Anxious People

Anxious People

by

Fredrik Backman

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Anxious People makes teaching easy.

The Special Negotiator Character Analysis

The special negotiator is a police officer from Stockholm who is called in to manage the hostage situation. He has experience negotiating with hostages, so the bosses believe he’ll have a better chance of successfully negotiating with the robber than Jack and Jim. However, the last hostage situation the special negotiator dealt with ended when the hostage taker shot himself—and though the special negotiator counsels Jack and Jim over the phone, he gets stuck in traffic and doesn’t reach the small town until well after the hostage drama has ended. The special negotiator thinks highly of Jack and believes that Jack is being silly for turning down job offers in Stockholm.
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The Special Negotiator Character Timeline in Anxious People

The timeline below shows where the character The Special Negotiator appears in Anxious People. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 4
Mental Health and Connection Theme Icon
Assumptions  Theme Icon
...into police cars, while the policeman waited in the stairwell for his colleague. The special negotiator called the robber’s phone, but moments later the police stormed the apartment and found it... (full context)
Chapter 7
Mental Health and Connection Theme Icon
...and when the police stormed the apartment. But once the robber was gone, the special negotiator from Stockholm called the robber to try to come to an agreement. The robber didn’t... (full context)
Chapter 21
Parenting and Fear Theme Icon
Marriage, Conflict, and Communication Theme Icon
Mental Health and Connection Theme Icon
Assumptions  Theme Icon
The bosses decide to call in backup from Stockholm, but the special negotiator who calls Jack explains that he’ll be on the road a while, since it’s the... (full context)
Chapter 49
Parenting and Fear Theme Icon
Assumptions  Theme Icon
...to say, when Jack and Jim are standing out on the street waiting for the negotiator from Stockholm, they’re thinking about Jack’s mom and what she’d do. When the lime/pizza order... (full context)
Parenting and Fear Theme Icon
Assumptions  Theme Icon
...rationally so far. Jim suggests they stick the phone in a pizza box, and the negotiator agrees that this is a good idea. Jack says it was his dad’s idea, which... (full context)
Chapter 52
Parenting and Fear Theme Icon
Assumptions  Theme Icon
...bomb isn’t a bomb if it wasn’t his dad going in. So, Jack tells the negotiator that before his colleague goes in, he’d like to go into the building across the... (full context)
Mental Health and Connection Theme Icon
Assumptions  Theme Icon
Then, Jack asks if the negotiator has been involved in a hostage situation before. The negotiator says he has; the hostage-taker... (full context)
Parenting and Fear Theme Icon
As Jack heads back downstairs, the negotiator asks why Jack turned down the job offer in Stockholm. The negotiator says he spoke... (full context)
Chapter 60
Assumptions  Theme Icon
Stepping back to when Jack gets downstairs after speaking with the negotiator, Jim is emerging from the other building. Jim insists the bomb was just Christmas lights,... (full context)
Chapter 66
Marriage, Conflict, and Communication Theme Icon
Assumptions  Theme Icon
...his wife would be proud or at least not angry. Then Jack came upstairs, the negotiator called the phone, and the pistol went off. (full context)