Book Review: The Kingdom by Jo Nesbà¸
-
Loading... - Eric Robert
- 14 Dec 2021
- 443 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Jo Nesbø will probably always be best known for his Harry Hole series of ‘detective narrowly avoiding his own demise’ books.
But quietly, outside of the fanfare of the series that gave us The Snowman – one of the best books I’ve ever read – he’s been busy.
Little by little, Nesbø has been building a separate body of work that is as different from the unorthodox detective as Lofoten is from Oslo. His latest entry into this canon is The Kingdom and it might just be his finest work yet.
As always with these long-form book reviews, I’ll be delving into spoilers at some point. I’ll let you know when that comes. Firstly, I’ll start you all off with a little overview of what The Kingdom is about.
Overview of The Kingdom
Two brothers Roy and Carl Opgard, grow up with their parents – one America-obsessed and the other a tame housewife. They live on a large but mostly barren farm in the mountains, that their father refers to as The Kingdom.
Roy is the strong, silent type who takes after his father. Carl is the shy, sensitive type who takes more after his mother.
We meet the boys at a young age. Carl is desperate to show his father that he’s a strong boy. He goes out hunting but somehow never quite has the courage to pull the trigger and kill anything.
One day, Carl goes off on his own with the family dog. Roy hears a gunshot and shortly afterwards Carl comes running. He takes Roy to see the poor dog, wounded badly but still alive. Roy takes Carl’s knife and puts the hound out of its misery.
Together, they agree to pretend that it was Carl who did it – a show of strength for their father. His father pretends to believe them and then, quietly, points out to Roy that if he’s going to lie in future, he might want to wash his hands first!
Carl to the rescue?
Fast forward to the modern day and Roy is still living on the farm. He’s awaiting the return of his beloved brother from several years of living in the US. Carl duly returns with his new wife in tow. Together they settle in to the master bedroom while Roy relegates himself to the room that the boys shared as kids.
The small, quiet mountain town where everybody knows everybody and the economy ticks over is seemingly in jeopardy. Plans are afoot to build a new highway that will pass them by completely.
This news is especially bad for Roy who runs the service station in the town. Over the years he’s built up a regular flow of customers by being the only option for many city-folk heading to their cabins.
Carl, however, has a plan to save the town and put it firmly on the map. All he has to do is convince the residents of the town to invest a small amount each, with the promise of huge rewards once the resort opens.
Being the charismatic prodigal son that he is, he easily manages to persuade enough investors. But not everyone is convinced. Read More…
