Pen 33

Roslund and Hellstrom: Pen 33

Pedophilia is considered a paraphilia, a condition in which a person’s sexual arousal and gratification depend on fantasizing about and engaging in sexual behavior that is atypical and extreme. Pedophilia is defined as the fantasy or act of sexual activity with children who are generally age 13 or younger. Pedophiles are usually men and can be attracted to either or both sexes: https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/pedophilia
The core of the main theme of this novel is how a community and a police force deals with one man who is known to them as a pedophile, has been imprisoned and manages to escape custody even when restrained. Checking out two young girls as they are coming home from dance practice they unfortunately do not heed their parent’s warnings to not talk to strangers. Wanting to sound grownup even though they are only 9 both girls fall prey to this man’s kind ways at first and then learn unfortunately the error. The two girls justify why they think they are allowed to be out and as he stares at them and decides what his next move is you can hear how he berates them in his mind, as one is dark-haired and the other light and he tries to convince them to join him in a gym that was not anywhere near where they came from as he gives on the odd hat he was wearing and they both learn the dangers of talking to someone you don’t know. Penn 33 is where he states is the best and where he found the bike and where he’s been sleeping.
Fredrik Steffansson is the father of a precious little girl named Marie. Wanting her father’s attention and knowing she was cared for it never dawned on him that she would be the target of a pedophile and he the victim of his own circumstances. Going to work he reminded himself of someone else named Frans who he misses and loved. The incident that happened to him and the terror as the first car of a train crashed into this 15-year-old boy’s body haunts him.
Ake Andresson and his partner have transported prisoners for 32 years two and from Swedish prisons and he hated rapists but even more those that raped young children. Ulrik Berntfors worked with him as they transported the man called Lund. So chained and claiming he won’t escape did not work with these two guards but what happens next when one guard opens the back door to bring him to the hospital would set off a chain of events that would cause a serious panic. Lund was smart, cagey and managed to escape only to fin his next prey. While Fredrik Steffansson was preparing for work, he reflects on how he met Agnes his ex-wife and how they now lived apart but shared Marie. Living with Marie and his girlfriend Micaela he never thought in his wildest dreams about what was about to happen next. When Anderson opened the front door of the prison transport van and stepped out his rage had to be kept under control Berntfers had only transported Lund before the second trial for the girls we meet in the prologue in the basement storage room. But, what happens blindsides both of these guards and the end result was Lund won this round.
Lennart Oscarrson runs Aspsas prison as the Principal Prison Officer named head of the Aspsas Department for Sexual Crimes. When you enter this prison and meet the inmates you might wonder who is really in charge. Poker games for sticks or matches yet paid up in cold cash or drugs, threats against anyone who they consider a pervert and need to be taken care of in their own way. Several inmates will be at the forefront as you the reader enter the walls of this horrific place. Imagine how he’s going to feel when he learns that Lund has escaped. But, first meet inmate Stig Tinyboy Lingren who is worse than mean, downright dingy, dangerous and relentless in his pursuit to destroy anyone that dares to create conflict in his wake especially any new prisoner that is considered a pervert. The escape was at Soder Hospital, Bernt Lund. He overpowered both guards and stole the bus. Here is where it gets interesting when you meet Detective Superintendent Ewert Grens and his detective who works the case with him. Things get out of hand and spiral in many different directions because he is relentless and won’t stop or go home until he’ caught Lund. Sven Sundkvist is the detective working with Grens who is about to miss out on his birthday celebration and disappoint his family. Why did Grens work so hard didn’t he have anything else? Tolerating his detective’s sarcasm he describes what happened at Aspsas and the transfer to the hospital. Telling him the facts he points to the visitor’s chair and this poor man remembers something from before. Two girls nine years old were tied up, cut up and worse lying on the basement floor staring up at them. The authors describe the carnage done to each of the bodies as you can feel the inner pain and turmoil in the detective having been there and witnessing what was done to these children. Not caring about what Sven wanted, and realizing it was not going to work, this killer had what they deemed as a mild mental disorder, which is hard to believe considering what he did to the girls.
Lennart Oscarsson stood in front of a microphone at the prison and was on camera being crucified for what happened as he is asks himself how could he escape and his conversation with the reporter lets readers know that this man was did not do enough to protect his guards and should have called for help. Lund escaped during a supervised furlough that morning that he’d been arrested and convicted four years earlier for a serious of brutal rapes of minors calling them since he placed them in a basement, The Basement murders and in this case the nine year old girls. Watching it on the news as Lund was seen smiling on the screen, Tinyboy was aiming to take action if he was ever caught and placed in the sex unit in his prison.
When the new guy came in he was warned and if considered a pervert his end would come before the close of his sentence. Tinyboy did not want pervs or snitches around and he would send them a message making you wonder just how safe prisoners really are when the inmates can meat out their own brand of justice. Grens goes to the prison to meet with Oscarsson and the situation is tense from the start even questioning Sven and why he is there.
Think about a group of sex offenders and how they created their own virtual classroom in the prison. Computers, photos, demand, children exposed and the videos that would make your skin crawl. Checking out his prison cell they realized that each item was placed 2 centimeters apart and as Sven deals with them and each think is dropped to the fall they try to make sense out of a man who killed little children for pleasure and yet had a touch of OCD and organization about how he kept his cell almost like a picture of this man from a different light. Control, power, destruction and inner turmoil seem to be what makes up this man and much more.
As we see Marie and David and 25 other children in school at the Dove but Lund had eyes only for Marie as we go back inside the prison and listen to Tinyboy who wants to buy some Turkish Glass but the conversation goes to playing cards, Hilding Wilding who is fixated with a sore on his nose and a letter Tinyboy gets that changes it all for him page 88 where he is warned about the new guy. When they realize that Marie is gone you can hear Sven interrogate her best friend David and from this point on this drastically change. The pages that follow allow the reader to hear what David saw and what he relates to the interrogator. Fredrik got a call that changed his life and now Hakan Axelson the prosecutor takes center stage as the public is now aware of Marie’s death but another one will take the spotlight even sooner. Not realizing that the man on the bench at the school that he nodded hello was the man who killed his daughter and was in the news. So, why didn’t he call the police and tell them what he knows? What he does is called vigilante justice as Fredrik makes a choice to either let the police take him out or take care of it himself. Lund was left to the police and they failed so it was up to him and someone who gave him the information about Lund and his taxi company and more that starts a chain of events, which makes this novel quite controversial as Fredrik kills the killer and now faces the police and the court. Arrested for the murder of Lund the public cries out that he is a hero when they find pictures of two children that were Lund’s next target. Fredrik researched the nurseries that Lund frequented during his taxi runs and when the information fit with his plan he executed it. But, Grens feels that he does not deserve life in prison but the prosecutor is going full blast and wants life. However, things get worse as the meeting between Grens and the prosecutor leads the reader to believe that Grens does not take this man’s safety seriously until he has to and then things get more dangerous.
In jail yet not treated too badly and a lawyer working hard to get him released along with a Priest, the aftershock of the trial and he’s freed until something changes.
The ending will let readers know that sometimes misinformation can lead to more deaths as Tinyboy assumes something, takes action as does someone else who strikes as the prosecutor. Tinyboy and Grens meet and the final scene will shock readers as you wonder just what contact with the real world prisoners have and why sometime assumptions can lead to well you have to read the ending to learn that for yourself.
Pedophiles take aim at young children and the nursery school should have had someone outside to monitor the children. Parents need to remind children not to leave the teachers or school staff until they see them coming for them and never talk to strangers. Lives will never be the same and Grens will move on to another case but the end result is many suffered because of the man who lived in Pen33.
Fran Lewis: Just reviews/MJ magazine