David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "jo-nesbo"
The Leopard
Harry Hole has got to be the most extreme homicide detective in suspense fiction. In the last episode he has his jaw broken; in this one he comes close to being killed twice, and a gun is not employed.
Harry is also an alcoholic and a drug abuser. At the beginning of THE LEOPARD he has resigned from his job and gone to Hong Kong where he acquires an opium addiction and is heavily in debt to gangsters over gambling losses. This is where his new partner, Kaja Solness, finds him. She tells him the department is willing to pay off his gambling debt if he will return to Norway and work on what looks like a new serial killer investigation. Harry is the only detective with experience working on that sort of crime as he solved the Snowman case and a previous string of murders in Australia.
The murder weapon in this case is extremely original. It's a torture device acquired in the Congo. It looks like a Christmas ornament with circular ridges; it is forced into the victim's mouth where it irritates the sides of his/her cheeks. A string protrudes from the victim's mouth. Eventually the first two victims pulled the string, causing needles to puncture the sides of their mouths and palettes, and bled out. The genius is that the murderer could be elsewhere when the victim actually died.
Subplots involve Harry's dad who is dying and Mikael Bellman the head of Kripos, an FBI-like homicide unit, who persuades the higher ups that the national investigative unit should handle all murder cases. Bellman is good-looking and charming but lacks Harry's imagination. Nesbo throws another hurdle in Harry's path when he includes a Bellman spy among Harry's confidants.
In THE SNOWMAN it was easy to pick out the killer. Nesbo must've listened to his critics because this time he manages to hide him/her pretty well, although conforming to the mystery convention where you show the murderer briefly so the reader can play along. But then he pulls a Jeffery Deaver twist (not a compliment) that made me want to hurl the book against the wall. But I soldiered on and Harry's relentless pursuit of the killer was still enough of a selling point to make me want to know what happens to this poor soul in the next episode.
Nesbo's main appeal is his ability to put Harry in such terrible circumstances that as a reader you think surely he's going to get the green Wienie this time, but he always manages to think his way out of it. Usually, with a series like this you know the author isn't going to kill off his bread and butter character, but with Nesbo you're not quite sure.
Harry is also an alcoholic and a drug abuser. At the beginning of THE LEOPARD he has resigned from his job and gone to Hong Kong where he acquires an opium addiction and is heavily in debt to gangsters over gambling losses. This is where his new partner, Kaja Solness, finds him. She tells him the department is willing to pay off his gambling debt if he will return to Norway and work on what looks like a new serial killer investigation. Harry is the only detective with experience working on that sort of crime as he solved the Snowman case and a previous string of murders in Australia.
The murder weapon in this case is extremely original. It's a torture device acquired in the Congo. It looks like a Christmas ornament with circular ridges; it is forced into the victim's mouth where it irritates the sides of his/her cheeks. A string protrudes from the victim's mouth. Eventually the first two victims pulled the string, causing needles to puncture the sides of their mouths and palettes, and bled out. The genius is that the murderer could be elsewhere when the victim actually died.
Subplots involve Harry's dad who is dying and Mikael Bellman the head of Kripos, an FBI-like homicide unit, who persuades the higher ups that the national investigative unit should handle all murder cases. Bellman is good-looking and charming but lacks Harry's imagination. Nesbo throws another hurdle in Harry's path when he includes a Bellman spy among Harry's confidants.
In THE SNOWMAN it was easy to pick out the killer. Nesbo must've listened to his critics because this time he manages to hide him/her pretty well, although conforming to the mystery convention where you show the murderer briefly so the reader can play along. But then he pulls a Jeffery Deaver twist (not a compliment) that made me want to hurl the book against the wall. But I soldiered on and Harry's relentless pursuit of the killer was still enough of a selling point to make me want to know what happens to this poor soul in the next episode.
Nesbo's main appeal is his ability to put Harry in such terrible circumstances that as a reader you think surely he's going to get the green Wienie this time, but he always manages to think his way out of it. Usually, with a series like this you know the author isn't going to kill off his bread and butter character, but with Nesbo you're not quite sure.
THE REDEEMER
Except for a short journey to Croatia, Nesbo's THE REDEEMER sticks pretty much to Norway. It's also more of a traditional mystery.
The big surprise is what Nesbo seems to be saying about overtly religious people, primarily those who run the Salvation Army. If Nesbo sticks to reality, the Salvation Army would seem to have much more influence in Norway than it does here. I had never heard of officer training school for Salvation Army leaders for one thing. Norway also tolerates drug abuse but specifies one small area of the city of Oslo for their nefarious doings. The Salvation Army tries to provide food and shelter for them.
Okay, so here's the theme: Salvation Army leaders are pretty much just like the rest of us. They have their faults, too. They are also capable of pride, envy, sex abuse, and even murder. There are two brothers that play vital roles in the story; both are very much misunderstood.
At the beginning of the story a Croation hit man murders one of the brothers, Robert Karlsen. Almost immediately he realizes he got the wrong brother, and he sets out to find the other one, John. John is in line to become the new territorial commander of the Salvation Army. At first, our hero, Harry Hole, who's on the wagon for a change, thinks Robert hired the hit man and was hoisted on his own petard. So to speak.
Harry must also learn to live with a new boss, Gunner Hagen, a former member of special forces with his own ideas about how to run the homicide department. Harry pretty much had the run of the place prior to Gunner. But Gunner isn't stupid; he realizes Harry's the best detective he's got; he just wants him to keep up to speed on the case and follow orders once in a while. He's also more hands on than Harry's previous boss.
Harry's girlfriend, Rakel, is currently dating a doctor, but one of the Salvation Army workers, Martine Eckhoff, the daughter of the current territorial commander, has the hots for him. She is a much younger girl, but seems to like older men, especially macho, sensitive types like Harry.
I've read two previous Nesbo mysteries, and I liked this one the most. Harry stays on the trail of the killer; there aren't that many subplots where Harry goes on a coke binge or whatever. He does get drunk once, but it doesn't stop him from finding the killer and making a questionable moral decision, as he does in most of Nesbo's books.
The big surprise is what Nesbo seems to be saying about overtly religious people, primarily those who run the Salvation Army. If Nesbo sticks to reality, the Salvation Army would seem to have much more influence in Norway than it does here. I had never heard of officer training school for Salvation Army leaders for one thing. Norway also tolerates drug abuse but specifies one small area of the city of Oslo for their nefarious doings. The Salvation Army tries to provide food and shelter for them.
Okay, so here's the theme: Salvation Army leaders are pretty much just like the rest of us. They have their faults, too. They are also capable of pride, envy, sex abuse, and even murder. There are two brothers that play vital roles in the story; both are very much misunderstood.
At the beginning of the story a Croation hit man murders one of the brothers, Robert Karlsen. Almost immediately he realizes he got the wrong brother, and he sets out to find the other one, John. John is in line to become the new territorial commander of the Salvation Army. At first, our hero, Harry Hole, who's on the wagon for a change, thinks Robert hired the hit man and was hoisted on his own petard. So to speak.
Harry must also learn to live with a new boss, Gunner Hagen, a former member of special forces with his own ideas about how to run the homicide department. Harry pretty much had the run of the place prior to Gunner. But Gunner isn't stupid; he realizes Harry's the best detective he's got; he just wants him to keep up to speed on the case and follow orders once in a while. He's also more hands on than Harry's previous boss.
Harry's girlfriend, Rakel, is currently dating a doctor, but one of the Salvation Army workers, Martine Eckhoff, the daughter of the current territorial commander, has the hots for him. She is a much younger girl, but seems to like older men, especially macho, sensitive types like Harry.
I've read two previous Nesbo mysteries, and I liked this one the most. Harry stays on the trail of the killer; there aren't that many subplots where Harry goes on a coke binge or whatever. He does get drunk once, but it doesn't stop him from finding the killer and making a questionable moral decision, as he does in most of Nesbo's books.
Cockroaches
When the Norwegian ambassador to Thailand is stabbed to death with an unusual knife, The Secretary of State and the Police Chief insist that Harry Hole be sent to investigate due to his celebrity in solving a serial killer case in Australia.
Or so it seems. When Harry arrives he's on a beer binge, thinking that he can at least function while drinking beer as opposed to the hard stuff.
When he arrives he's paired with a homicide detective, Liz Chumley. She's part Thai and part American. She's also a strange looking woman who could be taken for a man: “...broad-shouldered and almost as tall as Harry, the hairless skull had pronounced jaw muscles and two intensely blue eyes above a straight mouth.” Turns out she'd contracted alopecia as a young woman, losing her hair. She's one of the most interesting people, who, like Lisabeth Salander, disappears too often in the plot.
Remember now, this is Thailand, the sex capital of the world. The first clue Harry stumbles across was that Atle Molnes may have been a pederast. There are some pictures in his car that point in that direction. Later we discover Atle was a gambler and he owed lots of money. There's a mafia in Thailand, but Atle apparently borrowed money from a travel company that served as a front for easy loans with high interest. Harry has Atle's phone records and they're listed; they've been hounding his widow for the money. This is extremely weird since Atle was one of the heirs to a furniture company in Norway; he should've been able to pay easily.
Another valuable clue: there's reindeer grease on the knife that killed Atle, which points to a Norwegian killer.
Towards the middle of the book Harry decides to quit fooling himself; he stops drinking beer, and things start to steadily progress. Checking Atle's phone records, he discovers a call from Jens Brekke, a currency broker. He's a suspect as is Ove Klipra, a Norwegian builder who's working on an important road/rail project worth billions. He lives near the Molnes family, and he has an incriminating background. Harry focuses on him like a laser beam as he suddenly suspects he was sent here, not because of his success as a homicide detective, but because he was a drunk. The higher ups didn't think he'd be able to concentrate or stay sober long enough to ferret out the suspect they think did it. This guy is so important, they're trying to settle this in record time, and they keep pushing Harry to solve the murder.
A couple more people wind up dead, and Harry starts to put the clues together. Every dead person is related in a complicated manner that only benefits one person, and it's not the one the Norwegian bigwigs think it is.
I have read about a half dozen Harry Hole books. This is number two in the series, but I'd heard it mentioned before. This is where Harry gets hooked on opium. It's kind of a surprise since he'd just solved he case.
Or so it seems. When Harry arrives he's on a beer binge, thinking that he can at least function while drinking beer as opposed to the hard stuff.
When he arrives he's paired with a homicide detective, Liz Chumley. She's part Thai and part American. She's also a strange looking woman who could be taken for a man: “...broad-shouldered and almost as tall as Harry, the hairless skull had pronounced jaw muscles and two intensely blue eyes above a straight mouth.” Turns out she'd contracted alopecia as a young woman, losing her hair. She's one of the most interesting people, who, like Lisabeth Salander, disappears too often in the plot.
Remember now, this is Thailand, the sex capital of the world. The first clue Harry stumbles across was that Atle Molnes may have been a pederast. There are some pictures in his car that point in that direction. Later we discover Atle was a gambler and he owed lots of money. There's a mafia in Thailand, but Atle apparently borrowed money from a travel company that served as a front for easy loans with high interest. Harry has Atle's phone records and they're listed; they've been hounding his widow for the money. This is extremely weird since Atle was one of the heirs to a furniture company in Norway; he should've been able to pay easily.
Another valuable clue: there's reindeer grease on the knife that killed Atle, which points to a Norwegian killer.
Towards the middle of the book Harry decides to quit fooling himself; he stops drinking beer, and things start to steadily progress. Checking Atle's phone records, he discovers a call from Jens Brekke, a currency broker. He's a suspect as is Ove Klipra, a Norwegian builder who's working on an important road/rail project worth billions. He lives near the Molnes family, and he has an incriminating background. Harry focuses on him like a laser beam as he suddenly suspects he was sent here, not because of his success as a homicide detective, but because he was a drunk. The higher ups didn't think he'd be able to concentrate or stay sober long enough to ferret out the suspect they think did it. This guy is so important, they're trying to settle this in record time, and they keep pushing Harry to solve the murder.
A couple more people wind up dead, and Harry starts to put the clues together. Every dead person is related in a complicated manner that only benefits one person, and it's not the one the Norwegian bigwigs think it is.
I have read about a half dozen Harry Hole books. This is number two in the series, but I'd heard it mentioned before. This is where Harry gets hooked on opium. It's kind of a surprise since he'd just solved he case.
Knife
One of the most entertaining aspects of being a murder mystery fanatic is figuring out who did it. In Jo Nesbo's most recent Harry Hole epiisode, you will have a hard time keeping the characters straight, much less target the killer.
First off, there's a big shocker. Someone has killed Rakel, Harry's wife and the love of his life. The sourpuss was actually happy for a time, until she threw him out; the spouse is always a suspect in a murder case, so Harry doesn't even get to investigate, officially, that is. Harry is absolutely certain Svein Finne, rapist and serial killer, who somehow got out of jail, is the culprit. This guy is really crazy; he doesn't get a big charge out of killing people; he just wants to impregnate every young girl he can get his hands on; he will only murder them if they abort the baby or get rid of it in some other way. That's why he has a motive for Rakel's murder. Harry killed his serial killer son, and he wants revenge.
Nesbo knows we inveterate murder mystery readers are looking for a red herring; it's pretty clear that Finne is just a thread in the plot that needs to be dealt with. Nesbo throws in a few more; for a time Harry thinks Roar Boar, a former special forces officer who worked with Rakel in human resources may have done it (watch out for some foreshadowing here; this guy is a sniper). Then there are the women Harry has bedded over the years; there are three main ones who may have been jealous of Rakel. One of them is married to Harry's best friend; another was a young homicide cop when Harry bedded her. I was sure the murderer was a woman; it was getting toward the end of the book and Nesbo was featuring these women quite a bit.
Another shocker. When Harry finds out who killed Rakel he doesn't seem all that upset. That's because Harry has empathy and blames himself. For a while Harry is even suicidal; he thinks he might have killed Rakel in a drunken stupor, and there's some evidence that he did.
The climax is not when Harry finds out who killed Rakel. It's when Svein Finne finds out his lawyer has a woman on the side and blackmails the lawyer into giving her to him. It's pretty slick how Harry and the lawyer deal with a psychopathic killer. It's not clear if it was Harry's idea or the lawyer's.
Joe Nesbo gives Stieg Larsson a run for his money; I've read about half dozen Harry Hole (pronounced Hole') and they always give me a run for my money when it comes to guessing who done it.
First off, there's a big shocker. Someone has killed Rakel, Harry's wife and the love of his life. The sourpuss was actually happy for a time, until she threw him out; the spouse is always a suspect in a murder case, so Harry doesn't even get to investigate, officially, that is. Harry is absolutely certain Svein Finne, rapist and serial killer, who somehow got out of jail, is the culprit. This guy is really crazy; he doesn't get a big charge out of killing people; he just wants to impregnate every young girl he can get his hands on; he will only murder them if they abort the baby or get rid of it in some other way. That's why he has a motive for Rakel's murder. Harry killed his serial killer son, and he wants revenge.
Nesbo knows we inveterate murder mystery readers are looking for a red herring; it's pretty clear that Finne is just a thread in the plot that needs to be dealt with. Nesbo throws in a few more; for a time Harry thinks Roar Boar, a former special forces officer who worked with Rakel in human resources may have done it (watch out for some foreshadowing here; this guy is a sniper). Then there are the women Harry has bedded over the years; there are three main ones who may have been jealous of Rakel. One of them is married to Harry's best friend; another was a young homicide cop when Harry bedded her. I was sure the murderer was a woman; it was getting toward the end of the book and Nesbo was featuring these women quite a bit.
Another shocker. When Harry finds out who killed Rakel he doesn't seem all that upset. That's because Harry has empathy and blames himself. For a while Harry is even suicidal; he thinks he might have killed Rakel in a drunken stupor, and there's some evidence that he did.
The climax is not when Harry finds out who killed Rakel. It's when Svein Finne finds out his lawyer has a woman on the side and blackmails the lawyer into giving her to him. It's pretty slick how Harry and the lawyer deal with a psychopathic killer. It's not clear if it was Harry's idea or the lawyer's.
Joe Nesbo gives Stieg Larsson a run for his money; I've read about half dozen Harry Hole (pronounced Hole') and they always give me a run for my money when it comes to guessing who done it.
