Book Review
Title: The Son
Author: Jo Nesbo
Translation: Charlotte Barslund
Copyright: Jo Nesbo 2014 (for other copyrights see book)
Blurb: extract: Sonny’s on the run…He’s been lied to his whole life…Sonny wants revenge…whatever the cost
Plot: I read this in just over a day, it really grabs you and over you through the plot. I guess I’d describe it as ‘Gritty Scandinavian’. The film is no doubt on the way. Nesbo draws his characters with a bit too much stereotyping, baddy’s are big lads with tattoos and guns.
I love a conspiracy theory, and this has one, although it’s a bit predictable in places. Other parts of the book left me a bit confused. It just left me with a feeling that he maybe should have read it again and edited it down one more time to remove any confusion.
Characters: An odd character or two seems to have little purpose other than to add emphasis to personality of main character. It left me with a feeling I’d missed something, I didn’t know them well enough, was I supposed to? Maybe if he had taken out some of the surplus characters it would have been a tighter more concise story. I don’t know if he’s written it yet but I can see a sequel for at least one of the characters, maybe that’s why they are included with future plans in mind.
Conclusion: I’ve always been a bit cynical about this author as he appeared shortly after the Stieg Larsson genius. Also I tend to avoid the best seller lists. I’m not as drawn in to Nesbo’s work. It is a quick fairly predictable read, predictability is not always a bad thing, we buy and read what we know will please us.
Recommended: A couple of really obvious scenes you can see coming from the start, but still on my book recommendations list. It’s the ideal great book to read in between some heavier classics, as a beach read for me so did the job.
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