Nemesis: A Harry Hole Novel

This book was advertised as "Very Good", claiming unbroken spine and all pages intact. In fact, the delivered volume looks as though it was just washed up on a beach somewhere. The spine is broken and the front cover is hanging off. Some pages are also protruding from the book and it is generally in very poor condition. I would not recommend trusting any description of condition offered by Thrift Books of Chicago.

Jo Nesbo at his best. It seems to be no end to the talent of this writer. It has been fascinating reading the all of the Oslo cycle of stories and then going back and forth catching up with the rest of his writing, new and earlier. Some of his books are very long but if you are patient you will be rewarded because of all the twists and turns and the unexpected surprise endings. Recommended.

I read one of the later Nesbo stories a while back and decided to start from the beginning of the Harry Hole ones and so read  The Redbreast: A Harry Hole thriller . I enjoyed it so much that I ordered this one - the next in the series while I was reading the other. This is an intricately woven tale of bank robbery with a murder (or is it...) which Harry investigates in his usual way - without much concern for orders or what others are doing. Great characters, I really loved Raskol, a gypsy, in jail, who won't give any useful information to the police - maybe Harry can get somewhere with him. In the background is the ongoing story from the last book of the unsolved crime of his partner at least as far as Harry is concerned. As Harry's boss says describing the reason he likes him - "the alcoholic, obstreperous, stubborn, bastard". For those and a number of other reasons I like Harry too. Good Nordic crime novel and "yes" I have got the next one! The Redbreast: A Harry Hole thriller

Brilliant.btter than Redbreast, but you MUST read Redbreast to max your enjoyment from this one.Harry Hole cant see the glaringly obvious on account of his personal involvement with an apparent suicide victim, his inability to recall exactly how he came to be at the crime scene (he has lapsed back into alcoholism at the start of this book but gets away with it as Rakel is in Russia seeking custody of Oleg), and the added confusion of what seems to be a serial armed bank robber.As always - a cracking story.As not before - a clever cut and paste - from and into two parallel crime series, which may or may not be connected.Tom Waaler continues to torment. Harry continues to solve. Moller continues to tollerate.Tremendous. Highly recommended.

Looking at the reviews,there seems to be a wide polarisation amongst Nesbo readers with quite a number not liking his short snappy chapters and multi-stranded narrative structure. At first, after The Redbreast, I was slightly disappointed -- the plot seemed slow, flat and predictable with too much retelling of the back story. But just when I was giving up in disappointment it sparked into life, ending in style with some cleverly crafted twists and turns. It's not as good as The Redbreast and I would have given three and a half stars but because I can't I've erred on the side of generosity.