Anxious People, a novel by Fredrik Backman, is an insightful look at a diverse group of people who become hostages during an apartment open house. The contemporary story takes place in a small unnamed town in Sweden, a country that is almost cashless.

Several people gather at the open house. It’s a diverse group of people including a retired couple, a wealthy bank manager, a gay couple expecting their first child, an older woman grieving over the death of her husband, a mysterious man who has locked himself in the bathroom, and the real estate agent. They all have grievances, secrets, hurts, and regrets, conditions that threaten to surface.

Suddenly a desperate armed bank robber bursts into the apartment and takes the group hostage. Actually, the bank robber has failed the crime—the bank was a cashless institution. What the robber encounters is a puzzling group of hostages who are too wrapped up in their own lives to worry about their dire situation.

Called to the scene of the crime are two policemen who happen to be father and son. They, too, have their story. It’s not an uncommon story between father and son, but their situation becomes even more complicated working such a bizarre case together.

As the story unfolds, we realize that all of them–the hostages, the would-be bank robber, even the policemen, have buried personal secrets and truths that, once recognized, surprise even themselves.

This story is not only about anxious people, as the title implies, it’s about compassion and forgiveness of others and of oneself. Fredrik Backman, a Swedish author, also wrote A Man Called Ove, which I previously read and reviewed. His views of people in general are unique. People are often not what they seem on the surface; a good reason not to judge hastily. I enjoyed Anxious People. It gave me a different perspective of diverse people in what could be drastic, desperate situations. Humor surfaces in this story, along with kindness and mercy.