Enjoyed the Millenium Trilogy then try the books by Jo Nesbo

Checking the bestsellers list in the A2 guide of The Age this week (for period ending July 10 2010), I can’t believe that the Millennium trilogy still makes it into the top ten bestsellers – not only at a national level but also for sales through independent bookstores in Australia. Surely everyone has read them by now. I have moved on and discovered another European crime novelist – Jo Nesbo. I recently read a fairly old novel of his, The Redbreast, which is set in Norway. Released in Australia by Random House, here’s the blurb for the novel from the Random House website:

Harry Hole, drunkard, loner and brilliant detective is reassigned to surveillance after a high profile mistake.


He’s bored by his new job until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest because of its possible links to Neo Nazi activity. Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. Next Harry’s former partner is murdered. Why had she been trying to reach Harry on the night her head was smashed in? The investigation leads Harry to suspect that the crimes have their roots in the battlefields of Eastern Front during WWII. In a quest that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. He will be both winner and loser by the novel's nail-biting conclusion.

I have to confess that I found the beginning of the book a little confusing as it starts with an attempted assassination of a visiting US President. Oh, no I thought. Another American styled crime novel, but I kept going to see where it was heading. I’m so glad I did. This was a crime thriller with lots of suspense and really challenged me to work out the connections in the story. The novel weaves chapters about events in World War II with the current day murders, and as each connection is revealed I kept oscillating between different scenarios as to who was the killer, especially since we are given brief glimpses of him throughout the book without him being identified. Unlike many of today’s crime novels, it took me quite some time to get to that point where you know who did it and it came only just before Harry Hole did himself. Often, I find the identity of the perpetrator is revealed too quickly in today’s crime novels, and the rest of the story is not strong enough to maintain the engagement of the reader.

Apparently, there are two Harry Hole novels before The Redbreast, but these haven’t been translated into English so you do miss some of the character build up for Hole that you get when you read a series from the start. If you want to read the series in order, the books available in English in the series are Nemesis, The Devil's Star, The Redeemer, and finally, The Snowman.