The Helicopter Heist by Jonas Bonnier (Review by Bruna Morris)

Rating 5.0*

This is definitively one of the best books I have ever read. It’s based on the true helicopter robbery that happened in Västberga, Sweden in 2009. I researched more about the real robbery and it is fascinating! The people behind the planning are real-life evil geniuses and reading about them and their strategy is just amazing. The book is impossible to be put down for the latter half as you get completely engrossed in the story.

Sami and Michel are ex-criminals and the story starts when they meet up with an informer. He tells them about a huge amount of money that is kept on the top floor of a company called G4S. He found out one of the women that works at the cash deposit is on a dating app and it would be the perfect opportunity to get information.

Sami is now a family man and is trying to leave his criminal days behind. But it seems that having a regular low-paying job is not for him.

Michel is single and attractive so he contacts the employee at G4s, Alexandra, and starts dating her. She’s very talkative and likes attention so it isn’t hard for Michel to get the information they need.

Zoran Petrovic is a very wealthy man who is “financing” the robbery. Together, they start planning and building their team. One early obstacle is the fact that there is a police station just a block away from the building. There’s no way they can just break into the building, go upstairs, and come back downstairs before the police arrive. They decide the best course of action is to get a helicopter and go through the roof.

Now all they need is a helicopter and a reliable pilot to complete their mission; but another problem arises. One of them is a fraud and gave information about the robbery to the Swedish police. The police now know exactly when and how they’re planning to pull it off.

They still manage to complete their plan and when the author describes the night of the robbery – minute by minute – your heart starts pounding and it’s impossible to stop reading! Only a few books have made me feel this way and the final plot twist is just unbelievable.