So many twists and turns! Loved reading this book, although I don't read that many mysteries so I can't really attest to its quality in the scheme of things.

This is such a wonderfully written book. It took me about 75 pages to really get into the storyline but I was hooked from then on. The story is quite complex and I admit I had to do some page flipping to make sure I had the story straight in my head. The mystery straddles the present day and sinks occasionally back into the times of WWII. The story is seamless and follows Harry Hole as he seeks to solve a mystery of a dangerous rifle that is smuggled into Norway. From there the plot just thickens.

Excellent - and I learned stuff, too! Read if you like Mankell and Larsson.

This 3rd book in the Harry Hole series has definitely improved from the first two books, tho I still can't say I'm hooked on Harry Hole yet. The story is a bit complicated, as it moves back and forth from 1944 WWII to just before Y2K. Both of those timelines are intriguing, as so much has changed since then. Both include Nazis (both original and neo), both include dramatic events (war and loss of loved ones), both include mental disorders (MPD and alcoholism), and both are interconnected (as they should be, it would be a bit strange if they weren't). Overall, an exciting read tho I did get lost in the details a few times. Still didn't quite guess the culprit correctly, so I think I'll try another!

Quotes:

"Moving in time to canned music with a troop of people who all liked canned music while an instructor with a rictus smile encouraged greater exertion with such verbal wit as 'No Pain No Gain', was for Harry, an incomprehensible form of voluntary self abasement."

“There was a saying during the war: Those who decide late will always decide right. At Christmas in 1943 we could see that our front was moving backwards, but we had no real idea how bad it was. Anyway, no one could accuse Sindre of changing like a weather-vane. Unlike those at home who sat on their backsides during the war and suddenly rushed to join the Resistance in the last months. We used to call them the “latter-day saints’’. A few of them today swell the ranks of those who make public statements about the Norwegians’ heroic efforts for the right side.”

“Many people believe that right and wrong are fixed absolutes. That is incorrect, they change over time. The job of the historian is primarily to find the historical truth, to look at what the sources say and present them, objectively and dispassionately. If historians were to stand in judgment on human folly, our work would seem to posterity like fossils – the remnants of the orthodoxy of their time.”

“What are your friends like anyway?’ Aune checked his bow-tie to make sure it was straight. ‘They’re like you,’ he said. ‘But my wife knows a few respectable people.”

“He downed the rest of his drink and poured himself another from the bottle of whisky room service had brought up: Jameson. The only good thing ever to come out of Ireland.”

The third installment of the Harry Hole detective series, and each book has been better than the last. Nesbø hasn't surpassed how much I've enjoyed Jussi Adler Olsen or Robert Galbraith's similarly smart crime series' that blend darkly sinister investigations with an underlying light sense of humor, but he's getting there.

Damn, this series got way better. I wish I had paid a little more attention.

2020 Pop Sugar Reading challenge-a book with a bird on the cover.

This was much less gruesome and sadistic than The Snowman or The Leopard. But, still had all the excitement and twists and turns. A definite page turner.

The book was a tad bit confusing at first with the going back and forth through time and not being sure who's point of view I was reading from. It managed to gel near the middle of the book and became interesting and had Nesbø's usual twist that turned everything you thought was going on upside down. Another great book by Nesbø and I cannot wait to read the next in his Harry Hole series.

This Scandinavian crime drama had great characters. There were some historical connections that added to the mystery. Enjoyable and interesting.