Jo Nesbo – MostlyFiction Book Reviews We Love to Read! Sat, 28 Oct 2017 19:51:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.18 POLICE by Jo Nesbo /2014/police-by-jo-nesbo/ Fri, 07 Feb 2014 14:48:19 +0000 /?p=24935 Book Quote:

“He was asleep there behind the door.

The guarded hospital room smelt of medicine and paint. The monitor beside him registered his heartbeats.

Isabelle Skoyen, the Councillor for Social Affairs at Oslo City Hall, and Mikael Bellman, the newly appointed Chief of Police, hoped they would never see him again.”

Book Review:

Review by Jana L. Perskie  (FEB 7, 2014)

Suspects abound and deceit, lies and corruption are the order of the day from everyone – criminals and cops – in Police, an enthralling follow-up to Jo Nesbo’s previous Harry Hole novel, Phantom.  Police  actually takes up where Phantom leaves off. And my question, for over a year, while waiting in angst for this book to be published is…”Is Harry Hole still alive?” Obviously he is…or this book would not have been written. But still…there was some doubt.

I must say that Jo Nesbo has become a familiar name on my favorite author list and I cannot quite pigeon-hole his work into the “mystery,” “police procedural or “crime” genres.” His books, with their well developed characters, exceptional and unusual plots defy, for me, any one single genre. Perhaps, “body of literature” would fit the bill… and I consider his work, his prose, to be literature.

Nesbo is a master of very complex plots, an expert at exploring human motivations, the choices people make and their consequences. He has a talent for taking the usual crime thriller trope and twisting it into deranged scenarios. Harry Hole defies authority. He is a self-made outcast within his own organization and is best left alone to do his job. He is more of an anti-hero than a hero. His romantic life is nil – he usually lives alone and likes it that way, and his definition of “justice” may differ from what is defined as the “LAW.” For me, Detective Hole embodies the classic character from American hard-boiled fiction…but more hardboiled. His attitude is conveyed through his detective’s self-dialogue describing to the reader what he is doing and feeling. He witnesses, on a daily basis, the violence of organized and non-organized crime that flourishes, while dealing with a legal system that has become as corrupt as the organized crime itself. Rendered cynical by this cycle of violence, this detective of hardboiled fiction is a classic antihero….that would be Harry on steroids.

If possible, I believe one gets the most from Jo Nesbo’s Harry Hole series by reading the books in order. This way one can observe how Harry and other characters develop or grow, and sometimes die. I would say especially that I would most definitely read Phantom before picking up Police. These two novels should be read in order. However, if sequential reading is not possible, do not be discouraged. Once one has completed the first few pages of any of his other novels, it is difficult to put the book down…no matter where it falls in the sequence.

As Police begins we find Harry in relatively good shape as compared to how we left him in Phantom. He’s off active duty in the police department where the stress and danger almost killed him. He is teaching at the police academy and much healthier and happier, if this is possible. He is back , for the moment, with Rakel, his longtime, sometime love, and her son, Oleg, whom he considers his own.

There is a new series of executions in Oslo. The killer seems to be duplicating murder cases previously solved by Harry; the victims are all police officers. There are no loose ends, no tracks, no evidence – only revenge with a capital “R.” The police officers are not just shot in the commission of a crime, but lured to the scene of former murders and killed in an imitation of the previous crime. The killer is promptly dubbed “The Police Killer” by the press. Again, these are crimes, murders, previously solved by Harry. And, can it be possible… Oslo’s Crime Squad actually misses their top crime solver? But Harry is not around. Therefore, Krimteknisk and Crime Squad must now team up to solve the murders of their own. So…what we have is a conglomeration of four of the best detectives on the Oslo police department, all of whom have been introduced as Harry Hole’s well trained partners and colleagues over the last few novels. Among them are forensics specialists Beate Lønn and Bjørn Holm, brilliant researcher Katrine Bratt, psychologist Ståle Aune – but not Harry Hole, the one detective in Oslo who has solved virtually every case that’s crossed his path. The new group of crime stoppers…or solvers…constantly wonder “what would Harry do here?” “What was it Harry used to say? Intuition is only the sum of many small but specific things the brain hasn’t managed to put a name to yet.” The only thing predictable about this book is its unpredictability. It’s almost as scary as it is surprising.

And, deep down Harry and the reader know that he misses his old job – the department and active investigations. When one is good at something, like solving horrific crimes, one doesn’t let go easily…or at least Harry doesn’t. As the murders start striking closer and closer to him and targeting his former colleagues, Harry is pulled back into the investigation. I mean, he solved the crimes the first time around…so why not the second? Because, Harry is an alcoholic. He has a taste for drugs. His girl friend’s son, Oleg, while on drugs, shot and nearly killed Harry. And Harry has promised Rakel, that he will not go back to the police force. BUT…he does have his own unique and effective way of investigating murders. Ways not always condoned by the police manual. Harry is in a bind. He can come back to the police and risk losing his girl friend and her son or stand by while police are systematically being murdered. With corruption running rampant at City Hall, a vicious rapist escaped from prison, and the shifty Chief of Police, Mikael Bellman, exercising control over the force, the team will do what it takes to draw Harry back and unravel the mystery before another officer becomes a target.

This is the tenth Harry Hole mystery, and, as usual, the reader turns the last page eager and impatient for the next novel. Police reads differently from other Oslo Sequence books. It is longer and more nuanced. As ever, Nesbo is a master of giving us a difficult puzzle to solve and a flawed but likeable main character to take us there.

AMAZON READER RATING: from 522 readers
PUBLISHER: Knopf (October 15, 2013)
REVIEWER: Jana L. Perskie
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK? YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Jo Nesbo
EXTRAS: Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: Read our review of:

Bibliography:

Stand-alone Novels:

  • Headhunters (2008)
  • The Son (May 2014)
]]> THE SNOWMAN by Jo Nesbo /2011/the-snowman-by-jo-nesbo/ Thu, 12 May 2011 20:19:42 +0000 /?p=17845 Book Quote:

“Harry could feel the adrenaline rush, the trembling that always came when he got first scent of the brute. And after the rush came the Great Obsession. Which was everything at once: love and intoxication, blindness and clear-sightedness, meaning and madness. Colleagues spoke now and then about excitement, but his was something special.”

Book Review:

Review by Bonnie Brody  (MAY 12, 2011)

Harry Hole is a Norwegian detective especially trained in catching serial killers. He spent some time in Quantico learning these skills but serial killers are very rare in Norway. It just so happens that right now there is a serial killer loose in Norway. He’s been active for over fifteen years and his emblem is a snowman. Whenever he kills someone, he leaves a snowman in their yard. He has been nicknamed “The Snowman” by the Nowegian police force and this has been picked up by the civilian population.

Jo Nesbø has created an unremitting page-tuner in The Snowman. It was hard for me to come up for air. The writing excels, the pace is adrenaline pumping, and the clues take roundabouts throughout the book. The translator, Don Bartlett, is excellent. The writing is smooth, readable, and I would never have guessed that this book had been translated.

Harry Hole, like many police officers, is tortured by demons. He struggles with alcoholism, is still in love with his ex-wife, is the bad boy of his department and is afraid of the dark. At home, his walls are torn down because of a mold problem so he doesn’t even have a comfortable place to rest.

The Snowman is attracted to women with children. He does not target men or single women unless they are getting too close to finding out his identity. Harry Hole gathers a team of four and together they seek out this serial killer who uses a sadistic means to kill his victims. Sometimes he will even behead them and put their head on top of the snowman.

Harry and his team travel from Bergen to Oslo in search of this monster and they keep thinking that they have found him, only to realize that they have been tricked and he is still at large. The Snowman is smart, always one step ahead of them and Harry has a feeling that he is being watched and that the Snowman is someone he knows – someone in his personal or professional circle.

The Snowman doesn’t ever leave any clues. The crime scenes are immaculate, there is no DNA nor are there any fiber traces. The cuts are clean and immaculate. Sometimes, there is not even a body to be found which drives Harry to the brink.

I’ve read many police procedurals and hardcore mysteries but this is the best one I’ve ever read except perhaps for Deon Myer and Lawrence Block. They are special in their own way. There is not one part that lets up interest. Once picked up, the reader is bound to the book like super glue.

I was amazed to learn that Jo Nesbø, author extraordinaire is also a musician, songwriter, and economist. He published his first Harry Hole book in 1997 “and it was an instant hit, winning the Glass Key Award for the best Nordic crime novel (an accolade shared with Henning Mankell and Steig Larson). This is my first Harry Hole novel but it won’t be my last. I just ordered two more and can’t wait to start them. I checked his reviews on Amazon and they are consistently excellent. I am always excited to find a new author and Jo Nesbø is it for me.

AMAZON READER RATING: stars-4-0from 500 readers
PUBLISHER: Knopf (May 10, 2011)
REVIEWER: Bonnie Brody
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK? YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Jo Nesbo
EXTRAS:
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: Read our review of:

Bibliography:

Stand-alone Novels:

  • Headhunters (2008)
  • The Son (May 2014)
]]> THE DEVIL’S STAR by Jo Nesbo /2010/the-devils-star-by-jo-nesbo/ Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:57:32 +0000 /?p=8422 Book Quote:

“Harry had felt the gnawing ache for alcohol from the moment he woke up that morning. First as an instinctive physical craving, then as a panic-stricken fear because he had put a distance between himself and his medicine by not taking is hip flask or any money with him to work. Now the ache was entering a new phase in which it was both a wholly physical pain and a feeling of blank terror that he would be torn to pieces.”

Book Review:

Review by Eleanor Bukowsky (FEB 24, 2010)

In Jo Nesbø’s The Devil’s Star, Harry Hole is an alcoholic who will be lucky to reach his fortieth birthday. His job as an inspector in Oslo Police Headquarters is hanging by a thread. He would not have a position at all if his supervisor, Crime Squad Chief Inspector Bjarne Møller, did not feel sorry for him, especially since he knows what a terrific detective Harry is when he manages to stay sober. Harry’s self-loathing is deepened by regret over his crumbling relationship with his lover, Rakel. He is all too aware that he cannot offer Rakel the stability and security that she and her young son, Oleg, need and deserve.

It is summer in Oslo, and the city is in the grip of a debilitating heat wave. In addition, the police force is working with a skeleton crew since so many people are away on vacation. When a fresh homicide falls into Møller’s lap, he calls Beate Lønn, a forensics whiz and a straight arrow who practically lives in the lab and is blessed with a photographic memory. Next, he contacts Inspector Tom Waaler, a rising star who is handsome, self-confident, and respected by everyone in the department. Møller hesitates before telephoning Harry Hole, “the lone wolf…the department’s enfant terrible.”

Harry is still reeling from the death of his colleague, Ellen Gjelten. Although Ellen’s case is closed, Harry is obsessed and will not let it rest; he has some disturbing theories about what really happened to her. He spends hours pursuing leads that turn out to be dead ends. Out of frustration, he goes on a binge and Bjame covers for Harry by placing him on leave. However, Harry’s boss cannot protect him indefinitely.

Circumstances bring Waaler, Hole, and Lønn together on a strange case of a serial killer who seems to be fixated on pentagrams, “devil’s stars.” The perpetrator appears to pick his victims randomly and his motive is unclear. As the killings continue, the police remain baffled. Harry, who gradually emerges from his alcoholic haze, uses his keen insight and out-of-the box thinking to shed some light on this murky investigation. As he does so, he butts heads not only with a cold-blooded psychopath but also with a sworn enemy who has a great deal to lose if Harry succeeds in unmasking him.

Although Harry is something of a stereotype (the brilliant cop who needs a big case to give him an excuse to go on the wagon), he is likeable, honest, and compassionate. Unsurprisingly in a book that exceeds four-hundred and fifty pages, the mystery is complex, with red herrings galore, clues scattered throughout to tantalize the reader, and of course, a climactic and violent final confrontation. Although The Devil’s Star is far from realistic and breaks little new ground in a well-worn genre, it is evocative and suspenseful, with detailed and vivid descriptive writing and a fascinating look at the minutiae of forensics, interrogation, and surveillance. Nesbø’s characters are varied and intriguing, there is plenty of action to hold the reader’s interest, and the twists and turns keep us guessing, even after we think that the crime is solved. Aficionados of novels that feature a talented cop who lives on the edge, a sadistic and devilishly clever serial killer, and a plot that teases and surprises us until the truth is finally revealed, will find much to like in this multi-layered thriller.

AMAZON READER RATING: stars-4-5from 422 readers
PUBLISHER: Harper (March 9, 2010)
REVIEWER: Eleanor Bukowsky
AVAILABLE AS A KINDLE BOOK? YES! Start Reading Now!
AUTHOR WEBSITE: Jo Nesbo
EXTRAS: Excerpt
MORE ON MOSTLYFICTION: Read our review of:

Bibliography:

Stand-alone Novels:

  • Headhunters (2008)
  • The Son (May 2014)
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