Disclaimer: I think this will be the third time I have attempted participating in the Cannonball Read. My failures in the past are so frustrating to me because I easily read at least 50 books each year. It’s the reviews that are my stumbling block.
I know it’s because I am intimidated, both by the intelligence of the Pajiba community and by my minimal skills with technology. This year, I’m trying to let that anxiety go. If my reviews sound like they were written by a fourth grader, then so be it.
Happy Cannonball Read everyone!
Format in which I consumed this book: audiobook
Did I like it/love it/hate it? Liked it
What’s it about? Nesbø has written several books about Officer Harry Hole and this is the first one (At least according to the Libby app. I didn’t research whether or not that was accurate.)
Harry has recently caused the death of a fellow officer due to his (Harry’s) alcoholism. He’s been sober for some time now. A Norwegian celebrity has been murdered in Sydney, Australia, so Harry is sent to assist. In reality, he’s been sent away to help smoothe things over with the accident his alcohol use caused in Norway.
Harry quickly becomes friends with one of the detectives, a native Australian, and romantically involved with one of the witnesses. A few more people related to the investigation are murdered, and it becomes apparent that other women had been killed in a similar manner to the Norwegian.
My thoughts: I appreciated that I did not figure out who the killer was too early in the story. I’ve read several of Nesbø’s other books, including one featuring Harry much later in his career. This one wasn’t my favorite, but it wasn’t bad either, if you like detective novels. The audiobook narrator was decent. I found nothing annoying about his voice or reading style.
Would I recommend this to my sister? Maybe. I don’t think crime novels are her favorite genre so I’d probably advise her to start with something different by Nesbø that I liked a little better.
So that’s review #4 in the bag. I’m in a part of the U.S. that got a lot of snow, so I’ve had plenty of time today. I hope going back to my regular work schedule doesn’t keep me from writing more reviews.
