Jo Nesbo and Michael Connelly by the Pool this Summer

I’ve been revisiting the crime fiction genre over the summer holidays as a perfect escape from the weather and natural disasters that are affecting both Queensland and country.

My first was Reversal, the new novel from Michael Connelly. I had previously read The Poet and then The Scarecrow both featuring Crime Reporter Jack McEvoy and FBI Agent Rachel Walling in a traditional style whodunnit but well written and with good twists and turns. I was curious to see if the latest offering which stars LAPD Detective Harry Bosh and defence attorney Mickey Haller is similarly enjoyable.

Jason Jessup was convicted 25 years ago in a high profile child murder case, but with the advancement of DNA testing, bodily fluids on the victim’s dress have subsequently been linked to her stepfather, thus putting in doubt Jessup’s conviction. In the interests of neutrality, Mickey Haller has been asked by the District Attorney’s Office to take on the prosecution of the case, effectively changing sides and coming up against one of his colleagues in the defence community. Mickey has to come up with the evidence to put Jesse away once and for all – evidence that is 25 years old.

I still have a soft spot for this more straight forward style of the crime genre having cut my teeth on Patricia Cornwall, James Patterson, Harlan Coben, and Jeffery Deaver but in recent years I found that there was too much of the same old, same old, and the offerings by some of the writers have become a bit formulaic. In recent times, I have yet to find an American crime author that I have wanted to read another of their novels, but Michael Connelly almost fits the spot with me having read three in the last 12 months. While Connelly’s style is much more American police show than Stieg Larsson edgy, he is still well worth a read next to the pool or at the beach this summer.

The second book that I read in this genre over January has been Jo Nesbo’s Nemesis. Now this is a writer that I want to read more of. Nemesis features Detective Harry Hole to whom the English speaking world was first introduced in The Redbreast. Like many of the lead characters in Scandinavian crime fiction, Hole is a “damaged” character - in The Redbreast he is a recovering alcoholic, with little personal life and whose closest friend in the police force ends up dead during the course of the novel. In Nemesis, things are looking up for Hole – he hasn’t had a drink since the last novel, and he is in a relationship with a future with Rakel and her son Oleg. Then, Hole’s life is turned upside down.

While on a murder case that occurred during a bank robbery, Harry has to investigate the apparent suicide of an old girlfriend. Complicating this investigation is that, unknown to his colleagues, he had dinner with her the night before and arrived home with no recollection of it after apparently “falling off the wagon”. Coincidentally, the only person who can identify the robber of the bank happens to be the ex-girlfriend’s uncle, a reknown bank robber himself, currently serving time in prison. What follows is a tale of mystery, revenge, and suspense where the reader is lead first one way and then another in guessing the outcome, but ultimately has to wait until the end before all is revealed.

I’m certainly looking forward to seeing what develops in the third novel available in the series in English, The Devil’s Star.