THE REDEEMER

By Jo Nesbo, translated by Don Bartlett, Random House Canada, 457 pages, $27.95

The Redeemer is the fourth Harry Hole novel in translation by Norwegian author Jo Nesbo. and it’s a tour de force. Nesbo has a plot here that is so tightly constructed and compelling that it’s impossible to put the book down.

This is a serial-killer story, and one with a punch. The killer is as faceless and proficient as the Jackal in Frederick Forsythe’s masterwork. The victim is killed in Oslo during a Salvation Army band performance, and, before anyone dies, some Salvation Army officers engage in some slightly sinful acts.

But just what is going on with these young people? Nesbo puts some slight touches of evil into quite normal little interchanges. All is not quite right with a pair of lovers and a couple of unhappy brothers. Nesbo is a subtle writer and the suspense is in the nuances.

As for Harry Hole, the policeman hero of the series, he’s one of the best of the new breed of Scandinavian coppers. He’s both professional and intuitive, and he relies on his team to uncover a trail of death moving across Western Europe.

What’s clever is just how the clues are dug up in a seemingly impenetrable case. There is no connection between the killer and the victim, no weapon and, of course, no discernible motive. How Hole uncovers the links in a chain of death is what keeps the story moving, and Nesbo never lets up on the truly gripping suspense. Absolutely Nesbo’s best translated into English so far, and, I expect, one of the year’s best.

©2010 The World of Books. All Rights Reserved.

The review of Nemesis was very positive, but the reviewer thinks Nesbo may be a little too tidy in his writing:

Nesbo falls back on coincidence and some other questionable devices. The problem isn’t that he fails to tie up all his story lines, it’s that he does it so carefully and neatly that the plot machinery is revealed for what it is — machinery.

Read our review of Nemesis and the other books by Jo Nesbo, including the forthcoming The Redeemer,  at ScandinavianBooks!

©2010 The World of Books. All Rights Reserved.

The Redbreast has two parallel story lines, one starting during World War II, with Norwegians fighting for the Germans in Russia. The other story line is present, and takes place among neo-Nazis in Oslo One of them is on trial for a vicious, unprovoked attack with a baseball bat on a Vietnamese restaurant owner, but is freed on a technicality.

Inspector Harry Hole, alone again after having caused an embarrassment in the line of duty, has been promoted to inspector and is lumbered with surveillance duties. He is assigned the task of monitoring neo-Nazi activities; a fairly mundane task until a report of a rare and unusual gun being fired sparks his interest. A rare, high-caliber rifle, favored by assassins, has been smuggled into the country.

Then a former soldier is found with his throat cut. Harry suspects a connection. In an investigation that takes him to South Africa and Vienna, Harry finds himself perpetually one step behind the killer. And more and more the two story lines are drawn together – what is happening today has roots in the old, almost forgotten history of World War II in Norway.

The Redbreast in some way resembles Henning Mankell’s early Wallander novel, The White Lioness. Both feature leading men who are cops, both have a South African connection, and both involve racism, assassination, and weapons that are the tools of professional assassins.

The Redbreast is well written, very exciting, and has humor as well. Jon Nesbo is able to make us understand some of the troubling aspects of Nazism in Norway, and does a great job of weaving together past and present. Nesbo’s hero, Harry Hole, is very real and an interesting character. The Redbreast is an entertaining but an also illuminating crime book from a very talented author.

For more reviews of Jo Nesbo’s books, see ScandinavianBooks Jo Nesbo-page!

– Peter

©2010 The World of Books. All Rights Reserved.