The Bat - Jo Nesbo

THE BAT

A Harry Hole novel [Harry Hole #1]

ISBN - 978-1-846-55600-5
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2012 [in English]
PUBLISHERS - Random House
PAGES - 380
GENRE - Crime/Thriller
BINDING - Trade Paperback
SOURCE - Publishers

AUTHOR - Jo Nesbo

BEST-SELLERS - Phantom, The Snowman, Headhunters

SYNOPSIS - [From the book cover]

HARRY HOLE IS OUT OF HIS DEPTH.

Detective Harry Hole is meant to keep out of trouble. A young Norwegian girl taking a gap year in Sydney has been murdered, and Harry has been sent to Australia to assist in any way he can.

HE'S NOT SUPPOSED TO GET TOO INVOLVED.

When the team earths a string of unsolved murders and disappearances, nothing will stop Harry from finding out the truth. The hunt for a serial killer is on, but the murderer will talk only to Harry.

HE MIGHT JUST BE THE NEXT VICTIM.

QUOTES - 

If I manage this without making an arsehole of myself it may open certain possibilities for me back home, I’ve gleaned. 

No wife. No children. No dog. All I have is a boss, a sister, a father and a couple of guys I still call pals even though years pass between their calls. Or mine.

You’re a tiny bit damaged every time you unravel another murder case. Unfortunately, as a rule there are more human wrecks and sadder stories, and fewer ingenious motives, than you would imagine from reading Agatha Christie.

Intuition is just the sum of all your experience. The way I see it, everything you’ve experienced, everything you know, you think you know and didn’t know you knew is there in your subconscious lying dormant, as it were. As a rule you don’t notice the sleeping creature, it’s just there, snoring and absorbing new things, right. But now and then it blinks, stretches and tells you, hey, I’ve seen this picture before. And tells you where in the picture things belong.

FL Speak - This is Harry Hole's first case and as luck would have it, this was translated just this year. So the inevitable downfall was that, I already knew the killer. Remember I reviewed The Snowman 2 weeks ago, that was one of his later cases. And the murderer's name was plastered over there. 

*le sigh*

This is what I really, really hate. People should never start translating books at random. Nevertheless, I read on because even though the killer was known, the motive and the means was not.

A Norwegian girl was raped and murdered in Australia and the Oslo Police force sent Harry to observe. So when Andrews, an officer in the force teams up with him, Harry and his unit decide to find the killer. When it is realised that such cases were occurring all over Australia, the serial killer scenario comes to play.

Its funny how everything happens exactly when Hole is in the house. Nevertheless the investigation takes them to a few suspects but the motive for each was never concrete. And finally when Harry thought he made a connection, the killer kills himself. As you might've guessed, he wasn't the real killer. 

Jo Nesbo is somewhat predictable when writing about Hole. What to expect when you're reading Harry Hole.

1. clues will appear when Harry is on the scene
2. Harry Hole will make a few conclusions and make arrests and later realize they weren't the killers.
3. Someone close to him will die/suffer/leave him
4. Harry will drown himself in misery and whiskey.
5. While drunk, he will have a hallelujah moment and make another epic connection
5. Arrest/shoot and close the case.

That's out typical homeboy. Although I didn't expect Harry to fall in love. It was quite charming to see him awkward while mooning over a certain girl and make a mess out of it.

Anyway, coming back to book, Harry realises his partner was trying to give him clues without going into the details. [I say was, you can guess why] So, when Harry was sloshing himself with whiskey, the invisible threads begins to connect itself to the dots and if Harry is not quite clever, the killer will strike again. This time, at someone close to his heart. Very close.

I loved the ending and the chase. Wild goose chases are a definite turn-on, even if its bleddy predictable. What's unpredictable is the why's and when's. And Jo Nesbo is a killer at that.

Since this was Harry's first case, it was rough around the edges. The books get better, Harry remains the same. For better or for worse.

That's Harry Hole for you.

My Rating - 3.5/5 stars

PRICE - INR 539/- [Flipkart Price]

The Snowman - Jo Nesbo

THE SNOWMAN

A Harry Hole novel

ISBN - 978-0-099-55174-4
FIRST PUBLISHED -  2010
PAGES - 550
GENRE - Crime/Thriller
BINDING - Paperback
SOURCE - my secret Santa :D

AUTHOR - Jo Nesbo

BEST-SELLERS - Headhunters, Phantom

SYNOPSIS - [From the back cover]

'SOON THE FIRST SNOW WILL COME.
 A young boy wakes to find his mother missing. Their house is empty but outside in the garden he sees his mother's favorite scarf - wrapped around the neck of a snowman.

AND THEN HE WILL APPEAR AGAIN.
As Harry Hole and his team begin their investigation, they discover that an alarming number of wives and mothers have gone missing over the years.

AND WHEN THE SNOW HAS GONE...
When a second woman disappears, it seems that Harry's worst suspicions are confirmed: for the first time in his career Harry finds himself confronted with a serial killer operating on his home turf.

...HE WILL HAVE TAKEN SOMEONE ELSE.'

Quotes - 

“Doubt is faith's shadow.”  

“Losing your life is not the worst thing that can happen. The worst thing is to lose your reason for living.” 

“It was the logic of retaliation that created the constitutional state. The enshrined promise of an eye for an eye, the sinner burning in hell or at least dangling for the gallows. Revenge is basically the foundation of civilization”  

“Everyone has a need to do penance. It’s a basic need, like washing. It’s about harmony, an absolutely essential inner balance. It’s the balance we call morality.”

FL Speak - First of all, if not for my Secret Santa, i don't think I'd have read this one any time soon. Although I've had read Jo Nesbo before, this is my first Harry Hole novel.

It all starts with the snow. As snow falls over Oslo, a woman goes missing from her house. Her scarf, carefully placed over the neck of a snowman on the porch. Harry Hole is immediately reminded of an anonymous letter he received months ago. As Harry forms his new team, a new police officer to the precinct joins him, Katrine Bratt.

When other wives and women goes missing, Harry and his start to look for patterns. It is clear by now that a serial killer is loose on the streets of Oslo. What he didn't count on was the fact that this killer is active all over Norway. As Harry peels layer after layer of carefully designed by the killer, the needle points to someone Harry didn't quite expect. Someone who is equally infamous. Someone who even Harry knows.

But Jo Nesbo is not known for writing a thriller which ends with the reader saying I-told-you-so. When another snowman appears, all clues goes for a toss as Harry realizes he has been played. Played by someone with knowledge and cunning. Played by someone who is invisibly guiding Harry. And that someone, is much closer to home. When the body of another famous police officer is discovered, Harry knows he has made a grave error. 

The next arrest simply blew me away. I was not expecting it, neither was Harry. But with 200 pages more to go, I realized this might not be the end of the case and I guessed right. Another pawn, another piece of the puzzle. As the snowman meticulously lay the foundation for a grand spectacle, Harry is jolted to the reality that his close friends might turn up to the next victim. It was a game. And it was personal.

I've no idea how to write a review for a crime thriller without dropping valuable hints. So I'll stop here. Regardless to say, this is what a thriller should be like. A ridiculous labyrinth of clues and false signals, a mastermind killer and a douchebag of a detective. 

Harry Hole is the complete package.

As the snow falls over Oslo, who will it be this time?

My Rating - 4/5 stars

PRICE - INR 350/-          

Headhunters - Jo Nesbo

HEADHUNTERS

ISBN - 978-1-846-55593-0
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2011
PUBLISHER - Random House
PAGES - 265
GENRE - Crime/Thriller
BINDING - Paperback
SOURCE - Publishers

AUTHOR - Jo Nesbo

BEST-SELLERS - The Redbreast, Nemesis

SYNOPSIS - [From the back cover]

LIE

Roger Brown has it all. Clever and wealthy, he is the top man in his business, with a beautiful wife and a magnificient house. He also leads a criminal double life.

STEAL

Enter Clas Greve. Not only is he the perfect candidate for a position with Roger's biggest client, he also owns one of the most sought-after paintings in the world.

MURDER?

Roger sees his chance to become rich beyond his wildest dreams and starts preparing his boldest heist yet. But his plans unravel in ways not even he could have predicted. Now the hunter has become the hunted.

EXCERPT - Drive, I begged. Drive.

The worst thing about being fully conscious was that I could imagine what would happen if he found me soaked in petrol.

Drive. Drive!

FL Speak - This is my first Jo Nesbo novel and boy, he can give a fight to the best of the crime thriller authors. Jo Nesbo is famous for his Harry Hole novels but Headhunters is not one of them.

Roger Brown works in recruitment. He recruits top brass for companies and is a professional liar and a thief. Not just any thief, Roger is an art thief. And he's happily married to a stunning lady, Diana. But when his wife introduces him to Clas Greve, Roger believes he has finally met the best man to recruit. And when Clas reveals that he's come to a own a priceless painting from his grandmother, Roger cannot believe his luck.

What was supposed to be a simple theft turns horribly wrong when he finds his wife's cell phone in Greve's bedroom on the time of robbery. And when is friend is killed the next day with a poison meant for him, Roger knows he's in real trouble. And thus begins a chase that leads to more trouble than allies. With his wife betraying him and Clas hot on his heels, Roger has nowhere to go.

And when Roger decides to take control of his fate, the resultant endgame goes for a toss. Not everything is what as it seems. And then it really goes out of control. You're in for a huge surprise in the end. Something that I didn't even think of.

Perfect, fast paced thriller that you'd expect from Jo Nesbo and he doesn't disappoint. Jo Nesbo is one of those rare  writers who knows what they are writing about and what the readers expect from a book. Never for a moment was I disappointed. Headhunters held me mesmerized till i finished the last page and finally let my breathe out. Highly RECOMMENDED.

This book is made into a movie and was released on February 2012!!

My Rating - 4 stars

PRICE - INR 310/-