The Kingdom

By: Jo Nesbø

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Brought to you by Penguin.

A stunning new standalone thriller from the author of the best-selling Harry Hole series.

In the far north of Norway a man lives a peaceful existence. However, one day his younger brother, always the more successful and charming of the two, turns up to visit, accompanied by his new wife. It soon turns out that the little brother is not quite as angelic as he seems.

Set in a small town filled with secrets, this compellingly dark thriller from the Sunday Times number one best seller has a plot as explosive and multi-layered as any of the Harry Hole novels.

Jo Nesbo has sold over 45 million books worldwide.

©2020 Jo Nesbo (P)2020 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

The Kingdom is a stunning novel from a storyteller with few equals (Jon Coates)

Absolutely riveting

So we’ll written and narrated. The story is deep, well thought out and absolutely riveting. So many twisted themes and emerging agendas. The author paints the scenes so well with his words, I feel like I could get around this Norwegian town without a map. Well done. This should be a mini-series.

I made it past chapter 56

Another reviewer said they didn't make it past chapter 56 and although I made it to the end I can understand why they bailed at that point.

I haven't read any other Jo Nesbo books, but this one was average. I liked all the norwegian specific stuff and I liked the narrator. Coincidentally I had just listened to the seven slough house novels so I was used to sean Barrett's voice, but he doesn't really match the age of the character.

The story was OK at the beginning but became increasingly convoluted, The plans were all a bit much

also warning contains references to child abuse.

Nesbo never disappoints

Nesbo, definitely the most important crime writer of our time. You won’t be able to put it down.

Not a real Nesbe

Being a fan of Jo Nesbe detectives I’m really disappointed. Soooo booooring, hardly made it up to an end. Not a Jo Nesbe style detective but a mediocre drama with no logic at all. Don’t lose your time on it. And also I didn’t like the reader as the main character is thirty something but the man sounds like he is above 80.

Poor...

Got to chapter 57, then lost the will to continue. Very disappointing for a Nesbo book.

Boring, disappointing, nothing like Harry Hole stories

The plot is stretched so much that you lose interest and struggle to finish.
The main protagonist and narrator tells too many unrelated stories from his past or makes long monologues, all irrelevant to the main story, that make you forget what the main plot was. And the main plot is flat and at places very predictable.
Add to it Sean Barrett’s voice that’s way more monotonous than ever, and for some reason very slow. I played this audio on 1.7x speed to go through.


If you have spare Audible credits and don’t know what to do with them or if you’re a die hard fan of Nesbo then this audiobook is for you, otherwise give it a pass. It’s not any close to Harry Hole’s series and Barrett’s performance is very disappointing.

Nesbo’s “Headhunters” and “The Son” are much better than this one.