The Salamander Club

One Swedish winter morning, a normally placid engineer gives his boss a well deserved slap in the face. The question, “What’s wrong with this idiot?” pitches Nilson and his friends into an adventure in forensic archeology. But this is no ordinary crime investigation, as the elusive perpetrator is hiding in the most secret of all secret places, where no cop can go. And what would happen if we, the ordinary working people of the world, learned to identify dangerous, destructive people and NOT elect them to positions of leadership?

One Swedish winter morning, a normally placid engineer gives his boss a well deserved slap in the face. The question, “What’s wrong with this idiot?” pitches Nilson and his friends into an adventure in forensic archaeology. But this is no ordinary crime investigation, as the elusive perpetrator is hiding in the most secret of all secret places, where no cop can go. Chipping away at the layers of society over beer and pizza, they start to uncover something dangerous lurking in the minds of people – something that threatens the survival of the human race. Soon the truth telling becomes personal as they turn the light towards themselves. Through the four seasons of a Scandinavian year we join Nilson and his friends at the round table of Pizzeria Salamander, as they dig deeper and deeper. We follow them home and on travels, with their families, struggling with raising their children, loving their partners and facing the age-old enigmas of death and spirituality. What would a group of ordinary working people discover if they took the time to really essay into the questions of the Good, the True and the Beautiful? And what would happen if we, the ordinary working people of the world, learned to identify dangerous destructive people and NOT elect them to positions of leadership?

The Authors: Mats was born and raised in Sweden. His work led him into a long series of conversations with working people, all around the world. Karin was born in South Africa during the apartheid era. As a working Mom, her conversations took her into the new South Africa and eventually all the way to London. By a stroke of fate, those two conversations merged to the sound of a mild collision. Two heads bumping together over a book in Foyle’s Bookshop on Charing Cross Road sparked a marriage, an entirely new conversation and this book.