Blood Ties: A Novel by Jo Nesbo, Robert Ferguson (Translator)

After the events of The Kingdom, Carl and Roy are content living their small-town lives — but old habits die hard. Tense and chilling, Blood Ties is impossible to put down.

From the modern master of Nordic suspense comes an explosive novel about a community in crisis and two brothers on the verge of losing everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve.


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.