Review of THE KINGDOM by Jo Nesbø (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This example of Nordic Noir is written by the creator of the Harry Hole series, but this book is very different.  It is a crime novel but it is also very much a family drama focusing on the bond between brothers.

When he is 15 years old, Roy Opgard is told by his father that he must always look after his younger brother Carl:  “’You and me, we’re alike, Roy.  We’re tougher than people like Mum and Carl.  So we have to look after them.  Always.  . . . We’re family.  We’ve got each other and nobody else.  Friends, sweethearts, neighbours, the locals, the state.  All that’s an illusion, it’s not worth a candle the day something really matters.  Then it’s us against them, Roy.  Us against absolutely everybody else.’”  Roy takes seriously the responsibility to protect his brother, especially after they are orphaned.  Carl gets into trouble and Roy rushes in to help and clean up the mess.  Once Carl leaves for North America, Roy focuses on managing a gas station in the small village of Os and living a quiet life on the mountain farm his father called The Kingdom.  Then, 15 years later, Carl returns with Shannon, his architect wife.  The two have big plans to build a mountain resort, though the sketchy financing plan necessitates the involvement of virtually every villager.  It quickly becomes clear that Roy will have to revert to his role as protector:  “I suspected the reason for this sudden and unannounced homecoming was . . . [that] he needed his big brother’s help.”  More than once, Roy is faced with having to decide how much he is willing to do to help Carl.

Almost from the beginning it is obvious that both boys suffered trauma in their childhoods, trauma which has had a lasting emotional impact.  Of course, this trauma has been kept a secret from everyone, though it seems some people in the village have suspicions.  Even the reader is initially kept in the dark as to exactly what happened.  However, when that first secret is revealed, it emerges that there are other secrets - in fact, layers of secrets and lies.  At times, the number of secrets becomes almost overwhelming. 

The two brothers are foil characters.  Roy, the narrator, is an introvert and loner; his ambition is to own his own service station.  He has a strong sense of duty, and his love for and loyalty to his brother are obvious; he feels he has incurred a debt to his brother which “I was going to have to go on paying until I died.”  Carl is the extrovert, a social charmer.  He dreams on a large scale, though his impulsive nature often gets him into trouble.  The two work together when necessary, but Roy begins to mistrust his brother when he learns that Carl is not always completely truthful and forthcoming.  There is also underlying jealousy; Roy admits, “’I’ve been jealous [of Carl] since I was five years old.’”  The complexity of the relationship between the two creates suspense.  We know Roy doesn’t fully trust Carl, but does Carl completely trust his brother? 

This is a lengthy novel and it starts slowly.  Then the pace picks up and the reader will be breathing quickly because of the many twists and turns:  “Almost nothing is impossible.  It’s just a question of time, and then everything happens.”   Unfortunately, I did find myself shaking my head in disbelief after a while because there’s “a pile of wrecked cars and corpses that just grew and grew.”

The book does urge readers to consider what they would do to protect family.  Roy and Carl’s father says, “’It is the ability not to take the path of least resistance but the path of highest morality that separates humans from animals’” but suggests that they may have to be collateral damage, “unintentional fatalities, but necessary” in a war endangering family.   Shannon points out, “’morality as a motivating force is overrated in us humans.   . . .  We shape morality so that it suits our purposes when we feel our group is under threat.  Family vendettas and genocides throughout history are not the work of monsters but of human beings like us who believed they were acting in a way that was morally correct.’”  She admits, “’I love the ones I love and do what I have to in order to protect them.  Even if that means doing bad things.’”  Would you?

This dark and atmospheric novel has interesting characters with both internal and external conflicts.  Once tension begins, there’s little lessening.  It engages the reader in questions of morality and responsibility for and loyalty to family.  The amount of betrayal, obsession and violence stretches credibility but would work well in an action-packed film adaptation. 

Note:  I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.