When Sonny isn’t on the nod, alone in his prison cell at Staten, he is The Confessor. Inmates of all persuasions come to him for absolution, for healing. Others, like a fallen minister and a crooked lawyer, get him to do the confessing for others. It’s been like this for 10 years, until lifer Johannes Halden comes to unburden himself to The Son. Then the story really takes off.
From the writer who created detective Harry Hole (10 books so far), comes a stand alone novel set in Oslo. A breathless story of corruption, gangsters, drugs, human trafficking and a cat and mouse game of vengeance when The Son escapes Staten and seeks to avenge his fathers death. While the police and bad guys essentially chase their tales, the Buddha With a Sword (as he is dubbed by the media) systematically takes out those who contributed to his fathers death, plus a few other baddies along the way. Just on this level, it would be an enjoyable book, as it is quite cinematic in scope (though I shudder to think what Fincher would do to this). However, Nesbo does a great job of keeping the tension whilst ruminating on nature vs. nurture, fate, destiny and free will. These characters sometimes act extraordinarily but are still flesh and blood, heroic and flawed human beings.
We don’t punish people because they are evil, but because they make bad choices, choices that are bad for the herd. Morality isn’t heaven sent or eternal, just a set of rules that benefit the herd.
More than just a thriller or police procedural, this book is still with me days after I reluctantly turned the last page.
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