The Helicopter Heist

March 4, 2019
Swedish author Bonnier makes his U.S. debut with this uneven thriller based on the audacious 2009 robbery of a Stockholm cash service depot in which criminals used a helicopter as transport. Over the course of nine months, four men meticulously plan out the robbery of a cash depot located near a police station in southern Stockholm that, if successful, could be the biggest robbery in Swedish history. The scheme is filled with obstacles from the start—such as how to obtain a helicopter and enter the building from the seemingly impenetrable roof, and how to ground any law enforcement aircraft nearby—and becomes even more complicated when police begin following the group’s leader just days before the heist. Though the novel’s breakneck-paced last part is virtually impossible to put down, the beginning suffers from a serpentine narrative that lacks focus and intensity. The fatal flaw, however, is a cast of forgettable characters coupled with a predetermined outcome. The bombshell plot twist at the end can’t save this unsatisfying novel. Agent: Niclas Salomonsson, Salomonsson Agency (Sweden).

March 15, 2019
A densely populated and spirited novel based on an actual heist. And helicopters.The polyglot nature of present-day Sweden is ably represented in this imaginative re-creation of the 2009 robbery of a currency counting house. The caper is the handiwork of Zoran Petrovic, a Montenegrin living in Sweden; Michel Maloof, of Lebanese descent; Sami Farhan, who grew up in Sweden with Middle Eastern parents; and to a lesser extent Niklas Nordgren, whose parents emigrated from Poland, all of whom are to some extent inhabitants of Sweden's criminal underworld. They are pointed by a shadowy "old man" toward Alexandra Svensson, an employee of G4S, a currency and security management company that is the daily repository of literally hundreds of millions of kronor. While Maloof romances Svensson and receives vital inside information, he, Farhan, and Petrovic slowly evolve a plan to land a team of thieves on the roof of the G4S building and rob the counting room. Along the way they enlist the services of a large number of people, including Nordgren, their explosives expert, and the American helicopter pilot Jack Kluger. There are setbacks and small triumphs, and when the whole plot comes to the attention of Caroline Thurn, a task force leader in Sweden's Police Authority, the race is on: Can Thurn unravel the clues and intercept the thieves before the heist takes place? There are a lot of moving parts in the scheme, and when it creaks into action on a September night there's no certainty the machine will function as designed, and the minute-by-minute unfolding of the plot elements is deftly and suspensefully presented. It takes a while to get to know the characters, and the many minor actors can be hard to manage, but everyone, good guys or not so good, achieves a decent humanity and earns a measure of affection by the end. How closely the novel resembles historical reality is happily never revealed.Despite a slow buildup, a satisfying read.

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