| Author | Jo Nesbø |
|---|---|
| Original title | Kongeriket |
| Language | Norwegian, English |
| Genre | Crime fiction |
| Publisher | Aschehoug |
Publication date | 2020 |
| Publication place | Norway |
| Media type | Print (hard and paperback) |
| Pages | 450 (Eng. hardback trans.) |
| Followed by | Blood Ties ( Nesbo novel) |
The Kingdom (Norwegian: Kongeriket) is a crime novel by Norwegian writer Jo Nesbø, first published in 2020. The book deals with a suite of murders committed by two brothers in a small Norwegian town of Os. They risk discovery by the suspicious local sheriff, and they become entangled in a deadly business dealing. The book received positive reviews, and a sequel, Blood Ties, was published in 2024.
Plot
The book is told in the first-person narration of Roy Opgard, a dyslexic mechanic in the small town of Os. As a teenager, Roy cuts the brakes on his parents’ car, sending them over a precipice in retaliation for his father’s abuse of his younger brother, Carl. The town sheriff investigates, and in a panic, Carl pushes him over the same cliff. The brothers stage the sheriff’s death as a suicide.
As grown men, Roy and Carl set out to build a luxury hotel in their hometown. The new sheriff, however, is the son of the previous sheriff, and doggedly purses the brothers, suspecting them of murder. While building the hotel, the brothers come into conflict with a local businessman, who hires a hitman to eliminate them. Roy turns the scheme around by making it appear as though the hitman killed the businessman, before sending the hitman’s car over the cliff.
Carl later bludgeons his wife, Shannon, to death believing she was unfaithful with an American businessman. Shannon, unbeknownst to Carl, was actually having an affair with Roy and was pregnant with his child. Nonetheless, a heartbroken Roy helps Carl stage her death as yet another crash at the same precipice.
Reception
In a review for The New York Times, Charles McGrath described the plot as a complex puzzle in which a man "remorselessly puts his family above everything".[1] McGarth, however, reserved some criticism for the final act, writing: "The ending is sudden and startling and — to me, anyway — a bit of a psychological stretch."
References
- ^ McGrath, Charles (2020-11-06). "Jo Nesbo's New Book Stars an Antisocial Loner. It's Not Harry Hole. (Published 2020)". Retrieved 2025-08-28.