All the familiar lovable characters are back, although this time around the writing started tugging the heart-strings from the very beginning and by the end, a long time later, I was exhausted. But, yes, a big drama with some serious casualties and a lot of hockey! As with all Backman’s books, the main story is humanity that can be found in the most peculiar places - deep in the dark wilderness of the forest, and among the nicest of smalltown people as well as the hockey hooligans.