The fourth Backman in the top four. My top read of the year. That's a very high medal to grasp, and yet Beartown does it easily. How? Why? I honestly can't say. This was an ensemble cast story about a small town in the woods of Sweden (or maybe Denmark; I don't believe the book specifies, but Backman is Swedish). The only thing going for them is their hockey team. No one can take that from them...even when the hockey team's star player does something unforgivable. A young girl decides to have courage and call him out for it, even though she knows justice will never be forthcoming. We see so many people involved in this mess, so many people forced to make decisions. Backman delves into the dark parts of our souls in everyday life--our willingness to let injustice occur so that we might be comfortable. Our willingness to let things slide so we can keep winning. Our willingness to throw our weakest--our women, our children, our minorities--to the wolves. No one in this book is guiltless. Only a couple are entirely bad. Backman forces us to look at this town and to realize: There am I. Trigger warnings for SA and violence. What a book. What a gentle, carefully handled, tearful book.