In the depths of winter, a killer stalks the city streets. His victims are two young women, both found with twenty-four inexplicable puncture wound...
read full description
reviews
Feb 17, 2012
Kathy
rated it: 
The violence in The Leopard is gruesome and unrelenting (took me a while to craft a review without the phrase "sick fuck" in it [oops]). For some, I know, it will be too much. It came close for me, but my lack of an ability to visualize allowed me to power through.
That said, the violence works well within the story. Detective Harry Hole is back on the case of another serial killer and lets face it, things have to get pretty damn dicey to shake up Harry (and he is well and More...
That said, the violence works well within the story. Detective Harry Hole is back on the case of another serial killer and lets face it, things have to get pretty damn dicey to shake up Harry (and he is well and More...
3 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Feb 17, 2012
Kevin
rated it:
The short version of this review is this: If you liked the Snowman by Jo Nesbo then you will like this.
Longer version: The story follows Harry Hole to China where he is trying to bury himself in opium addiction after losing people close to him in the Snowman case. He is not coping well. He has a gambling debt to persons in China that are hunting him. His old boss needs him back for a case that is exploding with murders. To make matters worse, there is a new Investigative Unit that is More...
Longer version: The story follows Harry Hole to China where he is trying to bury himself in opium addiction after losing people close to him in the Snowman case. He is not coping well. He has a gambling debt to persons in China that are hunting him. His old boss needs him back for a case that is exploding with murders. To make matters worse, there is a new Investigative Unit that is More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 03, 2011
Alexandra
rated it:
Der Leopard ist ein Krimi, der eine so starke Horrorkomponente hat, dass sie fast zuviel ist für meine zartgestickte Seele. Manche Opfer werden nicht nur ermordet, sondern auch noch gefoltert und das in ausführlichsten Beschreibungen aus der Sicht des Sterbenden. Schon bei der ersten Szene setzte doch ernsthaft mein Würgereflex ein. Weiters ist dies ein Roman, bei dem ein empfindliches Gemüt zwar dann in der Nacht schlechte Träume bekommt, aber den man auch nicht weglegen kann - wie so ein hypno
More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Dec 22, 2011
Melissa
rated it: 
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
2 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jan 01, 2012
Felice
rated it:
In his previous novel Nesbø had Harry catching a serial killer known as The Snowman and almost losing himself in the process. In The Leopard Nesbø finds another multiple murderer for Harry to investigate. Apparently there’s a lot of that going around in Norway. Not to worry however Harry Hole is here to if not make sense of it then to at least put the bad guys behind bars.
Harry is my go to read among the Scandinavian crime spree novels. I never fell under the spell of Steig Lar More...
Harry is my go to read among the Scandinavian crime spree novels. I never fell under the spell of Steig Lar More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Nov 23, 2011
Saxton B. Little
rated it:
I'm a latecomer to the Harry Hole Norwegian thrillers but am becoming a fan of the series and of author, Jo Nesbo. I thought The Snowman was grisly and taut but compared to The Leopard, it’s like a walk in the park. Nesbo definitely steps up the violence a notch. Not all readers will be appreciative of this but as long as I’m just reading and not the victim, I’m ok with this.
In the Leopard we find Hole, holed up in Hong Kong making very little attempt to get his life back together. He More...
In the Leopard we find Hole, holed up in Hong Kong making very little attempt to get his life back together. He More...
0 comments
like
(7 people liked it)
Feb 19, 2012
Jay
rated it: 
I guess I have fallen off the "Nordic Trak." After relishing The Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson and Camilla Lackberg's "The Ice Princess" and "The Preacher," I dove into "The Snowman," by yet another Nordic author, Jo Nesbo, and enjoyed it only slightly less than the others (see my review from last fall). Unfortunately with this recent Nesbo dive, there was no water in the pool to break the fall.
While, I thought we had found the ultimate More...
While, I thought we had found the ultimate More...
Feb 07, 2012
I blame my mother! I never intended to get anything more out of the library that day but somehow came out with a bag groaning with weight Scandinavian noir. I had some successful ventures into the genre last year, the first since a few Wallanders a while back and I'd heard of this one.
However, I abandoned it pretty early on. It opens with an incarcerated woman being murdered in a fiendishly ingenious and gruesome manner. Now, I thought a Christopher Brookmyre character using intestin More...
However, I abandoned it pretty early on. It opens with an incarcerated woman being murdered in a fiendishly ingenious and gruesome manner. Now, I thought a Christopher Brookmyre character using intestin More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 01, 2012
Rett
rated it:
Murder, mayhem and Norwegian noir
Again and again, author Jo Nesbo throws so many surprises at you and in such rapid succession that the unexpected becomes (almost) expected.
In "The Leopard" a character says, "no one is as they seem, and most of life, apart from honest betrayal, is lies and deceit." The same could be said of the story and its many twists and reversals.
Two thirds the way through this big (600 hardback pages) everything seems to be More...
Again and again, author Jo Nesbo throws so many surprises at you and in such rapid succession that the unexpected becomes (almost) expected.
In "The Leopard" a character says, "no one is as they seem, and most of life, apart from honest betrayal, is lies and deceit." The same could be said of the story and its many twists and reversals.
Two thirds the way through this big (600 hardback pages) everything seems to be More...
Jan 24, 2012
Randi
rated it:
I've become a big Jo Nesbo fan -- he's in the Steig Larson/Henry Mantell group of Scandinavian thriller/crime writers -- brilliant-but-deeply flawed protagonist -detective -- who butts heads with law enforcement to solve cases. The Leopard is the most current book in the series; Harry Hole is our hero -- a recovering alkie and sorta-current opium addict. (Of course he has reasons to need to self-medicate). The Leopard is about a serial killer terrorizing Oslo, Harry's home turf, and he's recruit
More...
2 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 22, 2012
Carole
rated it:
A leopard makes so little noise that they could sneak right up to their prey in the dark by regulating their breathing so that it was in tune with yours and so it is with the villain in this book. Nesbo keeps us guessing from beginning to almost the end after leading us astray with false leads and mistaken identities and so he becomes the leopard of the title, invisibly stalking and catching his prey.
This is the sixth and latest Harry Hole book. He’s still battling his demons after the S More...
This is the sixth and latest Harry Hole book. He’s still battling his demons after the S More...
Jan 13, 2012
Dee
rated it:
Critique of The Leopard
By Jo Nesbo
The worst thing about this book is its celebration of sadism. The book begins in for me the most horrible way: A person is being tortured, and the reader is within the thoughts of the person being tortured. The next chapter takes the reader into the thoughts of the torturer. I cannot think of any two places I would rather not be. I could not read these two chapters. When I realized what they were, I stopped. Even then, the pict More...
By Jo Nesbo
The worst thing about this book is its celebration of sadism. The book begins in for me the most horrible way: A person is being tortured, and the reader is within the thoughts of the person being tortured. The next chapter takes the reader into the thoughts of the torturer. I cannot think of any two places I would rather not be. I could not read these two chapters. When I realized what they were, I stopped. Even then, the pict More...
Jan 13, 2012
Ellen
rated it:
As usual, Jo Nesbo delivers an intricate plotline, but in The Leopard, he might have overstepped the boundaries, at least for this reader. I had much the same reaction to this book as when I go to a movie and say, "That was great, but it was about a half hour too long." On the other hand, can you ever get enough of Jo Nesbo's writing or of his character Harry Hole?
Harry Hole is barely subsisting in a haze of drugs and alcohol when he reluctantly agrees to return from his self More...
Harry Hole is barely subsisting in a haze of drugs and alcohol when he reluctantly agrees to return from his self More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Jan 13, 2012
Carol
rated it:
Dear Harry Hole:
Last time I heard from you, you lost the woman you loved, her son who called you Dad and your middle finger. You quit Crime Squad for good, sulking from the trauma and devastation in your life caused chasing down that twisted Snowman. You moved to Hong Kong where you graduated at the top of your class from Jim Beam to heroin. No more serial killer hunts for you. Just smack, glass noodles and gambling on losing horses. The good life for someone who has given up on lif More...
Last time I heard from you, you lost the woman you loved, her son who called you Dad and your middle finger. You quit Crime Squad for good, sulking from the trauma and devastation in your life caused chasing down that twisted Snowman. You moved to Hong Kong where you graduated at the top of your class from Jim Beam to heroin. No more serial killer hunts for you. Just smack, glass noodles and gambling on losing horses. The good life for someone who has given up on lif More...
0 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Dec 19, 2011
Michael
rated it:
is it the genius of the writer, or the brilliance of the translator? i can't say for sure. but this was one damn fine read.
i fell into jo nesbo by accident. previously, i was reading a whole lot of henning mankell, and was fascinated by the characterizations and story lines -- until of course, it was ruined by the snivellingly awful portrail by kenneth branagh in the eponymous 'wallender' series recently "enjoyed" on pbs --but nesbo has mankell beat on flawed and despicabl More...
i fell into jo nesbo by accident. previously, i was reading a whole lot of henning mankell, and was fascinated by the characterizations and story lines -- until of course, it was ruined by the snivellingly awful portrail by kenneth branagh in the eponymous 'wallender' series recently "enjoyed" on pbs --but nesbo has mankell beat on flawed and despicabl More...
Dec 07, 2011
David
rated it: 
I cannot begin to express how excited I was to find this book for sale, used, and in America!! I was browsing the shelves at the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Alabama while on vacation (yes - Vacation). I found this as well as two other books that were not even available here in the states yet. This one still isn't. Obviously someone in Europe bought it for travelling and left it on the plane - yeah for them and for me.
We once again return to screwed up but obsessively dedicated More...
We once again return to screwed up but obsessively dedicated More...
Nov 23, 2011
Carol
rated it:
I'm a latecomer to the Harry Hole Norwegian thrillers but am becoming a fan of the series and of author, Jo Nesbo. I thought The Snowman was grisly and taut but compared to The Leopard, it’s like a walk in the park. Nesbo definitely steps up the violence a notch. Not all readers will be appreciative of this but as long as I’m just reading and not the victim, I’m ok with this.
In the Leopard we find Hole, holed up in Hong Kong making very little attempt to get his life back together. More...
In the Leopard we find Hole, holed up in Hong Kong making very little attempt to get his life back together. More...
0 comments
like
(2 people liked it)
Sep 29, 2011
dubh
rated it:
Harry Hole ist am Ende. Der Kommissar, der den beinahe schon legendären Schneemann (siehe gleichnamiges Buch) überführt hat, sumpft in Bangkok vor sich hin. Dort soll ihn nun die junge Kollegin Kaja aufspüren und anschließend nachhause bringen, denn im weit entfernten Oslo gibt es mehrere ungeklärte, brutale Mordfälle und Holes Chef hofft, dass sein (ehemals) bester Ermittler dem Täter auf die Spur kommt...
Kaja gelingt es schließlich, Harry Hole zur Rückkehr zu überreden, allerdings nicht m More...
Kaja gelingt es schließlich, Harry Hole zur Rückkehr zu überreden, allerdings nicht m More...
Sep 02, 2011
Nicola
rated it:
Reason for Reading: next in the series.
Harry Hole is in a personal mess after his last case and has hidden himself away in Hong Kong, but Norway seems to have a new serial killer in their midst and they are stumped. FBI trained serial killer expert Harry Hole must be tracked down and persuaded to come home and a detective is sent to find and bring him back. Hole does come back but only because his father is ill. Not really wanting to get back into the police business he can't help h More...
Harry Hole is in a personal mess after his last case and has hidden himself away in Hong Kong, but Norway seems to have a new serial killer in their midst and they are stumped. FBI trained serial killer expert Harry Hole must be tracked down and persuaded to come home and a detective is sent to find and bring him back. Hole does come back but only because his father is ill. Not really wanting to get back into the police business he can't help h More...
Jul 31, 2011
Desiree
rated it:
I'm not a fan of crime fiction, unless it was written by Raymond Chandler, but that's not crime fiction - that's noir literature. However, I was enticed by and enjoyed the Stieg Larsson books last summer, despite how poorly they were edited and awful the English translations were. The narratives were compelling, and I couldn't put them down.
I decided to pick up the latest book by Jo Nesbo - billed as the "Norwegian Stieg Larsson" - because I was curious about this new trend o More...
I decided to pick up the latest book by Jo Nesbo - billed as the "Norwegian Stieg Larsson" - because I was curious about this new trend o More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Jan 20, 2011
Stephen
rated it: 
This is the third book I have read by Jo Nesbø, where the protagonist is Oslo detective Harry Hole. The book opens with Harry on indefinite leave, hiding out in the opium dens of Hong Kong, and being brought back to solve a serial murder case -- two women have been found dead, drowned in their own blood.
I haven't read the book immediately preceding this one in the series, The snowman, which apparently explains why Harry was in Hong Kong, and perhaps one needs to read that to understan More...
I haven't read the book immediately preceding this one in the series, The snowman, which apparently explains why Harry was in Hong Kong, and perhaps one needs to read that to understan More...
Oct 17, 2010
Xirxe
rated it:
So tief unten war Harry Hole noch nie. Gestrandet in Hongkong, die Nächte in einer Massenunterkunft für Gastarbeiter verbringend, den Geistern der Vergangenheit diesmal mit Opium statt Alkohol entfliehend und auf der Flucht vor den Triaden denen er Geld schuldet. Doch seiner neuen Kollegin Kaja Solness gelingt es, ihn zurück nach Norwegen zu bringen: doch nicht, weil das Morddezernat seine Hilfe braucht, sondern weil sein Vater im Sterben liegt. Und weil er dann schon mal da ist... Die zwei unge
More...
Jan 30, 2012
Joe
rated it:
This is the eight book of the Harry Hole series, and the sixth translated to English. As I've now come to the end of these six page-turners, I'm already missing the series and feeling jealous of Norwegian readers who have received the next book, Gjenferd (expected to be titled The Phantom in English when translated later this year).
As we've come to expect from this series, The Leopard works both as a standalone work for those new to Harry Hole and as a further development of the chara More...
As we've come to expect from this series, The Leopard works both as a standalone work for those new to Harry Hole and as a further development of the chara More...
Jan 20, 2012
There are some books that aren't dreadful but just aren't worth finishing. All the same, I cannot remember the last time I read 311 pages of a book only to decide I couldn't be bothered to read the rest. After several days of being really confused by my overwhelming apathy and agonizing over what to do, I finally gave myself permission to give up.
Why couldn't I summon up the will to read? For one thing, this is not even half as a book as The Snowman nor was its killer remotely as fri More...
Why couldn't I summon up the will to read? For one thing, this is not even half as a book as The Snowman nor was its killer remotely as fri More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Sep 08, 2011
Jerome
rated it:
I don't usually write about novels from the same author twice in a row, but I read two Nesbo novels one after the other, and I didn't quite enjoy the second one as much as the first, so I decided to share it with you right away. In The Leopard, Inspector Harry Hole is back with a vengeance, trying to solve several murders that he believes have been committed by the same person. A serial killer, in other words. The story is delightfully complex (and if you like long stories, you'll like this one)
More...
Nov 25, 2011
Jane
rated it:
I have a thing about Scandinavia and Scandinavian crime thrillers. Having enjoyed Wallander on TV, particularly Krister Henriksson's portrayal, I want to read all of Henning Mankel's series. The Danish TV series The Killing is also very good. Hence when my book group chose Jo Nesbo's The Leopard I was just a bit excited! Little did I know that The Leopard is the sixth book in the series and having not read any of the others, I feel I'm doing this back to front. On opening the book I was bit
More...
Jan 04, 2012
Nora
rated it:
Wow. There are two things you can always say about Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole books: they will be very dark, with horrifying ways people kill each other (and horrifying ways they hide the bodies, see The Devil's Star for an example of that), and there will be a point, late in the book, where you think you know what's going on, who did it and why, and Nesbo pulls the rug out from under you and from that moment on, you cannot stop reading until the end.
If you don't like them dark and disturbi More...
If you don't like them dark and disturbi More...
Jan 20, 2011
Miles
rated it:
If ever there was an author you’d think twice about upsetting, crossing or agitating – Jo Nesbo’s your man! I mean that in the nicest way possible of course, he has an amazing natural ability to create some of the darkest and vile nemeses you could ever wish to meet – or should that be not to meet?!
In a follow up to “The Snowman” – which incidentally was my top book of 2010 – Inspector Harry Hole is back in action as Norway is gripped by yet another Serial Killer. With numerous referen More...
In a follow up to “The Snowman” – which incidentally was my top book of 2010 – Inspector Harry Hole is back in action as Norway is gripped by yet another Serial Killer. With numerous referen More...
7 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
Feb 12, 2012
Lisa
rated it:
Nesbo kind of lost a bit of my respect with The Snowman, and while I like The Leopard more than that one, I still felt a bit disappointed.
I remember really liking Harry Hole in the first several books. I found his story, his characterization, compelling. But, as the series has gone on, it has kind of lost it's believability edge to me. Nesbo is still an entertaining writer - pretty good at writing layered, escapist page-turners - but after awhile, so much of the action, as well as More...
I remember really liking Harry Hole in the first several books. I found his story, his characterization, compelling. But, as the series has gone on, it has kind of lost it's believability edge to me. Nesbo is still an entertaining writer - pretty good at writing layered, escapist page-turners - but after awhile, so much of the action, as well as More...
Dec 29, 2011
Linda Branham
rated it:
This book pick ups after the horrible experiences that Harry suffered at the conclusion of "The Snowman,", Harry was so down that he resigned from the police force and traveled to the Far East, where he loses himself in alcohol, opium and gambling.
This novel begins with a female detective from Norway finding him, paying off his gambling debts, telling him his father is in the hospital dying and he, as the only officer with experience solving serial murders, is wanted back in Oslo More...
This novel begins with a female detective from Norway finding him, paying off his gambling debts, telling him his father is in the hospital dying and he, as the only officer with experience solving serial murders, is wanted back in Oslo More...
