The Kingdom

A Novel

By: Robert Ferguson - Translator, Jo Nesbø

Narrated by: Euan Morton

Length: 19 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

“I read The Kingdom and couldn’t put it down ... Suspenseful ... Original ... This one is special in every way.” (Stephen King)

Two brothers. One small town. A lifetime of dark secrets. A tense and atmospheric standalone thriller from best-selling author Jo Nesbø.

Roy has never left the quiet mountain town he grew up in, unlike his little brother Carl who couldn't wait to get out and escape his troubled past. Just like everyone else in town, Roy believed Carl was gone for good. But Carl has big plans for his hometown. And when he returns with a mysterious new wife and a business opportunity that seems too good to be true, simmering tensions begin to surface and unexplained deaths in the town's past come under new scrutiny. Soon powerful players set their sights on taking the brothers down by exposing their role in the town's sordid history.

But Roy and Carl are survivors, and no strangers to violence. Roy has always protected his younger brother. As the body count rises, though, Roy's loyalty to family is tested. And then Roy finds himself inextricably drawn to Carl's wife, Shannon, an attraction that will have devastating consequences. Roy's world is coming apart and soon there will be no turning back. He'll be forced to choose between his own flesh and blood and a future he had never dared to believe possible.

©2020 Jo Nesbo (P)2020 Random House Audio

What Was That?

Even after all the skeptical reviews I just had to give this one a try. I love Nesbo and have read everything he has written, but this was just terrible, awful and all around bad. The story itself is terrible the narrator sounds Irish and I feel like I could have skipped to the six hour mark and started from there. I’m sorely disappointed with this book.

A grim and disturbing tale to what end?

I love Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series and Macbeth. This was something else again. I did get pulled along by the good writing and narration, but quit in disgust right before the end.

Awful story

I have read many of Jo Nesbo ‘s books. As a matter of fact he was my favorite author until I had to endure this horrible book. What’s so bad about it? I dislike books that flip from past to present and back. There is no need to do that if you develop your characters correctly. The focus of the book is the relationship between the brothers , which Jo is trying to portray like Cain and Abel from the Bible but fails miserably because all these two brothers do is kill.
And just when you think, this is it, we are going to see a breakthrough in the brotherly relationship and the brother we like is going to get his happy ending.
I won’t tell you what happens except to advice you don’t waste your time on this book unless you suffer from insomnia.

What happen to Jo Nesbo?

What can I say other then worst book. I don't think Jo wrote this book

very very dark

a blend of family secrets, relationship dynamics, mystery and psychological suspense, masterfully written and read. not for the faint of heart.

Last but not least

I was not disappointed by this latest production of Jo Nesbo. After going thru all his detective series plus another stand alone novel I anxiously awaited this book. At first the narrator sounded too foreign but very soon Euan Morton too me away to the small Upgard farm and family. The book finished too quickly. Here’s to the next.

Nesbit does it again

Great storyline so many twists cannot be put down
The narration was excellent
Anxiously waiting for the next Harry Hole book.

What a saga!

I listened to Jo Nesbo’s “The Kingdom” translated by Robert Ferguson and narrated by Euan Morton. At first, I did not like the narrator’s voice, but chose to give it a shot. I’m happy I did. In fact, I ended up believing he was the perfect narrator for the protagonist, Roy Opgard. This is almost a 20 hour production. It’s basically a rumination of Roy’s life in a desolate mountain town in Norway. It’s bleak and referred to as noir genre. I am a fan of Harry Hole, and love the action-packed and crazy life of Harry. This is crazy, but less action packed….more of a slow burn into destruction.

Not to say it isn’t macabre. Incest, arson, infidelity, murder, swindling, and of course, deceit feature heavily in this tome. Of course we get the story from Roy’s side. His brother, Carl, plays an important role, if not the instigator in much of the mayhem. Carl is younger than Roy, and Roy felt a fraternal duty to protect Carl all through Carl’s life. Carl experienced a sexual abuse that Roy felt responsible for, suggesting that is Roy’s main compulsion for protecting Carl when Carl should have been held responsible. But family secrets loom heavy in the story, and Roy keeps covering for one secret after another.

“The Kingdom” is the land that the two brothers inherit after their parents die in a tragic and questionable car crash. Carl leaves Norway to study at a university in Minnesota. He returns with a grandiose plan to build a hotel and vacation destination in their humble mountain town. Carl also returns with a wife who seems to be cut of the same ilk as the brothers, creating a trio of borderline psychopaths. More deaths, more questionable car crashes, more missing persons…..how will this end?

One reviewer likened this novel to a miniseries. Given the length and all the crazy action, it could be a Cohen brother’s sort of miniseries. Or Quentin Tarantino could do a solid job in making this into a film.

This is a family saga that is dark and unsettling. It’s a story of slowly mounting destruction and betrayal. Don’t go into it thinking you will read another Hole action-packed story.

best Nesbo book ever

in spite of the dark view, I listen to all the Harry Hole books because of the quality of the writing. iOn this book Nesbo has moved to a much higher level. It reminds me of Camus’ The Stranger”. It is brilliantly written and philosophically challenging.

A truly twisted tale

Set in a Norwegian mountain village a story of both brotherhood hatred and murder. Mountain roads and old American cars.