''Easy Money'' (Swedish title: ''Snabba cash'') is a 2006 novel by

Jens Lapidus Jens Jacob Lapidus (; born 24 May 1974) is a Swedish criminal defense lawyer and author known for his books about the Stockholm underworld. Life and career Lapidus was born into a middle class family in the Stockholm suburb Gröndal, with a moth ...

. The paperback was the fourth bestselling Swedish novel of 2007. The first book in the ''

Stockholm Noir Jens Jacob Lapidus (; born 24 May 1974) is a Swedish criminal defense lawyer and author known for his books about the Stockholm underworld. Life and career Lapidus was born into a middle class family in the Stockholm suburb Gröndal, with a moth ...

'' trilogy, it was adapted into a film in 2010 starring

Joel Kinnaman Charles Joel Nordström Kinnaman (; born 25 November 1979) is a Swedish-American actor. He first gained recognition for his roles in the 2010 Swedish film '' Easy Money'' and the ''Johan Falk'' crime series. Kinnaman is known internationally fo ...

and a narratively unrelated Netflix TV series bearing the same name in 2021 and subsequently a second season in 2022.

Plot summary

JW is a young man originally from the countryside who now lives in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. JW feigns the appearance of a (in Swedish parlance, a lifestyle based on flaunting one's apparent wealth; a jetsetter or yuppie), actually leading a double life driving taxi illegally to finance his expensive life on

Stureplan Stureplan is a Town square, public square in central Stockholm, between Norrmalm (proper), Norrmalm and Östermalm. The square connects the major streets Kungsgatan, Stockholm, Kungsgatan, Birger Jarlsgatan and Sturegatan. The buildings around ...

. Abdulkarim, who runs the taxi business, offers JW a job selling

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

instead. JW accepts the offer and enters the criminal underground of Stockholm. Jorge Salinas Barrio is a Latino who has gone to prison after taking the blame for drug business in which the Yugoslav mafia was involved. He escapes from

Österåker Prison The Österåker Prison (, commonly known as ''Österåkersanstalten'') is a prison located in Österåker Municipality, thirty kilometers north of Stockholm, Sweden. It is a Class 2-security prison with a capacity for 146 inmates. The facility al ...

with plans to flee the country. Mrado Slovovic is a Serbian henchman who runs errands for the Yugoslav mafia, but secretly he dreams of a normal life with his daughter Lovisa. The three characters unite in the book through their dreams about quick earnings. Once JW and Abdulkarim have the cocaine sales going they want to expand. Abdulkarim has heard of Jorge, the recent escapee. The word on the street is that Jorge got very knowledgeable about the cocaine trade while he was in prison and thus JW gets an assignment to hire him. Simultaneously Jorge has tried to blackmail the Yugoslav mafia boss. The hitman Mrado has been contracted to dissuade him. When JW finally finds Jorge he is laying beaten-up in a forest, courtesy of Mrado.

References

External links

Official homepage
{{Jens Lapidus Swedish novels adapted into films Novels set in Stockholm Swedish crime novels 2006 Swedish novels Swedish-language novels Novels about organized crime Novels about the Serbian Mafia Works about organized crime in Sweden