Synopses & Reviews
The author of the internationally best-selling Harry Hole series now gives us an electrifying stand-alone novel set amid Oslo's hierarchy of corruption, from which one very unusual young man is about to propel himself into a mission of brutal revenge.
Sonny Lofthus, in his early thirties, has been in prison for the last dozen years: serving time for crimes he didn't commit. In exchange, he gets an uninterrupted supply of heroin — and the unexpected stream of fellow prisoners seeking out his uncanny abilities to soothe and absolve. His addiction started when his father committed suicide rather than be exposed as a corrupt cop, and now Sonny is the center of a vortex of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest — all of them focused on keeping him stoned and jailed, and all of them under the thumb of Oslo's crime overlord, the Twin. When Sonny learns some long-hidden truths about his father he makes a brilliant escape, and begins hunting down the people responsible for the hideous crimes he's paid for. But he's also being hunted, by the Twin, the cops, and the only person who knows the ultimate truth that Sonny is seeking. The question is, what will he do when they've cornered him?
Review
“A deftly plotted novel that probes the deepest mysteries: sin, redemption, love, evil, the human condition....One of Nesbø’s best, deepest and richest novels.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
“The standard bearer for the phenomenon that is Scandinavian crime fiction....Fast-paced and imaginatively violent, this latest example of Nesbo’s Nordic noir hurtles like an express train towards a last act of almost operatic extravagance that leaves dead bodies and carefully nurtured reputations littering the stage. Great stuff altogether.” Independent (Ireland)
Synopsis
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?"
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About the Author
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.