A standalone novel from Jo Nesbo, THE SON is a story about the escape of a young man in jail for crimes he did not commit.
From the Blurb:
Sonny Lofthus, in his early thirties, has been in prison for the last dozen years: serving time for crimes he didn't commit. In exchange, he gets an uninterrupted supply of heroin—and the unexpected stream of fellow prisoners seeking out his uncanny abilities to soothe and absolve. His addiction started when his father committed suicide rather than be exposed as a corrupt cop, and now Sonny is the center of a vortex of corruption: prison staff, police, lawyers, a desperate priest—all of them focused on keeping him stoned and jailed, and all of them under the thumb of Oslo's crime overlord, the Twin. When Sonny learns some long-hidden truths about his father he makes a brilliant escape, and begins hunting down the people responsible for the hideous crimes he's paid for. But he's also being hunted, by the Twin, the cops, and the only person who knows the ultimate truth that Sonny is seeking. The question is, what will he do when they've cornered him?
Sonny is a model prisoner.
He listens to the confessions of other inmates at Oslo jail, and absolves them of their sins. Some people even whisper that Sonny is serving time for someone else: that he doesn't just listen, he confesses to their crimes.
Inspector Simon Kefas is a dedicated police officer.
Simon has worked for the Oslo police force for years. He's just been assigned a new murder investigation and a new partner, all on the same day.
Both of them knew Sonny's father.
To Sonny he was the man he idolised, to Simon he was his best friend. Both were left devastated when his corruption was revealed.
But neither of them knew the truth.