Another good book full of twists and turns. Can’t wait to continue this series.

Lite genomgående tema med nesbös böcker att de blir lite röriga connections mellan karaktärerna och de gör det lite tufft att hänga med i allt som händer men gillar Hole men tycker hela serien är lite överskattad faktiskt

Probably the most convoluted plot I have ever read. Two elaborate and complex masterplans interacting and affecting each other, resulting in lots of confusion and co-incidences, really forcing one to question what was in the plan(s) and what was not.

This is much like other Harry Hole books, and the multiple layers of "reveals" were fairly well crafted and would have earned 4 stars. A couple of the intricacies/coincidences felt a bit more strained/far-fetched but not excessively so. The biggest reason this book lost a star for me was that I found Harry's personal failings more frustrating this time. I like his prickly misanthropic side and even appreciate the way alcoholism adds extra depth and complexity to his character, but flirting with infidelity and unprofessionally working a case he's secretly involved in are less likable failings.

After enjoying the first/third Harry Hole book I also enjoyed this next one. Still a little generic in many ways (and I've read a lot of crime fiction over the years) but these books are currently fitting into the better end of the spectrum. I find it difficult to put my finger on it exactly, whether it's the character or the set up but it just seems to flow and it works.

The Nordic setting is subtle and still feels quite Americanised but the plot if intriguing and there are enough twists and turned to make you keep reading. I thought he actually managed to make the twists real enough for belief but also just outside of your grasp. A fine balancing act. Based on this I would happily keep reading the series (which is good, as I picked up this and the next 2 for peanuts in a recent sale).

Enjoyable enough gumpf.

In between The Redbreast and The Devil's Star this is the second in a loose trilogy within the Harry Hole series of crime books. So even though you can generally dip in and out of these books in any order - in actual fact: they were of course published totally out of order in their English translations - with these three books it probably pays off to read them in sequence even though Nemesis doesn't really much advance The Redbreast's plot along.

There are in actual fact three different plot strands in this book that aren't really all that much related and one often gets the feeling that Nesbo would have been better off slimming it down a bit.

1. Hole is asked to investigate a series of mysterious bank robberies/murders.
2. After meeting up with an old flame, he is left without memory and she is found dead and possibly murdered by him. Hole needs to secretly investigate her death, even though he has an alcohol induced blackout and needs to try not to implicate himself with her death.
3. The murder of one of Hole's colleague's from the previous novel is taken a few baby steps closer to a solution.

Yes, I was entertained and really like the characters but I am getting a feeling that this is a book of wasted opportunities. I am a major sucker for "innocent suspects trying desperately to prove their innocence"-type of crime thrillers and much is made of that plot thread on the book blurb but in the actual novel no-one even remotely suspects Hole until the halfway point and even then that suspicion is quickly drowned out which is a shame as it robs us of some major possibilities for suspense.

Of the three different story lines, only one really comes up with a satisfying surprise solution. The killer of Hole's colleague is simply identified for us (but not for Hole) by the narrator in one of the chapters which still leaves the third book in the series for a follow-up but the reader is left with a somewhat hollow feeling over the slapdash reveal.

The true culprit of the bank robberies is painfully obvious right from an early point on, especially as there is a constant theme of sibling rivalry in this book.

Only the murder of Hole's old flame really delivers fully but even then we have the aforementioned wasted opportunity with Hole not really being in any fear of discovery.

So, in short: I like the series but this was a little bit too much for too little. The depiction of the characters is ultimately more satisfying than the actual investigations.

Will continue with the series but take a little breather from it for the time being.

Na svátky fajn čtení, ale přišlo mi to celé trochu překombinované. Ještě dám ale Harrymu šanci.