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A review by jen_forbus
The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø
4.0
When Norway's crime squad wants to quietly remove Harry Hole from the public's - and especially the press's eye - they promote him to investigator with the POT (Security Service) to essentially push paper around. In the process of pushing this paper around, Harry finds himself assigned to watch a neo-Nazi who escaped prison on a legal technicality and that assignment leads Harry into a serial murder case that has ties to World War II Nazis.
Jo Nesbø's The Redbreast is a complex novel involving two plots - one present-day Oslo, Norway, one World War II Eastern Front - that creatively swerve around, over and under each other for about 400 pages and then collide to create a spectacular conclusion. Each time the plots come close to each other, the reader moves a little closer to understanding the outcome, to solving the case. And THEN the plots twist. Right up to the end Nesbø is throwing twist after twist into the fold, which keeps the pace quick and the action sharp. This is a long book in page numbers, but those pages almost turn themselves. And don't get lazy reading this one; there are no lulls or unimportant parts.
The characters who inhabit this novel are rich and multi-dimensional. I've heard many people complaining about the cliché alcoholic cop. Harry Hole is a recovering alcoholic, but he doesn't fit any of the clichés. His relationships with others is probably what builds his character the most. When he leaves the crime squad, he is also leaving his partner and confidant, Ellen. Harry's relationship with his sister also helps to define him. He isn't a rebel or a maverick, and while he, at times, is on the outside looking in, he actually wants to belong. He desperately wants that light on his answerphone to be lit up when he comes home.
One of the elements I found most stunning about this novel were the various parallels of man to nature. The imagery the nature analogies present is stunning, and their purposes multi-faceted. They are presenting themes in the novel but they also work to create foreshadowing. The novel ends on bit of a mysterious note, one that makes the reader suspect that we haven't heard the last of Harry Hole. And that's a good thing in my opinion.
Jo Nesbø's The Redbreast is a complex novel involving two plots - one present-day Oslo, Norway, one World War II Eastern Front - that creatively swerve around, over and under each other for about 400 pages and then collide to create a spectacular conclusion. Each time the plots come close to each other, the reader moves a little closer to understanding the outcome, to solving the case. And THEN the plots twist. Right up to the end Nesbø is throwing twist after twist into the fold, which keeps the pace quick and the action sharp. This is a long book in page numbers, but those pages almost turn themselves. And don't get lazy reading this one; there are no lulls or unimportant parts.
The characters who inhabit this novel are rich and multi-dimensional. I've heard many people complaining about the cliché alcoholic cop. Harry Hole is a recovering alcoholic, but he doesn't fit any of the clichés. His relationships with others is probably what builds his character the most. When he leaves the crime squad, he is also leaving his partner and confidant, Ellen. Harry's relationship with his sister also helps to define him. He isn't a rebel or a maverick, and while he, at times, is on the outside looking in, he actually wants to belong. He desperately wants that light on his answerphone to be lit up when he comes home.
One of the elements I found most stunning about this novel were the various parallels of man to nature. The imagery the nature analogies present is stunning, and their purposes multi-faceted. They are presenting themes in the novel but they also work to create foreshadowing. The novel ends on bit of a mysterious note, one that makes the reader suspect that we haven't heard the last of Harry Hole. And that's a good thing in my opinion.