<i>'Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead and pulled the trigger.'</i>

That (and the cover) was all I read before I clicked 'request' on NetGalley. I didn't read anything else about the book at all, which is very unusual for me; I'm generally quite circumspect in my reading decisions. But this had me hooked. I'm not sure why. There are so many enthralling one liners for books that don't turn out to be that good that I always make sure I read more than the 'tag-line.'

Actually, in this case, I'm glad I didn't. Because I would have discovered that it centres around ice hockey. A sport. Sporting books are really not my thing: I don't play sports and watching them on TV or supporting a team is my ideal of hell. Luckily, no one else in my household watches sport, but if they did I'd retreat upstairs with a book instead. So, I wouldn't have requested it, and I would never have read this book.

I'm so glad I didn't read further.

Okay, it's 'about' ice hockey. But it's not, not really. It <i>centres</i> around ice hockey, but that's not what the book's about. Of course it's not. So, what is it about? How can you answer that? There's never one single thing a book is about (unless it's completely one-dimensional). This book covers an entire kaleidoscope of issues: from determination and perseverance, bullying and racism, powerful white men and powerful white women, friendship and rivalries, disappointment, hard upbringings, good upbringings, good choices, bad choices. Not really about sport.

Did I mention I'm glad I didn't read any more of the blurb?

Originally, published under the name of 'Bear Town,' this Swedish writer takes us on a whirlwind ride. (And a shout out to the translator whose name I can't find anywhere. I've mentioned it before, and I'll keep mentioning it, but translators deserve more credit. I can't even find their name! I think that's not on.) Bear Town is rural, down-trodden, forgotten. It's a small town in a big forest: no one's interested in it. Financially, it's a terrible place to live, but people still do - from the richest in their big detached houses, to the poorer (mostly immigrant) population in flats. But Bear Town wants to make it big, free itself from isolation. And there may be a chance.

Through the teenage hockey team.

What a heavy weight to fall on the shoulders of these teenagers, each struggling in their own ways with all the problems that puberty brings, and more besides. The strain also falls onto the coaches and the managers, mixing with their problems and allegiances. But this year the team are amazing. There's small, fast Amat; Benji who has no fear of pain; Bobo, big and overpowering; Filip, new and unsure; Lars; William. And Kevin. Kevin: the superstar, their sure ticket to making Bear Town a 'real' place again, a mark on the map.

There are other characters too, the women. Because hockey is a 'men's' sport, the women are left to organise, to cheer them on, to clean the rink, to make the coffee, to drive the cars. But these aren't any women. They're from Bear Town. And if there's one thing that can be said about people from Bear Town, it's this: they're strong.

There are some stunningly portrayed relationships throughout this book: Kevin and Benji. Maya and and Ana. Sune and Peter. Benji and his sisters, particularly Gabby. Amat and his mother. Maggan and Filip's mum. Fatima and Kira. Benji and a nameless musician.

Nothing could go wrong for this team, they have everything going for them. Except that something does happen. Something that turns the town upside down. And the old saying 'don't mix hockey with politics' just doesn't hold true anymore.

I highlighted lots of lines from this book on my e-reader, which I don't usually do. There were a LOT of good one-liners. Great ones, in fact. But it made me wonder: can an author rely on those pithy statements? Do we need so many sentences to make us really think; is there a limit to the amount of soul-searching you can pack in one book? I think the answer is yes; some of the lines could have been left out, just to balance the book slightly; it feels overwritten. Still, here are a few:

<i> What happens to a town that doesn't grow? It dies.

People are good at feeling shame in this town. They start training early.

How big is the world when you're twelve years old? Both infinite and infinitesimal.

[His] mum always said that every child is like a heart transplant. [He] understands that now.

Sometimes life doesn't let you choose your battles.

The love a parent feels for a child is strange. There is a starting point to our love for everyone else, but not this person. This one we have always loved, we loved them even before they existed.

'Do you want to hear my best advice about being a parent?' 'Yes.' '"I was wrong." Good words to know.'

There are few words that are harder to describe than loyalty. It's always regarded as a positive characteristic... many of the best things people do for each other occur out of loyalty. The only problem is that many of the very worst things we do to each other occur because of the same thing.

Every day can mark a whole lifetime or a single heartbeat, depending on who you spend it with.

All their lives, girls are told that the only thing they need to do is their best. That that will be enough, as long as they give everything they've got... Children need the lie to be brave enough to sleep in their beds; parents need it to be able to get up the next morning.

...he was immortal in the eyes of the other boy.

David hates himself for not being better than his dad. That's the job of sons.

Big secrets make small men of us.

Loneliness is an invisible ailment.

Bitterness can be corrosive; it can rewrite memories as if it were scrubbing a crime scene clean, until in the end you only remember what suits you of its causes.

Hockey is just a silly little game. We devote year after year after year to it without ever really hoping to get anything in return. We burn and bleed and cry, fully aware that the most the sport can give us, in the best scenario, is uncomprehendingly meagre and worthless: just a few isolated moments of transcendence. That's all. But what the hell else is life made of? </i>

There's a taster. There's a lot more of that. So, yes, it is melodramatic - in the extremes at times. But it is also a complete page turner. As I was reading this on an e-reader, I didn't really get an idea how long it was, but it's actually quite a hefty book at over 400 pages. Don't let that put you off. These characters and moments will stick with me. I enjoyed it immensely. And this is classed as YA, but can definitely be enjoyed by adults. Probably half the characters are adults!

Thank you Fredrik Backman. You gave me one hell of a ride.

Hey, and don't judge a book because you don't like sport. A decent book is never about one thing.

So badly redacted that I was unable to read - such hard work had to abandon.

Unfortunately I'm not able to provide a fair review of this book. I've only managed about 80 pages and have found it very character-heavy without any action to make me feel involved in the storyline.

A tricky story with a great many under stories. Small town life under the microscope and how everyone focuses on the one good thing,to the detriment of everything else.

The Scandal was superb!

The story transports you to a snowy small town surrounded with forest, you can almost feel the cold when reading it. At first I felt that the pace was slow but quickly learnt that Backman was conveying the pace of Beartown and it's inhabitants. The pace also lent itself to building momentum to the 'Scandal' that unravels.

The Scandal touches on loyalty, friendships, marriage alongside harrowing topics such as rape. Backman has peppered those topics throughout the book and provides each of character's perspective. I feel this book offers to the reader to completely get lost within it. I would recommend this to anyone to read as I felt it was brilliantly written and I didn't want it to end.

I enjoyed A Man Called Ove very much some years ago but then read rather too many books in the same vein, including Backman’s two following ones, found myself ‘all grumped out’ with curmudgeonly characters with hearts of gold, and disinclined to pick up his latest offering. Several reviewers mentioned that this new one was completely different, though, so I gave it a try. How pleased I am that I did as it is indeed a new departure for him in both subject matter and tone - much darker - yet still character-driven and utterly engaging. Terrifically well written too.

Trying not to spoil the experience for others, let’s just say it focuses on a small town in Sweden (think interminable cold winters and wild forested landscape) whose inhabitants are obsessed with ice hockey. The town’s junior team has become surprisingly successful, partly as a result of one spectacularly talented player and partly through inspired coaching and unwavering teamwork. The author has so many insights to offer - about sport and business, and their interaction, about the burden of early talent, about the nature of teamwork, its benefits for young people set against the danger of blinkered loyalty to a team-mate - that I found myself pausing every few pages to consider what he was saying to me, then rushing back to get on with the action and find out what happens.

To limit myself to one passage that particularly struck me:

‘While he was growing up everyone kept telling him he was going to turn professional, and he believed them so intensely that when he didn’t make it, he took it to mean that everyone else had let him down, as if somehow it wasn’t his own fault. …… Bitterness can be corrosive, it can rewrite your memories as if it were scrubbing a crime scene clean, until in the end you only remember what suits you of its causes.’

A really satisfying read, with quite a few loose ends to be tidied up in a sequel I understand is coming soon - can’t wait.

Gripping from the first page. the overlapping stories of the residents in this small town are all very interesting and distinguished (you won't be re-reading passagese trying to find out who is who!) Would recommend this book to others.

I'm so disappointed that though I was predisposed to love this book, I just didn't. I suspect something might be lost in the translation as the prose feels awkward and inelegant, but, more than that the narrative is so jumpy and fidgety, leaping from person to person within a few lines. Many of the characters aren't delineated but are functions of the story: the worn-out coach, the golden boy, the working mom.

I liked the ideas behind the book: questions of what it means to be a community and how that can be used in a negative fashion, how rape is still a he said/she said issue, the impact of bad economics and the left-behind, even the power politics of sport vs. the positive way it can give self-belief - but somehow all this good stuff just didn't really come together in the book.

I suspect a lot is to do with the writing style and the flattening of all the characters. Also there have been a number of YA books in recent years which have dealt with the topic of teenage rape by a high-school 'hero' in more depth and so this feels a bit like an also-ran. My first Backman and after the hype and rave reviews from Goodreads friends I'm afraid I'm left underwhelmed.

Enjoyed this one after it started a bit slow for me, but I think that's because I'm not a sports guy. However, the author did a great job getting over the importance of hockey to the small town and then spiraling that into character motivations for the rest of the story. Thumbs up to this book!

Not your usual book by Fredrik Backman although as always it is very thought provoking. It tells the story of a small town which is slowly dying. This town thrives on hockey and when a heinous crime is committed on the night of the junior semi-finals relationships are severely tested. Beautifully written , you can feel the cold of the rink and the town. Well worth a read but not an easy one. Certainly makes you wonder. What would I do in any if these positions?

I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin for an advance copy of The Scandal, a novel about relationships in a small Swedish town.

The novel opens succinctly -

"Late one evening towards the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barrelled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead, and pulled the trigger.

This is the story of how we got there."

I first came across this novel after reading some rave reviews of a novel called Beartown and discovered that it is called The Scandal in the UK. Well, whatever the title this is a great read and the reviews are correct.

The first half of the novel concentrates on setting the scene. Beartown is a fading small town in a Swedish backwater where ice hockey is the main preoccupation and the success of the junior team in reaching the national semifinals brings a pressure not everyone can handle. Perhaps the team's success will encourage the council to build its proposed ice hockey academy in Beartown rather than the larger, neighbouring Hed, bringing much needed investment. It's a lot for 17 year old shoulders to bear but mostly they want to win.

Mr Backman does an excellent job of bringing it all to life, the economically deprived town and its inhabitants, the social divide between the haves and have nots, the pressure the rich sponsors exert on the running of the team, the pushy parents, the fading stars of the last great run at the championship, the politics of it all, the hopes and dreams of the current stars and above all, the personalities. The town and club may be small and in the grand scheme of ice hockey unimportant but the themes are universal.

I love the characterisation, which makes the novel. Nothing is as it initially seems and as it unfolds the first impressions the characters make are confounded by events, secrets and actions. The eponymous scandal, when it finally arrives, is slightly mundane. I'm not making light of something horrible, more that there is a certain inevitability to it and it's something that happens more frequently than anyone of us would like. The backlash is where the drama lies. I can't praise Mr Backman enough for what he does with it. No one comes out of it unscathed and only a few characters emerge with their integrity intact - many of them not the ones you would expect at the beginning of the novel.

I also like the tone of the novel. It's unusual and inviting. Mr Backman manages to adopt the distant tone of a narration and yet some of it is incredibly intimate. Wonderful.

I wasn't too sure initially about the ice hockey background to the novel as I'm not too keen on sport and know less than nothing about ice hockey but I'd like to reassure would be readers who feel the same that while hockey is everywhere in the novel it's a novel about people and situations and is a fantastic read. I never re-read books as there's too many good ones out there to try but I will probably makes an exception for The Scandal and return to it more than once over the next few years.

The Scandal is one of the best books I have read this year and have no hesitation in recommending it as an excellent read.

I absolutely loved this book. It builds slowly, but not so slowly that the reader loses interest, and you get an understanding of the characters before the 'scandal' happens. I would highly recommend this book.

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Having read other Fredrik Backman's book this was not what I was expecting at all. The Scandal tells the story of a hockey town, Beartown, who struggle to differentiate between people and products in the attempt to raise the profile of the town. At the centre of the story are the people, young and old, who have been so beautifully captured by Backman. This story is about faith, trust and courage, but most importantly doing the right thing.

I really enjoyed this book and loved the characters. And even reading it in the tropics I got such a sense of cold from the descriptions it was uncanny. I'll be intrerested to see what else Backman comes up with having heard this is to be a trilogy. I loved the unanswered questions, but like everyone else I'm sure am curious enough to want to know more about these fabulous characters.

Pretty strong story but contains quite a few cliches. That put me off a bit.

I'm not a sports fan really but this book does not require the reader to know about hockey or like hockey. This is a story about the passion of townspeople and that passion happens to be hockey. As with all things related to passion we are guaranteed something will crash and burn and someone will be hurt. But who?

Ending was a bit weak but I guess that is par for the course lately with most fiction.

3.5 stars

I was unable to finish reading this book as the missing letters throughout became far too annoying to continue!.

Gripping read from start to end! Kept me guessing throughout. Highly recommended!

Apologies but there is no mobi file available to download and I can not access the protected .acsm file that is available.

I have been a fan of Fredeik Bachman's writing since I first was introduced to Ove whom I loved at first sight. So was delighted to be given a copy of Scandal to review.

Unfortunately I started out really disliking it as I have no interest in hockey or sport in general and it appeared all that this novel was about, so much so that I was at the point of giving up. However I decided to persevere even though I was not enjoying it then bang everything fell in to place and I couldn't put the book down. I was by that time enthralled by the writing and the story, which was so strong and powerful. The characters were eteched in to the tiniest detail that I could see each in my mind's eye good and bad, strong and weak.

I loved Ove but I feel that Scandal is up there challenging his position in my heart.

PS. I still don't like hockey

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC.

This is a book with a difference. Ok, it’s set in a Swedish town which is obsessed in many ways with the great game of hockey. But even if you don’t like hockey, hate it even, this is still a book which will speak to you on some level.

Beartown is a fictional setting with some degree of truth – the Swedish town of Ornskoldsvik which is located in 600-km north of Stockholm

is known as the holy town of hockey and so the sport does have a unique place in this country and the village communities. That made me smile

What also made me smile were the people of Beartown. Each one of them clearly and cleverly described – there are so many personalties and hidden secrets, inner thoughts and suspicions of all kinds. This is where the novel sings – for Beartown is clearly a microcosm deep in the woods where the world’s problems and goings on are magnified, the cries hidden by the hockey cheers.

It’s different from his other books I think in that it’s darker and sad in many places and it deals with some serious issues and consequences of them. It does have some very positive and uplifting messages throughout though about the human spirit:

“If you are honest, people may deceive you. Be honest anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfishness. Be kind anyway.

All the good you do today will be forgotten by others tomorrow.

Do good anyway.”