Roy Opgard may look like your average gas station attendant in the small Norwegian town of Os, but he’s a whole lot more than that. Much more. He’s a protector of the family, a business whiz, and, above all, a true fixer—the kind of guy who solves problems. And Os? It’s got no shortage of those. The Opgard brothers’ past (and present) is soaked in violence (see: The Kingdom). But for anyone who wants to become the king of a town like this, that’s hardly news. Except maybe the part where blood ties start to matter less and less… What follows is, naturally, a classic Jo Nesbø thriller — clever, twisty, and in this case, laced with an unusually heavy dose of melancholy.
It Was the Man at the Pump
Yep, the guy at the gas station. He did it all. Every single murder in Os… For the record, Roy Opgard is not a brutal, bloodthirsty monster. The fact that an alarming number of Os’s dearly departed met their end at his hands isn’t entirely his fault.
It took an abusive, tormenting father who targeted his own son. And a mother who looked the other way. Everything else followed from that. Oh, and of course, there was the charming, likable, but weak-willed brother, Carl, too.
The prequel to Blood Ties — The Kingdom — may be a thriller, and a solid one at that, but at its core, it’s also the life story of a lonely man longing for love. Its heavy, melancholic tone stands in sharp contrast to the looming sense of fate and the constant return of violence.
The reclusive, oddball Roy Opgard keeps finding himself backed into hopeless corners, and to claw his way out, he needs a razor-sharp mind, near-inhuman stamina, and relentless determination. Luckily, Jo Nesbø equips him with all of that.
Blood Ties Begin to Fray
The biggest flaw in The Kingdom? Arguably, the ending. The Shakespearean-style final act just didn’t feel all that convincing. And now we know why—Nesbø was saving the real ending for another book. Blood Ties, in many ways, is exactly that: an extended finale.
Of course, Roy Opgard’s life would be a whole lot easier if he only realized what readers of this book will suspect from the very behinning of the Opgard family’s tragedy-ridden story: that the biggest risk factor in the clever gas station attendant’s life is none other than his own brother, the ever-unreliable Carl. But hey, what can you do? Blood is thicker than water, right?
Jo Nesbø Gets Lazy
The events of Blood Ties unfold over just a few months—hardly enough time for another long, melancholic journey like the one in The Kingdom. Still, the story here echoes its predecessor in more ways than one: business troubles, a fraught triangle involving two brothers and one woman, and of course, the police, still breathing down the Opgard brothers’ necks.
Let’s put your mind at ease right away: if you liked The Kingdom, you won’t have much to complain about here. Blood Ties delivers a very similar experience.
But in one major respect, it just doesn’t work.
As Comrade Stalin once said: ‘No man, no problem.’ Roy Opgard tends to handle things in much the same spirit. Unfortunately, you can’t always solve everything with murder…
All of Roy Opgard’s other problems—mostly business-related—are basically solved by magic. Jo Nesbø simply didn’t put enough effort into making this part of his otherwise thrilling, atmospheric novel gripping. Or maybe he just wasn’t able to… or was simply too lazy.
But the fact is, whenever Roy Opgard runs into serious trouble, he somehow ends up with some piece of incriminating intel on his enemies—usually within two days, max. Ends up with? Let’s be honest: it just drops right into his lap. Problem solved.
In some cases, this “intel” is so petty, insignificant, or downright laughably contrived that it’s impossible to take seriously—especially when it’s all it takes to stop a sworn, lifelong enemy who, up until that point, had been obsessively hunting the Opgards in the name of vengeance.
You might be tempted to let out a weary sigh and declare that, sadly, the Opgard saga has gone the way of the Harry Hole series—flattened out and losing steam (see: Knife). And you wouldn’t be entirely wrong, if it weren’t for the fact that this book has such an absurdly powerful atmosphere. It’s so thick, so impenetrable, that even the weaker bits can’t quite break through. And then, there’s the other element that helps the whole thing rise above its flaws: Love. Of course it’s love. What else?
Love Is the Cure for Everything
Well, maybe not everything, but it sure can breathe life into a story steeped in melancholy. Because yes—Roy Opgard is in love. Again. Who’d have thought? Least of all Roy himself.
The love story in Blood Ties is the best kind of love story there is: that of star-crossed lovers. And who can ever resist one of those? Roy and his unlikely partner face every obstacle imaginable right from the start—an age gap, a tangled past, mental scars, scheming enemies… not to mention the suspiciously timed deaths — like a chopped-up relative showing up at the worst possible moment…
Blood Ties, despite its flaws, still delivers the level of quality we expect from Jo Nesbø. But what’s truly surprising is that it works best as a love story. Even as he transitions from small-town oddball to aspiring businessman, Roy Opgard faces challenges on every front. But the greatest of them all? Finding redemption—and love. And then, somehow, holding on to it.
Rating: 8.2/10
Blood Ties (The Kingdom #2) by Jo Nesbø
384 pages, Hardcover
Published in 2025 by Knopf
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Note:
Jo Nesbø’s novel, for reasons unknown, makes a point of drawing the reader’s attention to hardcore Norwegian folk music. It’s hard to say whether that’s a downside or perhaps a plus. I gave it a listen—so now no one else really has to.
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Ordeal by Jørn Lier Horst
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More books by Jo Nesbø:
The Kingdom
Killing Moon