Two years have passed since we last visited the town of Beartown. The residents have done their best to move past the events that rattled the town to it’s core. Despite their best efforts some of them cannot move on. Some of them are still struggling. Some must face a new tragedy. Some want revenge. Tragedy strikes and brings Benji and Maya back home. There are some great moments among the old schoolmates and teammates, friendships are rekindled and dreams are shared. Meanwhile the residents of Beartown are faced with challenges that will force them to do what it takes to protect their town, their families and themselves.


I could not wait for this book. I have loved the Beartown series and have been anticipating this for months. This was such a great story. There was just so much to absorb in this story. Many feelings of pain, anger and bittersweet happiness.. Backman’s books are like quilts—each character and sub plot is a piece of a beautiful story that when put together create a unique unforgettable novel. This series ended perfectly, I might of teared up a bit but I will never forget the emotional journey that Backman has led me on.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

#NetGalley #TheWinners #FredrikBackman

With how much I adore Beartown and even Us Against You, it absolutely pains me, PAINS ME, to say that I did not love The Winners.

Don't get me wrong, I will always love Beartown and it's characters, but something felt off to me with The Winners. It felt like Backman had so much he wanted to get across that he kept repeating the same phrases just differently, over and over and over again.

It was too long.

I never thought I'd say that about a Beartown book. WHICH IS MY FAVORITE BOOK OF ALL TIME.

Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.

This story grippped me and wouldn’t let go. I became so lost in it and that is my definition of a great book.
Many thanks to Atria and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy in return for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this third book in the Beartown series, although you don't have to read the first two books for this one to make sense. Lots of great insights about the best and worst of humanity woven through an engaging story. Giving it four stars because I thought it was longer than it needed to be.

It's been a couple of years since the assault that tore Beartown and Hed apart. Some people are trying to move on, while others fight to hang on to what life was before everything fell apart. A tempest blows and brings with it some change. A local is killed as a result of the storm and a stranger and a hero roll into town with the promise of making a winner from one of the most skilled local hockey players.

But not everyone is looking to move on. At least one person is hanging on to some of the most devastating events of the past, letting hatred and anger fester and grow. Life doesn't stop in the event of a tragedy, and sometimes that's a tragedy in itself because people need the time to recover.

Once again Fredrik Backman shows us that he understands people ... he understands what it means to be human and he can show us so many different sides, the dark and the light, the frustrations and the dreams, of humanity. Not since Shakespeare has one writer consistently captured the essence of humanity. And for this, I will continue to read Backman's books.

But unlike Shakespeare's tragedies, where the bad things that happen don't seem as real or as direct, the tragedies in Backman's stories are immediate and they happen to the innocent and the caring. They happen to the good people more so than those we might think of as 'deserving' of punishment or ill-will. And this makes Backman hard to read sometimes.

What caught me with this book was the heavy-handed way Backman lays out this story. His very narrative style here is set up to lay it on thick, cover it with sweet syrup, tease us with it, and then pull it all away. "It" being the tug of heartstrings, the playing with emotions, making us react with our hearts rather than our minds. And I didn't appreciate that.

Yet while I didn't like the method by which the story was told, I still really liked spending time with these characters. I know them all. You know them all. These are people who live in every small community. The names may be different than the people in our towns, but their behavior and their motives remains the same. For the most part, I think I liked these characters as they appear here more than I did in the previous two books. The new-comers to town bring some much-needed positivity.

Backman's books are pure gold. In general, you can't go wrong with a Backman book. But some will weigh heavier on you than others. This one weighs a lot.

Looking for a good book? The Winners, by Fredrik Backman, brings about some closure to the Beartown trilogy but not all stories have a happy ending.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through both Edelweiss and Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The Beartown series is one of my favorites. I never reread books, but I can see myself rereading this series in the future, perhaps to get me out of a reading slump. The author is a master at his craft, and I can truly say that I have never read more beautiful words on a page than those of Fredrik Backman's.

At first I was intimidated by the length of this book, but it is so engrossing that the pages just fly by and I found myself not wanting it to end, savoring every last word. I knew that The Winners was the last book in the series. and I didn't want to say goodbye.

The author will preface very early on in the book the demise of one of the main characters. I am certainly glad he did this. I do not think I would have been able to handle such a loss so suddenly and without warning. The character development is so well done that I felt like I really knew the characters in real life. I felt their emotions, their trials and triumphs.

Both Maya and Benji have left Beartown in this last book. Maya has headed off to college and Benji is just looking for an escape--a fresh start, but their absence is short-lived and they are pulled back to Beartown after the death of a loved one. In this last installment, the author reunites you with past characters and introduces new ones, all of which are perfectly imperfect.

Towards the end, I felt like Maya was on the road to healing after the events that transpired in the first book, which made me so happy for her. If anyone every asks me for a book recommendation, I will always recommend the Beartown series. It's a story filled with characters that will stick with you for a while.

Special thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

As a big fan of the Beartown series, I was extremely excited about this book, the first two being some of my all-time favorites. While I enjoyed The Winners overall, it was easily my least favorite of the series. For one, it was entirely too long, many of the subplots could have been cut without losing much substance and some scenes went on for longer than they should have. The characters, both old and new, were great as usual and it was nice just getting to spend time with them, like in the sections with Maya and Benji, and Anna at the lake. I think there could have been more conflict, at times it felt like he was dragging his feet, teasing us with violence before pulling back, but overall I enjoyed it and the ending did make me cry.

I loved being back in Beartown, remembering the characters we loved and then lost since the last book, and the sense of dread and inevitable hurt that would end everything. I was sad for the characters, but almost relieved when the final events came to a close. The book feels claustrophobic at times, as you know early on who isn’t going to make it, but how it happens is only revealed bit by bit as you understand every character’s contribution. I felt there was a lot of repetition of old stories; remembering events to help explain character motivation, and it felt that even Fredrick Backman didn’t want the final conclusion to arrive.

I was privileged to hear Backman speak on this book tour, and it was amazing. He talked about so many aspects of his personal life and his writing life. I suppose you can't have one without the other. The Winners took me along with a town I have come to love and wrecked me. I think I cried for the last 30 pages, at least. Besides being wrecked, I loved the wrap up of the characters and the view of their lives in the future. The writing was beautiful, as always, and I appreciate Backman's vulnerability as he went on tour. I will make a point to attend all of his future events.

I really loved this series and felt like this was a fitting addition. The writing and the characters are always good and the story always moving.

What a heart wrenching and sensitive ending to the Beartown series. I loved Bachman's other books portraying the simmering and harsh rivalry between the two small hockey towns of Beartown and Hed.. You didn't have to necessarily read the previous books but, if you had,. the richenss and understanding of the plot would be more meaningful.
The writing, as always, is superb and flows so beautifully. The characters are depicted so well and are illuminated by circumstances and personalities that are so well recounted. When I finished the story, I felt a certain bond with the characters which made its rendering flawless. A genuine and passionate read!

Absolutely devastating and incredible. This may be my favorite book of Backman’s yet. I loved reading the continuation of many of Beartown’s character’s stories. My one criticism is that the original title should have been kept.

This whole series left me devastated. When I heard that another Beartown book was coming out, I thought, what more could there be to this story? It felt complete after book 1, then book 2, etc. I was also shocked at how much longer it is compared to its predecessors.

The Winners is a long book, and I really didn't want it to end. I felt invested in the characters' lives moreso than (possibly) any other book I've read. There was even more development for both the characters as individuals, and for Beartown as a community. I read some reactions that weren't fond of the political angle, but overall, I felt like it fit in well and helped to progress the plot.

I'm very fond of Backman's writing style. Whenever I remember that it's a translation, I'm taken aback by how cohesive and well written it is. There are a lot of beautiful passages and excellent one liners about life, learning, parenting, etc. One of my favs is from book 1 (and was referenced in book 3): "The only time I'm not moving forward is when I'm taking aim."

Thank you to Atria Books & NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this digital arc

It took me a bit to be grabbed by this third book in the amazing Bear Town series, perhaps because it had been quite a while since I read the first two books. But I was quickly sucked in and happy to catch up with the original characters’ lives and what had been going on since last we saw them in the second novel, Us Against You.

Like many readers, I imagine, I have a new appreciation for the camaraderie and passion of hockey players and hockey enthusiasts. But, for me, the story truest to my heart is one of relationships and growth among a small community in the woods, far from the urban world where most people live.

I agree with some reviewers that there were parts that were just a little bit tedious, but, as I pushed onward, I understood why these new players in the story, mixed in with the more familiar ones, were important. And, I was increasingly invested in all the characters, including a few new ones.
I highly recommend reading the first two books first, but even if you haven’t, you’ll be moved by this one. Besides the way Backman chooses certain phrases and themes to convey a story that resonates in its universally understood humanity, with all its strengths, passions and weaknesses, there is the sheer beauty and ferocity of the northern forest that simply draws the reader in.

Be prepared for both heartbreak and sadness, as well as the joy of new and renewed love and connection. This book is amazing. Many thanks to NetGalley for approving my request to read the eARC of The Winners, as well as Atria books and the author. I fully intended to post my review right away after I finished it on September 21, 2022, in time for the pub date of Sept 27 but, alas, best-laid plans and all that. Don’t miss this beautiful and surprising book!

The words "I don't know if there really needs to be another book about this godforsaken town" actually came out of my mouth when I told a friend that I was reading this book. In the end, this was another heartbreaking, lovely, deep, and raw story about a town that could be any of ours. This series has truly been one of my favorites I've ever read and I will continue to recommend it as often as I can!

Beartown and Hed hockey returns in this third book of a series. It feels like this will be the final one. I, for one, do not shy away from long books if they are good. And it is long, weighing in at over 600 pages. The writing is very good as well as the plot. Yes, the author got carried away with flowery sentimental writing the last 25 or 30 pages, but he is to be forgiven as he writes from the heart 95% of the book. Thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

The wrap up of this series was every hit as perfect as the series itself. It’s never an easy read and always worth it with Backman. Reading Backmans conclusion of the tour thoughts on this book just made me 🥹 I am so grateful for this series and Backman as a human it’s hard to articulate how I felt reading the last of it.

Every review will probably mention the length but seriously doesn’t phase you whatsoever when reading it, this book was a continuation of my life mantra which is “I would read Backmans shopping list”. The characters the plot everything. I just can’t even say more.

Short review of The Winners: How dare you, Fredrik Backman. How dare you kill [redacted] and make me cry. I don’t care that you tell the reader on the first page that it’s going to happen. I may never forgive you.

Regular review of The Winners: Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for sending me an ARC of The Winners in exchange for an honest review.

The Winners picks up about two years after the events of Us Against You. A terrible storm begins a sequence of events that threatens the fragile peace between the towns of Beartown and Hed. Maya and Benji have both moved away from Beartown—her to go to school, him just to get far away. They’re both coming back for a funeral, but over the next ten days, tensions will rise between the two towns until it boils over in more deaths.

As with the earlier books in the series, The Winners is told through a wide cast of characters. Some are new: Johnny, Hannah, and their children Tess, Ted, and Tobias; the editor-in-chief and her father; Lev; “Big City” Aleksandr; and Matteo. But most have returned from the earlier books: Peter, Kira, and Maya Andersson; Ana and her father; Amat, Bobo, and Mumble; Teemu and Tails; Sune and Zackell; Richard Theo; Alicia and, of course, Benji. It’s a great mix of old and new, allowing the story to go in new directions while providing immediate stakes for characters the reader already knows and loves.

As with Us Against You, The Winners is very well written, full of little truisms that set up or enrich the scenes, or foreshadow things to come. There are such keen observations about human behavior and motivations. I was again struck by how little dialogue is contain in these pages. Much more of the story than is typical is told from a given character’s perspective, from their perception of exchanges, without actually hearing the back-and-forth exchanges. It gives the whole novel the feel of a long parable, of being profound, in a very effective way. And as with the earlier books, The Winners is about weighty issues. Parenting and marriage, love and loss. Redemption and forgiveness. The pressure to succeed and the dark side of the will to win. Journalism and ethics. Financial cheating by sports clubs and populism.

Beartown is one of the best books I’ve ever read, a great story about many different people and ideas that is also a searing and unforgettable one on the topic of sexual violence. Us Against You is a great book in its own right, but it had a different focus. The Winners is a blend of the two. For long stretches it focuses on many other things, but there’s an ever-present sense of dread of what’s to come. Because at its core is the story of another rape very much like the one in Beartown, of a girl who lacked a support structure and was broken by it, and whose story moved another to enact a terrible vengeance. A must read ending to a must read trilogy. Highly recommended.

A fantastic conclusión to a fantastic series! While his writing is often too wordy and sentimental, I still can’t help loving this town and these characters. I’ll miss this series!

Beartown and Hed have had a rivalry for as long as anyone could remember; the competition is manic. There have been players good enough to advance to the NHL, but even a losing season is overlooked as long as the losers beat the neighboring town’s hockey team.

Remoteness in a seemingly endless forest captures the young people in a never-ending rivalry as well. The town fathers are hyper in their protection of the team and the efforts to recruit the best players from each town.

The seclusion fosters paranoia in the towns as well. Closely guarded practices and team meetings engender the best in spy craft. Knowing the other teams’ strengths and game plans insures that the other team will be on top at the end of the season.

The schism that exists creates permeates the fabric of the community and the end result is competition that can at times turn deadly.

I found the narrative disturbing in so many ways and felt a deep sadness for the inhabitants of both of the cities. It was so difficult to read the hate engendered between the young people of the two towns, I failed to complete the entire novel. Crushing theme of isolation failure, humanity. 3 stars – CE Williams