Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The Devil’s star – Jo Nesbø

25214258.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star – a pentagram, the devil’s star.

Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially wants no part in it. But Harry is already on notice to quit the force and is left with little alternative but to drag himself out of his alcoholic stupor and get to work.

A wave of similar murders is on the horizon. An emerging pattern suggests that Oslo has a serial killer on its hands, and the five-pointed devil’s star is key to solving the riddle.

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My thoughts: Another excellent, complex thriller from the Norwegian author Jo Nesbø. As I probably said before, I was not a big fan of his two first books about Harry Hole. I absolutely loved the third and the fourth was a little mediocre. Now this. This is the book I would refer to when talking about Jo finding his “sound”, his writing style. I found it meticulously and selective in its plot, yet exciting and full of suspense. The alcoholism story is a lot bigger than in the earlier books. A lot more raw, emotional and there is sometimes you wonder if Jo is writing from a personal experience. That is how vivid and sentimental I found it.

Harry Hole is an character I can’t decide if I love or hate. He’s a loner, he’s prickly, he drinks. He does not like authority, yet he is a cop. He’s a broken man who for some reason never gives up even though he certainly tries. He can’t keep a normal relationship with anyone, he has almost no friends and he is down in the deep, trying to drink his sorrows away that you can’t help but wonder, where is this going to end.

Besides all that, it is a good book. I do love a good serial-killer plot even though I did find it was more of a side plot to the story than the actual main story-line. In fact in the mist of it all, there is dark secrets finally surfacing to the light. Even though I did not find the end as satisfying as I would like, it is certainly the perfect end if the series would stop here. I do however know that there is 6 more books about Harry Hole and the great thing is that you do not know where Jo will take us. It is impossible to foresee and he is that unpredictable.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

Nemesis – Jo Nesbø

3522419.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: How do you catch a killer when you’re the number one suspect?

A man is caught on CCTV, shooting dead a cashier at a bank. Detective Harry Hole begins his investigation, but after dinner with an old flame wakes up with no memory of the past 12 hours. Then the girl is found dead in mysterious circumstances and he beings to receive threatening emails: is someone trying to frame him for her death?

As Harry fights to clear his name, the bank robberies continue with unparalleled savagery…

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My thoughts: I’m not a big fan of this “someone is trying to frame someone, fight against the clock” type of plots. I find them long, irritating and exhausting. There is always some idiot who do not believe the truth even if it knocks you on the head and they are always so close to capture or kill the main character (who is getting framed) and if he gets captured, he is so wrongfully treated and when the truth comes out, they are all friends and happy family again. It is just so predictable and cliche. That’s why, at first, I didn’t want to read the book. I know that I usually don’t like that kind of plots and I get more irritated, than enjoy it. But I had to! The book is fourth in a series that cannot be read as standalone’s and I did want to know what would happen after that “cliffhanger” from the third book.

So in this book we get to follow when someone is trying to frame Harry for the murder of an old girlfriend to him. He had dinner with her the night before she was discovered dead and he can’t remember what happened or how he got home. At the same time he works a case where a robber is active and is responsible for at least one death. Together with the wonder child Beate Lønn, they try to find the truth. And all Harry actually want to do, is working on that case he can’t let go.

The book is dark and I feel that Harry is a little darker this time, than earlier books. But at the same time he is really trying to take control of his life and make things right. And it is hard for me not to feel for him, even though I do not like him that much. He is a hard character to like. I do love this new character Beate and hope that I will be meeting her again. There is a lot of male characters and we do need more women I think. Specially since Harry seems prefer working with female colleagues, than male ones.

Had some small issues with the writing this time to. Jo have written it with brakes in the stories that makes me a little confused if it is memories, dreams, does it happen real time or not happening at all.

I‘m glad to be done with the book. It was not my favorite but also not the worst of those I have read.