Translated from the Norwegian by Robert Ferguson, Jo Nesbo’s The Kingdom was recently released by Penguin.
Jo Nesbo is a world-renowned bestselling crime writer. His books have been translated into 50 languages and have sold over 45 million copies worldwide. Before becoming a crime writer, Nesbo played football for Norway’s Premier league team Molde, but gave up on his dream due to injuries. He completed 3 years of military Service, and then attended Business School, where he received a degree in Economics. Whilst studying, he formed a band called Di Derre (Them There), which topped the charts in Norway. Nesbo worked as a financial analyst during the day, and gigged with the band at night. When he was asked to write a memoir of his life on the road, he went to Australia for 6 months, and instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime Novel – The Bat. Nesbo was born in 1960, and grew up in Molde in Western Norway, he is now 60 years of age, and lives in Oslo.
The Kingdom is a standalone crime thriller written by Nesbo. The book is about two brothers and the deep, dark secrets that bind them together.
The Opgards home (The Kingdom), where Roy and Carl grew up, is situated on mountainous land, just outside the village of Os, with treacherous stretches of road that link the farm, and the village. The final stretch of road does not have a crash barrier – because it is on private land. If you misjudge the road, the snow, or the ice, depending on the time of the year, you can easily become yet another victim of the Huken.
The story revolves around the return of the charming outgoing brother Carl to Os with his bride, filled with a plan that will bring fortune to the village, and the Opgard family with it. But those deep dark secrets just keep coming back to haunt the brothers, and combined with Roy’s skill as a mechanic, and his interest in the true crime series, make for many unexpected twists and turns for the town and the returning hero. Will the plan succeed? To whose benefit? And at what cost?
Read on. Be prepared to be intrigued. The Kingdom is an intense thriller that is hard to put down from page 1. A compelling novel by Nesbo.
Some of the other books by the same author include Harry Hole Thrillers: The Bat, Cockroaches, Phantom. Standalone Crime: Headhunters, Midnight Sun and Blood on the Snow.
The Kingdom is published by Penguin Random House UK – 2020. ISBN 9781787300798 - Review by Christine E Hann
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