THE REDBREAST

TITLE: THE REDBREAST

AUTHOR: JO NESBO

Pages: 618

Date: 24/08/2011

Grade: 4+

Details: no. 1 Harry Hole

Library

Detective Harry Hole is transferred away from Oslo’s crime squad after he almost causes a diplomatic disaster. In his new position he is expected to keep members of the national socialists under surveillance. Although he is convinced that the new job and the accompanying promotion are just a way to keep him out of sight, he doesn’t object too much. He likes working on his own anyway.

Soon he stumbles across information indicating that a rare and very powerful riffle has been smuggled into the country and subsequently disappeared without a trace. Convinced that such a riffle must have been purchased to accommodate a high profile assassination, Hole investigates but can’t find any real leads.

When soon after a WW2 Nazi sympathiser is found murdered, Hole is sure that the murder is somehow related to the riffle. And soon the murder count starts rising, with one murder cutting very close to the heart for Hole. But still clues are view and far between.

Somehow Norway’s past during World War 2 is connected to the present day murders, but it is almost too late by the time Hole discovers exactly what has been going on, who is behind it all and what the ultimate goal is.

This book was a slow starter. It was quite a while before I had any idea what the investigation was about, how the individual story parts related to each other and what could possibly be going on.

On the other hand, I did figure out which of the WW 2 characters was the threat, even if I couldn’t identify him in the present-day part of story-line.

The whole story about the Second World War and Norway’s reaction to the invasion, and those who had fought with and for the Germans made for fascinating reading since I knew absolutely nothing about Norway during those years.

I did have a hard time keeping the characters separate, but that was probably a result of the Norwegian and therefore foreign names.

And, while the story may have started slow, it did pick up pace in the last part of the book to such an extent that it was hard not to rush through to the end.

Overall this was a good, but not a great thriller. More than good enough though for me to want to read more books in this series. Which is just as well since I had already bought several more titles in this series.