Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole Series -- A Review

      

A friend who knows that I like detective stories recommended I check out Jo Nesbo. 

Being a provincial American, I automatically thought since the name was spelled Jo that the author was a woman, which put her at the top of my to-read list. (I know. I know. I'm a sexist. My daughter has tried to cure me of that for years.) 

Well, Jo is Norwegian and male. And, being Norwegian, the 'J' is probably pronounced like a 'Y.'

I didn't bother to Wiki him until I finished a second reading of the first in his Harry Hole series The Bat. The first time I read it, I thought it was interesting. It takes place in Australia and as Harry learned more about the setting, so did I. Seemed odd for a cop from Oslo to be investigating a murder in Australia, but it works. 

The reason I read it a second time, was that I ran out of anything to read one night. I'd been reading mostly nonfiction and The Wheel of Time series for the umpteenth time. I bought and downloaded a science fiction novel, but it was badly formatted and I couldn't read it. (A trip to my local Barnes and Noble got that fixed for me. And I needed tea. That's one of the big differences between B&N and my local library. The library doesn't sell tea or chocolate mousse.)

Anyway, I needed something to read and I didn't want to spend any more money right then. Being a sci-fi/murder mystery writer myself (Murder on Ceres) I thought I should stay in my genre. So I read The Bat again. 

This time around, Nesbo's character Harry Hole was more interesting than the exotic setting. I went from there to Cockroaches, the second Harry Hole novel. It takes place in Thailand. Again, it seemed odd that Harry was trying to solve a murder in a country so far from his home. I got the feeling that the Oslo Police Department must have a much larger budget than my town's PD has. Or maybe Norwegian detectives get special discounts with the airlines.

After the second book, I was hooked on Harry. He does follow the rules, meaning the laws that defend the innocent and bring to justice the guilty. He does not, however, follow orders well at all. He's alcoholic. He's got baggage. He makes bad decisions. He takes unnecessary chances. I would not like to be his boss. But he connects with others and his intentions are good. He cares. I wouldn't hesitate to be his friend.

And he solves crimes. Crimes that involve people in sensitive, political situations. Lucky for him. Because his own foul-ups get glossed over while those above him in the political food chain are being protected.

Like I said, I was hooked. Next I read The Redbreast. Harry is at home in Norway. A love interest is introduced, Rakel. He has a partner, Ellen. She is an excellent detective and accepts Harry pretty much as he is. There is information about Norway in World War II, that I knew nothing about. Information that figures heavily in solving the crime.

In The Redbreast, another crime is introduced, one that is not solved, but carried me head-long into the next book, Nemesis.

In Nemesis, bank robberies and murder are the crimes to be solved. Another new character comes on the scene Beate. She works in forensics. Beate Lonn (spelled with a slash through the 'o') it seems has a super sensitive fusiform gyrus. What's that, you ask. It's that part of the brain related to facial recognition. She can remember every face she's ever seen.

Our Harry proves himself to be his own worst enemy. Thank goodness for his friends who love him anyway. Together, they figure out the robbery/murders, but do not solve the greater, ongoing problem within the police department.

I am so glad we can buy and download ebooks. As is not uncommon, I needed the next Harry Hole book after normal business hours.

And then The Devil's Star. An excellent end. After solving a series of ritual murders, the police department is saved from itself. And, just when I'm getting fed up with Harry's self-destructive ways, he somehow pulls through and I have hope for his future.

The first two Harry Hole novels are worth a read, but I would recommend you skip them and go right to The Redbreast, Nemesis, and The Devil's Star.

As for me? It's back to nonfiction -- Sue Klebold's A Mother's Reckoning.

Someone of interest to me is Don Bartlett, Nesbo's translator. Seeing as how even after reading Stieg Larsson, I still don't speak Norwegian. (Wait! No, you're right. Larsson was Swedish.) I did watch all the episodes of the TV show Rita, which I loved. (But that was Danish.) 

The work of translating fascinates me. Where is Bartlett from? What is his first language? Some of his word usage struck me as strange. He wrote "shone an apple on his sleeve" where we would have used "shined" and he uses the term "skip" which I figured out was a "dumpster." English is his first language and England is his home.

Ah, yes. Two nations divided by a common language.