THE KINGDOM by Jo Nesbø
Alfred A. Knopf; 11/10/20
CBTB Rating: 5/5
The Verdict: Slow-burning, sinister rural noir
Where to begin with this book review? If you’ve been around Crime by the Book for more than a couple days, you’ve probably already picked up on the fact that Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø is my all-time, hands-down favorite author. I could go on and on about my long standing love of Nesbø’s books. I could tell you about the moment I was recommended his books while on my first trip to Norway years ago; I could share how his books got me through heartbreak, a cross-country move, job changes, health challenges, and a whole lot more; I could tell you about the time I spent a day in Oslo, Norway retracing the most significant locations from his bestselling crime fiction series. But (contrary to how it seems so far!) this blog post isn’t actually about me. It’s about Nesbø’s outstanding new standalone novel THE KINGDOM—a book that captivated me and swept me up in its gritty, tragic tale of love and betrayal. In THE KINGDOM, Nesbø departs from his beloved Harry Hole series with a standalone novel that trades serial killers and police procedure for long-buried interpersonal secrets and the fallout of their resurrection. THE KINGDOM is a masterful work of rural noir, a story that will pluck you up from wherever you are sitting and bring you to a small (fictional) town nestled in the mountains of western Norway. Slow-burning yet propulsive, THE KINGDOM showcases a new side of Nesbø’s crime writing talent. With THE KINGDOM, he has delivered another outstanding work of crime fiction, a story that explores themes of family, love, and loyalty, all wrapped up in a gritty, slow-burning, rural noir package.
Plot Details:
Two brothers. One small town. A lifetime of dark secrets.
Roy has never left the quiet mountain town he grew up in, unlike his little brother Carl who couldn't wait to get out and escape his troubled past. Just like everyone else in town, Roy believed Carl was gone for good. But Carl has big plans for his hometown. And when he returns with a mysterious new wife and a business opportunity that seems too good to be true, simmering tensions begin to surface and unexplained deaths in the town's past come under new scrutiny. Soon powerful players set their sights on taking the brothers down by exposing their role in the town's sordid history.
But Roy and Carl are survivors, and no strangers to violence. Roy has always protected his younger brother. As the body count rises, though, Roy's loyalty to family is tested. And then Roy finds himself inextricably drawn to Carl's wife, Shannon, an attraction that will have devastating consequences. Roy's world is coming apart and soon there will be no turning back. He'll be forced to choose between his own flesh and blood and a future he had never dared to believe possible.
I read a lot of fantastic crime fiction, and, more often than not, what makes a book stand out from the pack for me tends is its characters. An eye-catching plot will draw me in, but characters will make me fall in love with a story—and that’s exactly what has made me such a dedicated fan of Nesbø’s crime writing for all these years. Whether writing installments in the Harry Hole series or writing standalone novels, Nesbø never fails to deliver memorable, leap-off-the-page characters, individuals who feel so authentic to me that I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they were, in fact, real people. There is much about THE KINGDOM that is quite different—even opposite—from Nesbø’s Harry Hole series, but his outstanding character development is unchanged. Roy and Carl Opgard, the brothers central to this story, are the kind of morally ambiguous, flawed-yet-endearing characters that Nesbø excels at writing. Roy, our story’s narrator, is a quiet and unassuming man. He leads a simple life, and he is, for the most part, quite content with that. But underneath Roy’s quiet exterior lurks a propensity for violence, and a shocking ability to justify some truly horrific acts in the name of doing what must be done. Roy’s dark side has served his younger brother well: Roy has always stood up for Carl, doing his best to protect Carl against any dangers that might come his way. Carl, on the other hand, has never been satisfied with a simple, small-town life. His grand vision for his future prompted him to pack his bags and leave Os in his taillights as soon as possible, seeking out better fortunes in America. But Carl is reckless and irresponsible, prone to making rash decisions and, in many ways, relying on the safety net of Roy’s steady loyalty to catch him whenever he falls. But even Roy’s patience and loyalty has limits. The dynamics of Roy and Carl’s relationship provide the first layer of interpersonal intrigue in this gripping novel. Readers get to know the brothers intimately, exploring the brothers’ troubled past and their even more troubled present.
Carl’s return to the town of Os sets in motion a series of events that seem innocuous enough at first, but will, over the course of the novel, provide the perfect environment for tensions to rise between the brothers, and for horrible secrets from their past to come to light. Nesbø brilliantly sets the tragedy of the Opgard brothers against the backdrop of Os, a small town where everyone knows everyone else, and everyone wants to know everyone’s secrets. With Roy as our guide, readers get to know the key players in town through Roy’s perspective—a perspective which isn’t always guaranteed to be reliable. Writing this book from the first person, Nesbø gives readers an intimate understanding of our story’s protagonist and his motives and desires. Roy’s wishes are simple and straightforward—that is, until Roy meets Carl’s new wife Shannon, and finds himself increasingly drawn to her. Shannon, a mysterious woman with ties to Carl’s new hotel development project and secret motivations all her own, finds herself drawn to Roy in turn, and the growing attraction between the two adds a layer of complexity and emotional depth to this story. It is also poised to drive an irreparable wedge between Roy and Carl. Love plays a central role in THE KINGDOM: love between brothers and romantic love are driving forces here, and Nesbø deftly explores the complexity of love when one’s heart is at odds with one’s head. Will Roy choose Shannon, or will loyalty to his brother win out? When Carl pushes Roy to extremes with his reckless behavior, will Roy finally cut ties with Carl and pursue his own happiness instead? In THE KINGDOM, love and loyalty are pushed to their breaking points.
Unlike Nesbø’s Harry Hole novels, which rely on a more traditional police procedural structure, there isn’t one central investigation driving THE KINGDOM forward, but rather a long and sordid history of brutal and dark acts in the Opgard family history whose legacy bleeds into the brothers’ present. For a story with relatively little overt violence (though the overt violence that is here is, true to form for Nesbø, often quite twisted!), THE KINGDOM is a surprisingly dark and disturbing story, one that grapples with topics including sexual assault and abuse of children. The darkness here isn’t in-your-face; it’s slow-building and subtle, lulling readers into a false sense of security before providing information that will shift your entire concept of the book you are reading. THE KINGDOM is a slow-burning crime story, one that is much more about laying bare the secrets of its characters than giving readers action-packed, in-your-face thrills. Somehow, the subtle ways in which the evils in THE KINGDOM are presented felt all the more disturbing to me. This book is not a serial killer thriller or a police procedural, but that does not mean it is a light read—quite the contrary. The heaviness of the tragedies and injustices presented in this story stuck with me long after I turned the final page.
In THE KINGDOM, Jo Nesbø unspools an almost Shakespearean tragedy of two brothers and their ill-fated reunion. This slow-burning novel, set against the unassuming backdrop of a small town in the Norwegian mountains, will quietly, steadily captivate its readers. Nesbø’s masterful character development and assured plotting deliver an utterly original, subtly propulsive new crime novel unlike anything he has written yet. I fell in love with this book’s morally-ambiguous characters, and found myself deeply invested in their fates—even while logic told me this tale could only end in tragedy, I continued to hope for the best. This book left me in tears, and has become one of my personal favorite Jo Nesbø novels.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. All opinions my own.
Book Details:
Item Weight : 1.75 pounds
Hardcover : 560 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-0525655411
Dimensions : 6.34 x 1.7 x 9.54 inches
Publisher : Knopf (November 10, 2020)
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