On Sept. 27, the long-awaited finale “The Winners” by Fredrik Backman made its captivating debut, marking the release of the third and final installment of the Beartown trilogy. Backman is most known as a New York Times best-selling Swedish author for his novel “A Man Called Ove,” a literary sensation that topped the New York Times Bestseller List for ninety weeks. His other hit novels include “Anxious People” which has been adapted into a Netflix TV show.

The “Beartown” trilogy tells a powerful story of a small forest town in northern Sweden, focusing on the plot of the town’s junior hockey club. The book explores the dark side of hockey and sports culture, including years worth of rivalry between Hed, a rival hockey town, and Beartown, and the subject of competition, acceptance, politics, sexism, corruption, loss, loyalty, and belonging as both towns grapple against a series of life-changing events throughout the series. In the first book, we are introduced to the Andersson family: Kira, Peter, Maya, and Leo as well as several other characters. The strength of Backman’s writing is in the way he is able to tell several characters’ stories at once and incorporate real-life reactions and experiences about serious topics while simultaneously being able to spin it into fiction that is both dramatic and entertaining yet still teaches an important message to the audience. His writing feels real and authentic, though as the readers are witnessing the lives of real people and the human mistakes they make.

The sequel “Us Against You” was released a year later and follows the aftermath of the events of book one. “The Winners” picks up two years after the events of book two. The novel starts out with an ongoing destructive storm that has wrecked both towns and the lives of new and old characters intertwine and change forever. We get to see old characters return and reunite with friends to mourn a member of their community. Meanwhile, ongoing rumors fuel the growing tensions between the two towns, and cases of corruption and politics come into play. One criticism I would have for “The Winners” is that at times the politics can get overwhelming and be a bit much. Compared to the last two books the events that happen seem less realistic which is different from what the audience has experienced in previous books.

Overall “The Winners” was one of the most gripping and emotionally packed books I have read this year. As someone who enjoyed the previous books, this one was no different. Backman’s way of writing compelling, lovable, human characters, and the way he is able to connect them is truly extraordinary. I love that this book explored heavy but important topics, and although it got slow at times all in all this was a fitting finale to a great trilogy, one I can not recommend enough.