The Hundred-Year-Old Man Books in Order

The Hundred-Year-Old Man series follows Allan Karlsson, a Swedish explosives expert who reaches his hundredth birthday in a quiet retirement home and decides he has had enough of being looked after. Instead of attending his own party, he climbs out the window, wanders to the bus station, and leaves town with a stranger's suitcase that turns out to be stuffed with criminal cash.

From that simple escape, The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared splits into two intertwined stories. In the present, Allan teams up with a handful of misfits, including a hot dog seller, an overeducated drifter, and a woman who travels with an elephant, while gangsters and police chase the missing money across Sweden. In flashbacks, the novel traces his earlier life as his love of dynamite pulls him into the Spanish Civil War, the Manhattan Project, the Cold War, and other turning points of the twentieth century.

The tone stays light even when history turns dark. Famous leaders pass through the pages, but Allan remains stubbornly unpretentious, more interested in snacks and a stiff drink than in ideology. The pleasure of the book lies in watching world-shaping events unfold because one elderly Swede keeps shrugging and choosing whatever option seems least troublesome in the moment.

The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man picks up with Allan and his friend Julius enjoying a luxurious early retirement in Bali, living off the spoils of their first adventure. When a hot air balloon ride goes wrong they end up adrift at sea, rescued by a ship smuggling uranium to North Korea. Once again Allan's knack for improvisation throws him into the path of contemporary power players, from authoritarian leaders to European politicians, as nuclear brinkmanship, fake news, and social media storms swirl around him.

Where the first book plays with twentieth century history, the sequel skewers the anxieties of the twenty first, from populist politics to shadowy online campaigns. Through it all, Allan stays Allan, unimpressed by grand causes, loyal to his small circle of friends, and oddly good at staying alive in situations that should have killed him long ago.

Readers can approach the series as a pair of comic road novels, as a sideways tour through modern history, or simply as time spent with an old man who refuses to sit quietly and be reasonable. Starting with the first book gives you Allan's full backstory, while the second rewards anyone who wants to see how his talent for stumbling into trouble survives in the modern world.