The author of the best-selling Harry Hole series now gives us an electrifying stand-alone novel set inside Oslo’s maze of especially venal, high-level corruption.
Sonny Lofthus is a strangely charismatic and complacent young man. Sonny’s been in prison for a dozen years, nearly half his life. The inmates who seek out his uncanny abilities to soothe leave his cell feeling absolved. They don’t know or care that Sonny has a serious heroin habit—or where or how he gets his uninterrupted supply of the drug. Or that he’s serving time for other peoples’ crimes.
Sonny took the first steps toward addiction when his father took his own life rather than face exposure as a corrupt cop. Now Sonny is the seemingly malleable center of a whole infrastructure of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest—all of them focused on keeping him high and in jail. And all of them under the thumb of the Twin, Oslo’s crime overlord. As long as Sonny gets his dope, he’s happy to play the criminal and the prison’s in-house savior.
But when he learns a stunning, long-hidden secret concerning his father, he makes a brilliantly executed escape from prison—and from the person he’d let himself become—and begins hunting down those responsible for the crimes against him . . . The darkly looming question is: Who will get to him first—the criminals or the cops?
From the Hardcover edition.
**
From Booklist
Starred Review On the surface, Nesbø’s gripping new stand-alone might seem like another installment of the Harry Hole series but featuring a new cast of characters. A serial killer is at work in Oslo, and a maverick cop with his share of personal demons is on his trail. But beneath that surface, there is a complex psychological thriller churning its way into the reader’s nightmares. Sonny Lofthus is in prison for crimes he didn’t commit but for which he has agreed to take the fall—in exchange for an unending supply of heroin. The drugs are Sonny’s way of dealing with the knowledge that his father, an apparent suicide, was a dirty cop. As the novel begins, however, Sonny has new information about his father’s death and has engineered a daring escape from prison. His revenge-fueled plan is to kill those responsible for the crimes he was convicted of by re-creating the murders with the real killers now the victims. The more we learn about Sonny, the more we root for him to evade capture, either by the police or by the crime lord who wants him dead. Juggling point of view between Sonny, Simon Kefas (the cop chasing him), and the various corrupt officials who risk exposure the longer Sonny is free, Nesbø thwarts our every attempt to draw conclusions about both what happened in the past and who is the least guilty among the principals. There is an element of the classic film noir Breathless at work here but with more characters of varying shades of gray whose fates hinge on numerous moving parts. A terrific thriller but also a tragic, very moving story of intertwined characters swerving desperately to avoid the dead ends in their paths. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With 24 million copies of his books sold, Nesbø is now second only to Stieg Larsson among Scandinavian crime writers. His fame is sure to grow still more as Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio are about to begin filming The Snowman. --Bill Ott
Review
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
“[Nesbo] brings a strong male punk rock swagger to his writing— The Son , his new stand-alone thriller, pulses with aggressive energy and splattering ultra-violence…. The twists and turns are bold and surprising. Nesbo delivers a revved-up, entertaining red harvest, another guaranteed hit from a forceful thriller machine.”
— Los Angeles Times
“A deftly plotted novel that probes the deepest mysteries: sin, redemption, love, evil, the human condition…. One of Nesbo’s best, deepest and richest novels, even without Harry Hole.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“The pace of the novel is fast, the characters (especially Inspector Kefas) complex and well drawn, and the plot smart and tricky…. Exposition is sparing and effective and never bogs down the action.”
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Nesbo is great at rapidly sketching the kind of juicy characters, peripheral or not, that propel an already fast-moving story forward at a pleasing pace…. Nesbo’s writing style is visually arresting as always…. In a novel that’s both deadly serious and seriously sentimental, Nesbo ably rides the slimmest of lines between humanity’s uglier mug and unusual manners of redemption.”
— The Boston Globe
“Rock star turned writer, Nesbo is one of the most promising Nordic crime novelist in a crowded list, acclaimed for his series following detective Harry Hole. The Son , however, is a stand-alone work…. It’s revenge porn at its grisliest.”
— New York Post
“This mystery is pure Nesbo—complex with a dim view of human nature and the morality of human beings…. It’s great Nesbo.” — St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“A terrific, blood-soaked, multi-stranded revenge thriller…. This exhilarating tale of retribution grips from the opening lines…. Nesbo shows his total mastery of the thriller genre, confidently weaving his unrelenting, roller-coaster storyline with heart-stopping action amid scenes of genuine pathos and passion. Time and again, Nesbo leaves his readers reeling…. There is not one false step in Nesbo’s novel. His complex, fully realised characters all resonate, vividly coming to life (and often dying) on the page thanks to telling, often haunting descriptions, crisp, credible dialogue, and bold, inspired pacing. He is unafraid to introduce moments of sudden stillness and real emotional power.”
—South China Morning Post
“Complex and sophisticated…. Moving.”
— London Evening Standard
“It’s easy to see why Nesbo’s work has been such a global success with his clear gift for hairpin twists and turns.... So tightly plotted that it will keep readers steadfastly glued to their seat.... The deftly written book is kept briskly paged by Nesbo’s punchy writing style and spot-on ear for dialogue.... The novel is for fans of smart, sophisticated and multilayered crime.... Nesbo doesn’t disappoint.”
— Daily Life (Australia)
“Nesbo’s new book makes all the hype before publication seem like false modesty, and is quite simply a fantastic piece of crime literature…. First and foremost, this is a clever, enthralling and driven story that is impossible to put down.”
— Dagens Næringsliv (Norway)
“Yet another powerful demonstration of Nesbo’s talent for creating a story that plays on all nerve strands and with so much intensity that it embodies both the Bible and Batman at once. It is really well done. It is still early in the year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if someone should dub The Son as the crime novel of the year.”
— Ekstra Bladet (Denmark)
“The pace proves to be on top in the new book, in a positive sense. This remains Norwegian crime literature in a class by itself. A plot that stretches and spreads out like great mathematical formulas, with many unfamiliar characters in the equation, but without being arcane or excessive in his fantastic interpretations…. Jo Nesbo prevails once again.”
— Dagsavisen (Norway)
“ The Son is a modern take on the story about Christ, that tackles the corruption in Oslo…. Jo Nesbo’s writing is incredible as usual.”
— Jyllands-Posten (Denmark)
“Tremendously well written by Nesbo…. There is something unstoppably vital about Jo Nesbo as a designer of crime stories in the baroque style. His pen is on fire and although it may be noted that it goes too fast sometimes linguistically, the stories he creates has so many staggering twists and turns that it is almost physically impossible not to get hooked.”
— Aftenposten (Norway)
“Crime novels are rarely so skillfully told and at the same time so much more than pure entertainment. But Nesbo is a master.”
— Berlingske (Denmark)
“No Norwegian crime writer can create such complex crime plots without losing in detail like Nesbo can. You might say that Nesbo is both high and low in his texts, and that is one of the main reasons why they rise above most other novels in this genre.”
— Dagbladet (Norway)
“It is a formidable, diabolically clever and devilishly good book that is well put together down to the smallest detail.”
— Nordjyske Stiftstidene (Denmark)
“When the core is set and the story takes its pace, it is propelled with great force and an unerring sense of detail, dialogue and for where intervals and scene changes should be located. It is simply thrilling to read.”
—NRK (Norway)
“Fast-paced and rip-roaring suspenseful.”
— Politiken (Denmark)
“No one at our latitudes knows the game like Nesbo does. No one is even close to his craftsmanship in writing crime novels that hold such international standard.”
— Adresseavisen (Norway)
“A high level of suspense all the way and limitless brutality. The bad guys get what they deserve and Nesbo’s writing is almost more cynical and concrete than usual. There are also a few love stories along the way that—almost—end happily.”
— Lolland-Falsters Folketidende(Denmark)
About the Author
JO NESBØ is a musician, songwriter, and economist, as well as a writer. His Harry Hole novels include The Redeemer , The Snowman , The Leopard , and Phantom , and he is also the author of several stand-alone novels and the Doctor Proctor series of children’s books. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the Glass Key for best Nordic crime novel.