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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hard Boiled Crime Fiction - Served Cold, January 13, 2009
If you're a fan of complex police drama, intelligenty written and cleverly crafted, then the talented Norwegian author Jo Nesbo's crime fiction should find a place on your bookshelf. "Nemesis" is the third English translation of Nesbo's tales of Oslo police inspector Harry Hole, chronologically fitting in between the two previous US releases, "The Redbreast" and "The Devil's Star" - both excellent and well worth finding and reading.
"Nemesis" starts with Hole painstakingly reviewing the surveillance video of an Oslo bank robbery that escalates to murder at the hand of the coldly proficient perp, an obvious professional who leaves nothing to chance, his face concealed with a baklava, his voice unprintable, no fingerprints, no fibers, few clues of any kind to crack the case. But from Jo Nesbo's pen, a mere bank robbery, even if seemingly unsolvable, is pedestrian. So to compensate, the author spins multiple and apparently disconnected story lines into hapless Harry's investigation and life, resulting in a near epic tale of crime that, while a bit confusing at times, is exactly the kind of convoluted crime mystery that will keep you glued to the pages, scratching your head, and by the end marveling through an expected series of whiplashing twists and Holmes-like deductive reasoning.
So back to those parallel threads. With Harry's beloved Rackel and son Olav off to Moscow to settle an ugly child custody case, Harry reluctantly succumbs to an almost-innocent dinner invitation of Anna, an ex-lover. The next morning, Harry awakes in what is apparently an alcohol-induced blackout with no memory of events of the previous twelve hours. This becomes a rather inconvenient issue when Anna is found dead in her apartment the next morning. While chasing down leads to the bank heist with criminologist Beate Lonn, Harry surreptitiously probes the death of Anna which, while ruled a suicide by the Oslo PD, Harry finds nagging incongruities, keeping them to himself but wanting the truth. While the introverted Beate Lonn pulls critical bank job clues from grainy video, Harry's solo investigative efforts into Anna's death wind their way into the mysterious and potentially deadly gypsy culture, including the most intriguing relationship between cop and incarcerated villain since "Silence of the Lamb's" Clarice Starling sparred with the brilliantly demented Hannibal Lecter.
Nesbo rises above the pack in crime writing with convincing characters and unusual themes, set against an appropriately gritty, dark, and dank Scandinavian backdrop. Hole is the interesting but not uncommon pulp cop - an alcoholic, a loaner an unrepentant maverick, the bane and joy of his beleaguered boss's professional life. But the real magic here is Nesbo's painstaking attention to detail and plot development, a master of foreshadow and deception, hiding critical clues for the reader in the most unlikely places, while building momentum for a climax as cerebral as it was suspenseful.
One final recommendation: if you haven't read any of Nesbo's Harry Hole novels, it would be best to start with "Redbreast", followed by this one, saving "The Devil's Star" for last. While each novel does stand on its own, Nesbo has the fiendishly clever habit of leaving some unfinished threads in each of these tales, so reading them out of sequence can be a bit unsettling. In any event, just do yourself a favor and subject yourself to the not-so-guilty pleasures of this accomplished crime writer.
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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty European Police Series Continues, January 26, 2009
In the tradition of the great European crime novels like "The Laughing Policeman", "Smilla's Sense of Snow" and Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series, Nesbo continues with his Harry Hole novels in this terrific new entry.
Hole, struggling with his alcoholism as well as his new love relationship and the death of his partner, finds himself caught up in trying to solve a murderous bank robbery while trying to convince his superiors that his partner's death is - contrary to their belief - still unsolved and that he should be allowed to pursue an investigation into it.
This is a compelling entry in the series, with rich characterizations and impeccable plotting.
The only thing that readers should be aware of is that the novels of the series published in English thus far have been translated and published out of sequence; this is actually the second book of the series, though it's come out in English third, and the plot line about his partner's murder was resolved in the third book - which was actually the first one published in English (The Devil's Star). Did you follow that?
If so, dig in and enjoy.
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23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The goddess Nemesis: "Blind justice (or) cold-blooded vengeance. Our civilization rests in her hands.", January 9, 2009
(4.5 stars) More like a fiendish sudoku puzzle than a traditional police procedural, this blockbuster novel, set in Oslo, challenges alcoholic Inspector Harry Hole to find solutions to four cold-blooded murders, which may or may not be related. A "square peg" in the police department, Hole does not hesitate to do things his own way, often infuriating his peers while still inspiring (sometimes grudging) respect for his honesty. A bank robbery in which a gunman executes his female hostage because the bank manager exceeds twenty-five seconds to fill a bag with money is just the start of the non-stop action. As Harry Hole investigates the similarities between this robbery and stunning earlier robberies by Raskol Baxhet, a gypsy now incarcerated, the reader is jerked every which-way, his/her perceptions constantly changing as new information emerges about the characters and the past.
When the video of the bank robbery/murder becomes available, Beate Lonn begins working the case with Harry. Beate is one of only ten people in the world who can remember every face she has ever seen, and Harry becomes her mentor. Both Harry and Beate are grieving--he for the loss of Ellen Gjelten, his partner and friend, murdered while investigating arms-trafficking, and Beate for the loss of her father, a police officer also murdered. Questions remain about both murders. When Harry, one night, accepts an invitation from Anna, a former lover, "for old times' sake," he becomes involved in yet another case--his own.
As Harry and his rivals within the police department work to solve the most recent murders, the author considers the psychology of the characters as much their actions, often switching points of view between paragraphs and scenes. The meticulously constructed plot moves at breakneck pace, and as Nesbo draws in new characters, each of whom has a past to be investigated, he juggles bits and pieces of information--and surprises--which change the direction and focus. The cases become more intertwined and more complex, and "Case Solved" proves time and again to be an illusion. The action moves from Oslo to Brazil and back, from mainstream neighborhoods to gypsy caravans and the Oslo jail, from the police department to the lonely citizens they serve, and from Harry to his long-time love, who is in Russia suing for custody of her son.
The reader's interest grows in Harry Hole, Beate Lonn, and several other characters, and Harry's relationship with jailed Raskol Baxhet, the gypsy robber, is particularly interesting, as he and Baxhet, a master manipulator, alternately despise and respect each other. Ultimately, the reader agrees that "A good manipulator can make you believe that the edge of a 100-kroner note is the edge of a knife." Author Nesbo proves to be a greatest manipulator of all. n Mary Whipple
The Redbreast: A Novel
The Devil's Star
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