After an inevitable breakup, young playwright Matheus Jacobsen retires. He lives on Negroni and Calvados as he tries to gather sufficient courage to take his own life. Although based in Ullevål Hageby, he flits between Oslo, Budapest and the Norwegian south coast. Matheus is convinced that a meaningful existence entails far too much pain, but even though he desperately wants to die, he keeps extending his life’s expiration date.

Akeldama is a novel about what drives people to suicide. It is also a sure-footed, desperate and humorous tale of intoxication, debt, friendship and family.