The Son by Jo Nesbo

by:  Jo Nesbo
published by:  Knopf
publish date:  May 13, 2014

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? 

I'm a huge Jo Nesbo fan.  I love the Harry Hole series.  I was really excited about a stand alone book, because I really like his other stand alone book Headhunters.  However, I felt a bit let down by The Son.  I felt like I was reading another Harry Hole book but with different names plugged in.

I won't say that I totally disliked the book.  It was good, I was engaged throughout the whole book.  It just felt the same.  I was hoping for something really different, like Headhunters was.  Even the title, I almost expected it to be somehow about Oleg in someway.  But getting past all that, I really did like how the story fit together.  It was an interesting idea that prisoners are kept in prison and paid off to take the fall for crimes that they didn't commit.

Will this little disappointment stop me from reading Jo Nesbo, of course not.  I'm always recommending him to everyone.  I hope he continues with the stand alone books.

The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan

by:  Elizabeth LaBan
published by:  Knopf Books for Young Readers
publish date:  January 8, 2013

Tim Macbeth, a seventeen-year-old albino and a recent transfer to the prestigious Irving School, where the motto is “Enter here to be and find a friend.” A friend is the last thing Tim expects or wants—he just hopes to get through his senior year unnoticed. Yet, despite his efforts to blend into the background, he finds himself falling for the quintessential “It” girl, Vanessa Sheller, girlfriend of Irving’s most popular boy. To Tim's surprise, Vanessa is into him, too, but she can kiss her social status goodbye if anyone ever finds out. Tim and Vanessa begin a clandestine romance, but looming over them is the Tragedy Paper, Irving’s version of a senior year thesis, assigned by the school’s least forgiving teacher.

The Tragedy Paper started out as one of my random audiobook picks from the library.  It ended up as one of my favorite books so far this year.  Tim's story is moving and I was instantly captivated by it.

The Tragedy Paper is told from alternating viewpoints of Tim, in the previous year at The Irving School, and Duncan who is currently attending The Irving School.  They share a common tragic night, however, Duncan was never fully aware of all the circumstances around the incident.  On Duncan's first day of his Senior Year, where this story starts, he receives a stack of CD's that Tim recorded for him explaining the whole year and all the events leading up to the terrible night that their lives became entwined.

I really enjoyed both characters, Tim and Duncan.  Both of them were so well developed, all their decisions made sense for them.  Another aspect of this book that I came to appreciate was the pacing.  Initially, I was really frustrated with how slowly the story was being pieced out, but in the end I was pleased how it all came together.

The Tragedy Paper is a fantastic contemporary YA.  I highly recommend it.  I don't have any parental warnings for this one.  From what I recall, everything in it was YA appropriate, although it might be a bit over the heads of the youngsters.