Son by Jo Nesbø

Paperback:  SONNY'S ON THE RUN

Sonny is a model prisoner. He listens to the confessions of other inmates, and absolves them of their sins.

HE'S BEEN LIED TO HIS WHOLE LIFE

But then one prisoner's confession changes everything. He knows something about Sonny's disgraced father.

SONNY WANTS REVENGE

He needs to break out of prison and make those responsible pay for their crimes.

WHATEVER THE COST

Son (2014) is an excellent stand-alone novel, where Nesbø "paints an intricate, disturbing picture of rampant corruption within prison and the police service in Norway."  It is translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund.

About the author:  Jo Nesbø played football for Norway's premier league team Molde, but his dream of playing professionally for Spurs was dashed when he tore cruciate ligaments in his knee at the age of eighteen.  After three years' military service he attended business school and formed the band Di derre (Them There).  Their second album topped the charts in Norway, but he continued working as a financial analyst, crunching numbers during the day and gigging at night.  When commissioned by a publisher to write a memoir about life on the road with his band, he instead came up with the plot for his first Harry Hole crime novel, The Bat (2012).  He is regarded as one of the world's leading crime writers, with The Leopard (2011), Phantom (2012), Police (2013) and The Son (2014) all topping the UK bestseller charts, and his novels are published in 48 languages.

About the translator:  Charlotte Barslund was born in Denmark and has lived in the UK since 1984.  Barslund is a translator of classic and contemporary Scandinavian plays and novels.  Her translation of Calling Out For You by Karin Fossum was nominated for the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger award, while her translation of I Curse The River Of Time by Per Petterson was shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction award.  She has also translated novels by Peter Adolphsen, Carsten Jensen, Sissel-Jo Gazan, Thomas Enger, and Mikkel Birkegaard.

Rating:  6/5