The Harry Hole Saga

I have recently completed the Harry Hole Saga (in English) of ten books by the Norwegian author, Jo Nesbø. For usefulness' sake, here is a list of the books:

• The Bat, 2012
• Cockroaches, 2013
• The Redbreast, 2006
• Nemesis, 2008
• The Devil's Star, 2005
• The Redeemer, 2009
• The Snowman, 2010
• The Leopard, 2011
• Phantom, 2012
• Police, 2013

(N.B. the first two have only recently been translated - also, I have not read them...)

Normally, I am quite conscious of avoiding starting a saga anywhere other than the first book. However, at the same time I found what I thought was the first book, was also the first time I made a sincere attempt to try and read on my iPad, rather than a normal paper book. As such, the translations that were made for the first two books had not yet migrated to the iTunes store. 

Now that I am happy you understand why I have missed out The Bat and Cockroaches, I will now proceed to the main reason for this post!

As is evident by my completing the saga out of my own initiative, I did enjoy the stories surrounding Harry Hole - the maverick Oslo police detective. However, it did take me a while to get 'stuck in' to the storyline.

The Redbreast was the first crime novel I read, and it took me a good long while to get my teeth stuck in to it. I found the story, characters and places confusing. This was probably because they had Norwegian names and references. I used to read a few pages then have a couple of months off where a different book had taken my interest. It wasn't until I was stuck on a plane and had finished my paper book was I 'forced' to continue reading The Redbreast.

It wasn't until I was about a third of the way through The Redbreast, did the magic happen. The depth and detail of Nesbø's work revealed itself. His talent of harnessing mystery and suspense carries the reader on a wave of emotion through to the end of the book. Once the reader has struggled with Harry Hole's professional and personal problems, and finally come out at the end of the book does the addiction start. His, is a character one should not and probably does not like, if one to meet him in real life; Nesbø however manages to turn this antisocial, provocative (in a bad way) drunk into someone you end up, beginning to love.

The journey Nesbø takes Harry and the reader in the subsequent books do not disappoint, into one of the most satisfying conclusions I have read.

Verdict - Go out and buy all the saga for yourself, then make your friends buy them and read them.

I hope I've made a good blog post here - its my first book review and I tried not to make it into an essay, but something that would mirror a verbal recommendation I give to my friends. If you've made it this far, I thank you! Until the next post...

Peace

DB