Blood Ties - by Jo Nesbo (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Nesbø has established himself as the king of Nordic noir." --NPR's All Things Considered

FAMILY COMES FIRST. NO MATTER THE COST.

By all accounts, Carl and Roy Opgard are doing quite well for themselves. Or at least they're doing as well as can be expected in a small town like Os. Carl manages the area's swanky and successful spa and hotel, while Roy runs a nearby gas station and harbors grand plans to build it out into an entire amusement park, complete with a roller coaster. But when news breaks about a new highway to be built nearby, bypassing Os and leaving the town cutoff and isolated, it's clear that something has to be done . . . even if the methods are bound to be dirty. Fortunately, Carl and Roy have experience with just that kind of work.

Meanwhile, the town sheriff has gotten his hands on new technology that will enable him to take a deeper look at a slate of unsolved murders from years past--including that of his own father. And just as the sheriff reopens his investigation, the death toll begins to climb. It's like Roy says about his roller coaster: "Once it's rolling, it's too late to get off."

Blood Ties is a tense, compulsively readable tour de force about loyalty, family ties, and love that is as destructive as it is powerful.

Review Quotes

"Nesbø has established himself as the king of Nordic noir."
--NPR's All Things Considered

"Jo Nesbø--aided immensely by Robert Ferguson's penetrating translation--moves inexorably towards a finale that evokes classic tragedy."
--The Anniston Star

"It's so nice to see the classic crime noir framework applied to a Norwegian landscape, which makes the proceedings all the more foreign and chillier. There is nothing that Jo Nesbø cannot do."
--Bookreporter.com

"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."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Beautifully written literary suspense. . . . Readers will feel this one long after the final words."
--Booklist (starred review)

"Nesbø's latest boasts a quirky comic edge. . . . A darkly entertaining thriller."
--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

ROBERT FERGUSON has lived in Norway since 1983. His translations include Norwegian Wood by Lars Mytting, the four novels in Torkil Damhaug's Oslo Crime Files series, and Tales of Love and Loss by Knut Hamsun. He is the author of several biographies, a Viking history and, most recently, The Cabin in the Mountains: A Norwegian Odyssey.