The Confession: A Free Jo Nesbo Short Story from The Jealousy Man

by Jo Nesbø

*READ AN EXCLUSIVE FREE SHORT STORY FROM THE SOON TO BE RELEASED COLLECTION, THE JEALOUSY MAN, BY NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER JO NESBO*MORE ABOUT THE JEALOUSY Filled with dark thrills, twisted minds and vengeful hearts, these twelve page-turning short stories from 'the king of Scandicrime' (FT) and creator of the iconic detective Harry Hole, will have you reading late into the night. We meet a Greek detective who has become an expert on jealousy thanks to some hard-earned lessons from his private life. Far away, in another country, a taxi driver finds his wife's earring in a car belonging to his boss and sets out to discover how it ended up there. High in the skies above, a woman is on board a plane headed to London, about to end her own life in the wake of her husband's affair with her best friend. But who is the man sitting next to her? Nesbo also takes us to the near future, to a dystopian America, where the upper-class elite is waiting atop a skyscraper to be evacuated while the masses fight for survival in the streets below. We are introduced to two best friends on their way to the running of the bulls in Pamplona when they fall in love with the same girl and, in the epic and vicious finale, we meet a psychologist who also happens to be an assassin. In his first ever collection of short stories, this master of crime writing skilfully draws in the reader as we watch the potentially fatal outcomes of humanity's most powerful emotions play out on the page.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery, Crime

Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2021

About the author

Jo Nesbø is a bestselling Norwegian author and musician. He was born in Oslo and grew up in Molde. Nesbø graduated from the Norwegian School of Economics with a degree in economics. Nesbø is primarily famous for his crime novels about Detective Harry Hole, but he is also the main vocals and songwriter for the Norwegian rock band Di Derre. In 2007 Nesbø also released his first children's book, Doktor Proktors Prompepulver.

Series:
* Harry Hole
* Doktor Proktor

For exclusive content about Jo Nesbø and his books, register for the official fan newsletter: https://jonesbo.com/newsletter/

Reviews

[Klare · Rating 2 out of 5]

At only 17 pages it’s definitely a short story.

[Gary Starling · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me.

[Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great pace and plot for a 90-something page book! Lots of twists.

[Rowena Hoseason · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better short stories from the 2021 collection of 'dark tales'. Brisk and tightly-twisted; all the better for its brevity. A little predictable if you're very familiar with the genre; it’s almost certainly a knowing tribute to Roald Dahl’s classic, ‘Lamb to the Slaughter‘. But entertaining, nonetheless.
It's not, however, very repesentative of the whole collection. There are a couple of traditional 'tales of the unexpected' like this, but the bulk of the anthology is made up of longer novellas which are far less focused and a bit disappointing.
But this is worth grabbing for a quick coffee-break!
8/10

[Tracey Pearce · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all this was not a free book nor was it called the The Confession but The Jealousy Man. Was quite hard to get into at first think maybe because of the translation hence the long time for reading a short story which is part of the Quick Reads 2025 selection. I guessed the plot as soon as i got passed the translation. Quite enjoyed it.

[Mr Mark Hawksford · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Confession -

This is a short 17 page story. I guessed the outcome at the beginning of page 8. Not much to say about this one and not easy to grade.

[Timothy van Hijfte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read. Captivating story telling with great twists which will make for a wonderful evening (singular, since you will finish this in one go)

[Katie Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t realise it was only 17 pages long 🤷🏼‍♀️😂

[Susan Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed several of the short stories but not all

[John Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good read as it had different types of stories

[Gideon Marx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alternate reality. A professional killer that uses hypnosis to name only two of the short stories. Well worth the read.

[Danny Saines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting enough but hasn’t made me rush out and buy the collection that this is from.

[Aine · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a struggle to finish tbh. Few good short stories but many woeful ones that dragged. Not my favourite from this author.

[michelle & ken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short story and knew exactly what was coming.

[Liz Mistry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A charming short story that reminded me of an Agatha Christie.

[Rebecca Cecil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, what a story. A lot going on. A woman hires a detective to find out who killed her husband's twin brother. But wow a little of twist and turns. Never expected a lot that went on in the book.

[Zeynep 🌻 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading all of the short stories. Since Jo Nesbo is my favorite crime/thriller author, I really enjoy reading his works.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a 3.25 🌟 read rounded ⬇️ to 3 🌟.

I read the Google Play Books ebook and not the Kindle version.

[Leanne Prangnell · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Stephen Twinberrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange being so short but fun read nevertheless

[Linn Bergström · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stjärnor. Man kunde lista ut slutet, vilket drog ner betydligt på mitt betyg. Dock passade denna novell väldigt bra in på novellsamlingens tema; svartsjuka och död.

[Leah Lucia Jablonski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good thriller/crime read

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. Made me think twice about whom one sits next to on a flight.

[Theodora Antoniou · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 A nice easy and fast read. You could see the way that the story headed towards but for a small crime fiction I enjoyed it.

[Vicky Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never read a short story before. Was a good read.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, decent read - will I go and buy the Jealousy Man? Maybe.

[PGB · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice short story full of Jo Nesbo’s wit and quasi-cynicism.
The ending is predictable, obviously (you can guess from the title of the story and that of the book), but you’ll really enjoy the sequence of events and the unfolding of every single revelation.
Any Nesbo’s fan will find it interesting.