Summary

The novel is narrated by a third-person omniscient narrator. The novel begins with a glimpse at a later event. A teenager puts a shotgun to someone's forehead and pulls the trigger.

In Chapter 2, we are told it is the day before the junior semifinal hockey match, and Beartown is abuzz with excitement. The narration notes a banging noise in the distance. Beartown is a small town in Sweden, surrounded by forest. It is on a downward economic trajectory, and hockey is the only thing that keeps the citizens' hopes alive. 15-year-old Maya plays guitar in her room. In another house, Amat, also 15, looks around his room at the NHL posters and a prayer that his mother has hung on the wall. Amat is small for a hockey player, but very fast.

In Chapter 3, the young hockey star Kevin Erdahl, 17, practices his shots in...