“The Son” by Jo Nesbo – An Immortal Vendetta

The Son by Jo Nesbo (Book cover)
With The Son Jo Nesbo delivers an entirely new standalone novel, though in some ways, it does run in the same vein as the Harry Hole novels.

In The Son, our protagonist is Sonny Lofthus, a young man who spent the last twelve years of his life in prison, serving time for the crimes of others and being supplied with unlimited heroin.

The addiction seeped into his life upon the suicide of his father, who apparently would rather face the afterlife than being exposed as a corrupt police officer.

However, after all these years spent under the thumb of powerful and shadowy figures, Sonny makes a discovery which prompts him to rethink everything, make a brilliant and daring escape from prison, going after those who drove his father over the edge.

As you can certainly tell from the rather grim storyline, Nesbo takes great care to depict the seedy underbelly, the dark and scorched side of human life in Oslo in all of its glory.

Most of the characters we are treated to don’t have a specific moral compass; rather, they are more of a mish-mash of good and bad traits, with some having more of one than the other.

Lofthus is certainly a very interesting protagonist, being reminiscent of all those geniuses who let themselves go to waste due to life tragedies, drugs, lack of motivation, and so on and so forth.

He is extremely crafty, witty, intelligent, has a sense of humor, an enjoyable development arc even, and yet is held back by the countless spokes life put in his wheels.

As far as the story itself goes, it is thrilling and exciting in every sense of the word. We are deeply drawn into Sonny’s mind and psyche, one where things move at a breakneck speed, where every detail is important, and where everyone is seemingly out to get him, cops and criminals alike.

The Son by Jo Nesbo (Book cover)
A certain danger is omnipresent throughout the whole story, making us truly feel like the clock is ticking for Sonny and the noose tightening around his neck.

All in all, The Son is certainly a very welcome departure from the Harry Hole novels, providing an original story brought to life by the superb writing of one of the finest writers of the modern day.

I definitely recommend it to fans of his or those who are looking for a less conventional mystery thriller.


Jo Nesbø (Author)

Jo Nesbo


Personal site

Jo Nesbo is a Norwegian musician and book writer who has gained a solid foothold in his native country, selling more than 1.5 million copies of his novels in Norway (9 million worldwide) and having them translated in more than 40 languages.

One of his more famous books is The Headhunters, on which a very successful 2011 film was based.

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