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A review by hessionsreadingworld
Nemesis by Jo Nesbø
3.0
Popsugar 2020- A book with the same title as a movie or a TV show but is unrelated to it. [“Miss Marple: Nemesis” (2009)]
Looking for a new detective series? Look no further than Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series. "Nemesis" is the 4th book, so if you are looking to start at book 1 go check out "The Bat."
For those of you who do not know, Jo Nesbo is a best-selling crime author, known best for the Harry Hole Series. Before writing, Nesbo played futbol, severed in the military, was a financial analyst, and played in a band. His band, "di derre" topped the charts in Norway and ultimately led him towards writing. According to the biography page on his website, he was originally commissioned to write a memoir about band life but came up with the plot for "The Bat" instead. He has a new standalone thriller entitled "The Kingdom" coming out in September.
Some background on our main character, without spoiling the previous three novels. Harry Hole is a middle aged police officer in Oslo, Norway, the home city of Jo Nesbo. The places mentioned in the book that are in Norway are real, which adds relevance and meaning to the plot and setting. Harry is an alcoholic and fluctuates between sobriety and drunkenness throughout the novels. The amount of women he has been with throughout the first four books reminds me of James Bond. Hole is not a popular detective in the police department but does benefit from having a strong relationship with the head of police, Moller. Despite his flaws, Hole is a relentless and innovative detective that is respected in the force.
In Nemesis," Harry Hole faces two crimes: one is a bank robbery that turned deadly, and the other is a death of a former lover. The bank robbery case, known as the Expeditor Case, is unique in that a hostage was shot. Inspector Hole, not involved in the robbery unit, is called on to this case in a secondary capacity due to the homicide. The other case is the apparent suicide of Anna Bethsen, someone Hole saw briefly in the past. The catch is that Anna invited Harry over the night before she died and he seems to have no memory of ever being there but surely must have been one of the last people to have seen her alive. Harry divides his time between the two cases, as well as showing interest in wanting to return to work on a side investigation he began in book 3.
I am not sure if it was the narration, my distraction during reading while in quarantine, or the confusing timeline and internal chapter breaks, but I did not enjoy this novel as much as I have the others in the series. I listened to this as an audio-book, as I have done for the three previous novels. The Bat and Cockroaches were narrated by John Lee, "The Redbreast" by Robin Sachs, and "Nemesis" by Thor Kani. I did not like Kani's voice as much as previous narrators, which is a personal preference, not a judgement on his ability as a narrator. I also read this novel during the COVID-19 lock down and was not as focused as I normally am when listening on my commute home. Finally, I think the main reason why I did not enjoy this novel as much was because of how disjointed some of the chapters were. One minute we were Harry, and the next we were a different character, or we were listening to the present, to then be thrown to either past or present without indication in the audio. It made it difficult to follow. I ended up having to pick up the novel to make sure I was getting the basics of the story line straight.
I do appreciate that Harry seems to be settling down in this novel, as well as working more harmoniously with colleagues. In the previous novels, Hole was with several women and most of the relationships did not end well. The consistency in his love life this book I think is a huge character breakthrough for Hole. Also- I thoroughly enjoyed the new character introduced in this novel in the form of Beate Lonn. Lonn is brilliant and has a rare gift: a heightened Fusiform gyrus which allows her to never forget a face. Her character helps to balance out Hole.
Many people seem to compare Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson. Having read several of the Millennium novels and several of the Harry Hole series, I do not really see the similarity. Both authors are from Scandinavia and both main characters- Lizbeth Salander and Harry Hole- despise injustice, but that's about it for similarities. So if you are looking for something similar to the Lisbeth Salander novels, this is not your series.
I would recommend this series and specifically would recommend reading this one instead of listening to the audio.
Happy Reading!
Hession
Looking for a new detective series? Look no further than Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole series. "Nemesis" is the 4th book, so if you are looking to start at book 1 go check out "The Bat."
For those of you who do not know, Jo Nesbo is a best-selling crime author, known best for the Harry Hole Series. Before writing, Nesbo played futbol, severed in the military, was a financial analyst, and played in a band. His band, "di derre" topped the charts in Norway and ultimately led him towards writing. According to the biography page on his website, he was originally commissioned to write a memoir about band life but came up with the plot for "The Bat" instead. He has a new standalone thriller entitled "The Kingdom" coming out in September.
Some background on our main character, without spoiling the previous three novels. Harry Hole is a middle aged police officer in Oslo, Norway, the home city of Jo Nesbo. The places mentioned in the book that are in Norway are real, which adds relevance and meaning to the plot and setting. Harry is an alcoholic and fluctuates between sobriety and drunkenness throughout the novels. The amount of women he has been with throughout the first four books reminds me of James Bond. Hole is not a popular detective in the police department but does benefit from having a strong relationship with the head of police, Moller. Despite his flaws, Hole is a relentless and innovative detective that is respected in the force.
In Nemesis," Harry Hole faces two crimes: one is a bank robbery that turned deadly, and the other is a death of a former lover. The bank robbery case, known as the Expeditor Case, is unique in that a hostage was shot. Inspector Hole, not involved in the robbery unit, is called on to this case in a secondary capacity due to the homicide. The other case is the apparent suicide of Anna Bethsen, someone Hole saw briefly in the past. The catch is that Anna invited Harry over the night before she died and he seems to have no memory of ever being there but surely must have been one of the last people to have seen her alive. Harry divides his time between the two cases, as well as showing interest in wanting to return to work on a side investigation he began in book 3.
I am not sure if it was the narration, my distraction during reading while in quarantine, or the confusing timeline and internal chapter breaks, but I did not enjoy this novel as much as I have the others in the series. I listened to this as an audio-book, as I have done for the three previous novels. The Bat and Cockroaches were narrated by John Lee, "The Redbreast" by Robin Sachs, and "Nemesis" by Thor Kani. I did not like Kani's voice as much as previous narrators, which is a personal preference, not a judgement on his ability as a narrator. I also read this novel during the COVID-19 lock down and was not as focused as I normally am when listening on my commute home. Finally, I think the main reason why I did not enjoy this novel as much was because of how disjointed some of the chapters were. One minute we were Harry, and the next we were a different character, or we were listening to the present, to then be thrown to either past or present without indication in the audio. It made it difficult to follow. I ended up having to pick up the novel to make sure I was getting the basics of the story line straight.
I do appreciate that Harry seems to be settling down in this novel, as well as working more harmoniously with colleagues. In the previous novels, Hole was with several women and most of the relationships did not end well. The consistency in his love life this book I think is a huge character breakthrough for Hole. Also- I thoroughly enjoyed the new character introduced in this novel in the form of Beate Lonn. Lonn is brilliant and has a rare gift: a heightened Fusiform gyrus which allows her to never forget a face. Her character helps to balance out Hole.
Many people seem to compare Jo Nesbo and Stieg Larsson. Having read several of the Millennium novels and several of the Harry Hole series, I do not really see the similarity. Both authors are from Scandinavia and both main characters- Lizbeth Salander and Harry Hole- despise injustice, but that's about it for similarities. So if you are looking for something similar to the Lisbeth Salander novels, this is not your series.
I would recommend this series and specifically would recommend reading this one instead of listening to the audio.
Happy Reading!
Hession