Reviews

• “Brothers Roy and Carl Opgard return in bestseller Nesbø’s immersive and disturbing sequel to The Kingdom. /…/ Nesbø brilliantly plunges readers into the psyche of a charming killer, leavening the bloodshed with pop culture references and dashes of the lacerating humor that suffuses his Harry Hole series. The result is a chilling and darkly funny noir that will haunt readers long after the last page.”

• “Nesbø offers beautifully written literary suspense in the second novel featuring the Norwegian brothers (after The Kingdom, 2020) drawing readers in deep by playing Roy’s ruthless logic against an onslaught of threats, emotional ties, and competing agendas. Readers will feel this one long after the final words.”

• “Nesbø’s latest boasts a quirky comic edge /…/ A darkly entertaining thriller.”

• “Nesbø’s bloody and brilliant page-turner /…/ Jo Nesbø is determined to hold onto his title as the most successful Norwegian author of all time, and his latest novel, Blood Ties shows he’s not slowing down.
  At no point does the almost 500-page tome grow wearisome or lacklustre. It does the opposite, with each page revealing yet another gruesome truth or shocking twist. While Nesbø’s writing skills are at home in the thrilling crime fiction genre, a moment has to be spared for his descriptive prose. Unfortunately, it can be easily missed as the reader eagerly races through the pages to discover what fate has befallen their favourite character. He describes a rural part of Norway in October, and its bitter chill, beautifully, from its mountainous peaks to winding country roads. Alongside scenic views, Nesbø accurately captures the quaint aspects of small-town life, more specifically the amusing characters that call Os home. By the novel’s end you will be longing for an additional hundred pages centered wholly on their gossip and charming attributes. /…/ With this latest novel Nesbø has accomplished something that is quite difficult. He has managed to write a book that is, at its core, a sequel to his 2020 bestseller The Kingdom, which was praised by the legendary Stephen King himself but which at the same time functions excellently as a standalone read. Naturally, you do not want to dive into this duology backwards, as Blood Ties does include spoilers for the previous instalment, but it sums up the past events with just as much gusto and skill as the original. Rest assured, at no point will you feel lost during this thrilling Scandinavian tale.”

• “This reader is, as always, impressed by Jo Nesbø’s ability to invent countless plot threads that weave in and out of each other and follow their own logic.”

• “[Nesbø] impresses once again. /…/ He’s a master when it comes to creating credible intrigue. There is plenty of that in [Blood Ties], and when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. /…/ This is summer reading at a high Nesbø-level, which is suitable both for the beach or wherever you spend your summer.”

• “The king of crime fiction.”

• “A charming and delicate Nesbø.”

• “Jo Nesbø is a really good storyteller. He masters the genre better than most, portions out the drama in a confident way, serves up hints which drive us on, and sprinkles it all with things he knows a lot about; soccer and rock music.”