back into the past in order to see what led the brothers to do what they did. Stefan Thunberg’s clearest childhood memory for example is watching his father and older brother at the kitchen table making Molotov cocktails to throw into a house where his mother was hiding.

Stefan is one of four brothers. Three of them grew up to become bank robbers. They were known as The Military Gang in Sweden, who were responsible for 10 audacious heists in the early 1990s.
The Military Gang evaded the police for two years – until December 1993 when they were captured. His brothers are now trying to go straight in the construction industry whilst father Boris has never dealt with his demons and is an alcoholic

Booktrailer Review

Susan: @thebooktrailer

An interesting book this one. A controversial one when it came out in Sweden as it’s written by the fourth brother of a family who were caught and jailed for a series of bank robberies in and around Stockholm. It has been fictionalized here, but is largely true as are most of the locations.
I heard of this story when living in Stockholm but never managed to read the book. When I was given it, in English, I thought it was about time to see inside this infamous case.
Not surprisingly, it’s a violent read and the abuse suffered by the boys at the hand of their father, not to mention the violence dished out to their mother is hard to stomach but I was compelled to read it as I wanted an insight into a storyI thought I knew

It’s not just the story behind the most violent of bank robberies in Stockholm but rather a tragic tale of abuse and domestic violence. Easy reading, it’s not, but it’s a fascinating insight too in to how things can happen, how the police worked to catch the robbers and the effects on one young boy who despite never feeling part of his own family, still felt the worry of having his father favouring the others. It’s the relationship between the boys and their father which is perhaps the most shocking part of the story.