The Kingdom is another masterpiece from Jo Nesbo. I thought it started slow , but it rapidly gained such speed , I could not put it down. It’s a stand alone but every bit as good as his Harry Hole mysteries. I loved this book and highly recommend it.

Another winner by Jo Nesbo. Very unusual plot and unusual protagonists. never sure who's the good guy and who isn't, except one, the obvious.
Never miss a book by this author. He always delivers. Another hard to put down.

A riveting novel that I had been reading a few chapters at a time until I got to the last half and I couldn't put it down. I was up until 2am finishing it. I haven't done that in a long time! The plot involves two brothers, Roy and Carl Opgard. Roy, who narrates, still lives on the family farm on a remote mountaintop. His brother Carl, who has been living in the United States for 15 years, suddenly returns with his new wife, an architect named Shannon. Carl and Shannon have grand plans of building a hotel on the mountaintop and it isn't long before they have convinced Roy as well as most of the town's citizens to help finance it. Of course, not all appears as it seems, and a legacy of family secrets slowly begin to emerge. It seems that every chapter pulls the reader in deeper, layer by layer, until its astonishing conclusion. Important elements to the story, aside from the family secrets, are cars (Roy is a mechanic and owns a small service station) and a deadly ravine called the Huken where cars (and bodies) begin to accumulate. Brilliant characterizations (the Huken being a character in itself), a tautly constructed narrative and twists and turns will keep you turning the pages.

I’m a big fan of his work, and this is no exception.It is long ,and the reader has to concentrate to get all of the nuances of the multiple characters.The main theme and the personality traits of the 2 main characters are all there in the first chapter. Family is everything, both the good and the bad traits, and that theme drives all of the events throughout the book. It is NOT a joyful read but it illustrates how the damage/ character traits formed in childhood color all of our actions as adults. Nesbo hits another home run.

A great read that keeps surprising with many twists and turns along the way. As always Nesbo relies on his greatest strength which is creating an authentic setting and writing in such detail that the reader feels like an observer of the events. Fans of the Harry Hole series will find plenty of similarities in the self loathing of the protagonist. I recommend this book to anyone who likes Nesbo's previous works or enjoys unexpected twists and turns.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Kingdom.

I'm a big fan of the author's Harry Hole series so I was really excited when my request was approved.

If readers think they're going to get another Harry Hole in The Kingdom, think again.

This is a complete departure from the author's popular series about the womanizing, astute, functional alcoholic detective.

It's a story about family, brothers, loyalty, love and betrayal.

It's about the things we do for all of the above, and the things we purposely overlook, ignore and collude with, all to preserve the fragile bonds of siblings and brotherhood.

The writing is the author's best work; he paints a bleak, but stunning portrait of the town, providing ample exposition of the locals, the farm and the brothers, elder brother, Roy and younger brother, Carl.

Roy is not unlike Harry Hole; he's an introvert, does not have many friends apart from his brother, but is fiercely loyal, kind and a good man.

He just wants a simple life; to do well in a job he's good at, to be able to live frugally on the land he's inherited from his deceased parents and to be able to provide for himself and his brother.

He's also a haunted man, wracked by guilt and personal recriminations from his inability to protect his younger brother from abuse, and the steps he had to take to rectify the problem.

Is Roy perfect? No. He makes mistakes, plenty of them, but all in the name of his family. Does that make him a bad person?

That's for the reader to decide.

I really liked Roy; he's not an anti-hero like Harry Hole. He's just a regular guy who has gone out of his way to do extraordinary things.

If you're looking for a book with thrills and chills and lots of action, this isn't for you.

But, if you're looking for a well written novel about a not so ordinary man doing whatever is necessary to protect his family and their reputation, I highly recommend The Kingdom.

This is an exceptionally written novel about family and the things we do to protect the ones we love. It's about secrets and how they fester in the soul, eating away at any sense of normality until they burst forth with malicious results.

Roy and Carl are brothers bound by secrets, those shared and those cloaked in silence. Roy, the older, vowed to always be there for his brother even though he felt he wasn't when it counted the most. He has spent his life making up for what he conceives was his fault, his job, with any means necessary. The consequences of both brother's actions will have devastating outcomes.

This book asks the age old question: Do we really know anyone?

Please add this one to your list.

This standalone novel is nothing like the successful Harry Hole series by the same author and a much more gentler and slower paced novel than I was expecting. The book started very slow probably because of my expectations of a fast paced action novel but the story built and built to an excellent finale. 

This is the story of two very different brothers Roy and Carl whose parents die when they are both just teenagers. Roy is a protector to his impulsive brother Carl and is content to live in the sleepy village his father called the kingdom. While Roy works as a mechanic Carl is looking for a much different life and leaves home to seek fame and fortune. Carl marries an architect named Shannon and together they have grand plans to build a spa hotel on their family land. Carl wants not only to make the brothers rich but the rest of the village, too. A series of events threaten their plans as well as long buried secrets from the past.

This book got better with every page I read and reminded me of a similar experience I had recently while reading the new Tana French novel 'The Searcher'. Both books are well written but so different from what we have grown to expect from them and show the extent of the writing.

I would like to thank both Netgalley and Knopf for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.