Today,
March 29, is the 56th birthday of one of my favourite mystery
writers: Jo Nesbø. This Norwegian writer is probably best known
for his series of crime novels featuring Inspector Harry Hole. The series
follows a tough detective whose investigations may take him from Oslo to Australia to the Congo Republic. Hole takes on seemingly unconnected cases, sometimes found
to involve serial killers, bank robbers, gangsters or the establishment, but
also spends a significant amount of time battling alcoholism and his own demons.
The 10
books in the series are
The Bat
Cockroaches
The Redbreast
Nemesis
The Devil's Star
The Redeemer
The Snowman
The Leopard
Phantom
Police
I’ve read
all ten books and would certainly recommend the series. I actually started with the third book, The Redbreast, which was the first to be
translated into English; the first and second books were actually translated
last.
I’m
featuring my reviews of the first and last book in the series.
Review of The Bat
3
Stars
This is the
first novel of the Harry Hole series but it was passed over for translation
until now; in English the first book to appear was actually the third one.
The death
of Inger Holter, a young Norwegian, results in Harry being sent to Sydney,
Australia. The Head of the Crime Squad
clarifies Harry’s role: “’What you’re
gonna do is watch carefully while we haul the bastard in . . . ‘” (9), but
Harry, along with his Aboriginal partner, Andrew Kensington, soon becomes much
more deeply involved. A series of
unsolved murders is uncovered and it is obvious that a serial killer is
involved. It also becomes clear that
Andrew seems to know more than he is willing to reveal directly. Early on, Andrew narrates the Aboriginal
creation story and Harry comments on its parallels with the Biblical version,
“’Despite all the differences, sooner or later, we still come up with the same
answers’” and Andrew repeats, “’Let’s hope so’” (53). Much of the time Harry seems to have to find
the answers Andrew has already reached.
The plot is
mediocre. There are the requisite number
of red herrings and twists and turns, but sometimes the story is
far-fetched. Andrew’s reticence to
divulge what he knows, except through enigmatic fables, is not totally
convincing. Furthermore, the ending is
peculiar, especially the location of the final confrontation with the killer;
no explanation is ever given for his choice of this place as a hideout.
What I
enjoyed about the book is learning about Harry’s background. The reader learns about the origins of Harry’s
tortured psyche. In subsequent books,
we see the depressive alcoholic who is tormented by the past, but explanations
for his behaviour are sketchy. As well,
in the subsequent books, allusions are made to Harry’s Australian adventure and
now we can understand why it haunts him.
What also
comes across very strongly is Nesbo’s sympathy for the Aborigines. Much of their mythology and the history of
their mistreatment are woven into the narrative, albeit sometimes rather
heavy-handedly.
This book
won the Glass Award for best Scandinavian crime fiction, but I found it weaker
than the other thrillers in the series, understandably since it is the author’s
debut. Perhaps it is just as well that
it was not the book that introduced Harry Hole to the English readers of the
world. If I had read it first, I might
very well have skipped the rest, and that would indeed have been my loss.
Review of Police
4
Stars
This is a
very difficult book to review without spoilers, but I will endeavor to do so.
First of all, it must be mentioned that this book is a follow-up to Phantom and readers would be strongly
advised to read it first as Police
continues the plot without detailed explanation.
Police
officers are being gruesomely murdered at the scenes of unsolved murder cases
which they helped investigate. After the shocking ending of Phantom, readers are not surprised that
Harry Hole is unable to assist in solving the deaths of former colleagues
(though a complete explanation of what happened to Harry is not given for the
first third of the novel). A team which had worked with Harry in the past leads
the investigation into the police murders, drawing on everything they learned
from his tactics.
Harry’s
absence from the police force allows Nesbo to focus on the other investigators.
Although they have appeared in previous Harry Hole mysteries, the ensemble
players are more fully developed in this one. The ones that stand out are Beate
Lønn, the head of forensics “who had a reputation as a kind of Rain Woman
because of her ability to recognize faces” (16); Katrine Bratt, whose specialty
is “tracking down people who had apparently vanished from the surface of the
earth. Seeing patterns where others only see chance” (73); and Stȧle Aune, the
mild-mannered psychologist who misses his former job as a police consultant
“profiling sick souls who killed people with such gruesome acts of brutality
that he was deprived of sleep at night” (22). Each of these secondary
characters emerges as a round character; in fact, even the more minor
characters and villains do not remain flat.
To say that
the plot is dense would be an understatement. A concise plot summary is
impossible not only because of the introduction of spoilers but also because of
the complexity of the plot. The book never fails to surprise with its many
twists and turns. Time and time again the reader becomes convinced that one
thing is happening only to discover his/her assumptions were incorrect. Some
reviewers complain about feeling manipulated but I think Nesbo is a master of
misdirection who uses the mystery reader’s tendency to be like Silje Gravseng,
a student at the police college who thinks she could tell Harry Hole how to
solve a case. In the end, when the case is resolved, the reader should not feel
cheated: all the clues are there.
Suspense is
definitely a strong element in the book. Several suspects have credible
motives, so some of the suspense derives from trying to determine the real
culprit(s). More than one investigator finds him/herself in a dangerous situation
so the tension diminishes for only brief pauses. One scene involving one of the
team suspecting that a family member has been killed is brilliant in the way it
ratchets up the suspense, especially since the author does not hesitate to have
even major characters killed.
The one
flaw is the use of coincidence. Most are acceptable, within the realm of
plausibility, but the one that made me uncomfortable is the explanation of what
happened to Harry at the end of Phantom
(180).
Aune
describes Harry Hole as “a starved, exhausted, monomaniacal hunter” and “the
tall, grumpy alcoholic with the big heart” (23), but agrees that the former
investigator “had been impossible not to love” (501). That’s the way it is with
this book; it is not perfect, but it is a compelling read.
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