by Jo Nesbø
First published 2015
Olav works as a fixer for one of Oslo's most dangerous crime bosses. He kills people for money, and he's exceptionally good at it. But Olav carries contradictions that make him different from other contract killers. He possesses an unusual capacity for love that matches his talent for murder. He tells his story with calm precision, even when crisis strikes around him. Olav has always followed orders without question, but something runs deeper in his blood now. The power to decide who lives and who dies has changed him in ways he's only beginning to understand. His newest assignment should represent the peak of his professional success. Instead, it threatens to become his most catastrophic failure. As Olav navigates this latest job, he confronts questions about death and love that he never expected to face. The story reveals how a man who deals in death discovers what it means to truly live.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful
Tropes: antihero, morally-ambiguous-protagonist, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Norway, Oslo
207 pages · Hardcover · Knopf
Content warnings: violence