Jo Nesbo / The Redbreast

 

Ilustration by Felipe Flórez

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbø

Matthew Haynes

7 October 2014

Posted by couchmagpie

Harry Hole is back on his home turf of Oslo for this story which has a rather engaging and complex WWII back-story. Having spotted the illegal import of a type of rifle usually reserved for assassins, Hole is trying to track down the buyer while a series of murders appears to be related to his case. Investigating themes of nationalism, patriotism, neo-Nazism and long-held grudges from the Eastern front this story is a great step forward in storytelling by Nesbo.

Jo Nesbo / The Redeemer / Review by Matthew Haynes

Jo Nesbo

 The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

Mathew Haynes
27 April 2015

Posted by couchmagpie

I was so impressed with Nesbo’s writing that I began reading The Redeemer immediately on completion of the earlier Harry Hole novel The Devil’s Star.

Being a big Bond fan I was not surprised that Hole’s relationship with Rakel has come to an end between the books. The idea that Hole had finally got his girl at the end of Devil’s Star was at least a lot more tentative than Fleming’s assertions that appeared at the end of most of his novels. She has started seeing a doctor and remains distant from Hole for most of the book which is understandable given what her son was put through in the previous book. It’s pretty par for the course for the main male character in this type of book not to be in a steady relationship. In comparison Hole’s relationship with alcohol is little more under control for most of this book although he does have the odd wobble from time to time.

Jo Nesbo / Knife / Review by Matthew Haynes

 

Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

Knife

Posted by couchmagpie

Matthew Haynes
March 14, 2020

It would be impossible for me to write a post about Jo Nesbo’s new Harry Hole thriller Knife without entering spoiler territory, so please (please please) don’t go any further with reading this if you intend to read the book because, while I’ll try and skirt around most, there’s one major spoiler I really can’t avoid here.

Jo Nesbo / The Thrist / Review

 

Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

The Thirst

Matthew Haynes

January 25, 2018

Posted by couchmagpie

Beware! We’re on that bit of the faded map that states ‘here there be spoilers’. I can’t talk much about Jo Nesbo’s new book without giving away a few things.

That out of the way, the first thing to note is that The Thirst is pretty much as close to a sequel to Police as you can get, but of course all Nesbo’s Harry Hole books are in an ongoing chronological sequence.  And it’s not so much a question of who the killer is, since it’s made pretty clear that it’s Valentin Gjersten the escaped convict with the demon tattoo on his chest from the previous book, but more a question of who is helping him.

Jo Nesbo / Macbeth / Review by Matthew Haynes

 

Macbeth by Jo Nesbø

BIOGRAPHY

Matthew Haynes

18 October, 2018

Posted by couchmagpie

I’ve been dreading writing this review since I realised (by about a quarter of the way through reading it) just what an awful book Jo Nesbo’s Macbeth is. But I reluctantly have to warn other Jo Nesbo fans not to waste their time or money on this retelling of Shakespeare’s Scottish Play. It seems like our much beloved Norwegian crime writer has had a succession of really bad days of writing to the point where the result is almost unrecognisable as a Nesbo original. It’s far far removed from his previous paperback book, the very satisfying Harry Hole story, The Thirst.

Jo Nesbo / The Snowman / Review

Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

The Snowman

Matthew Haynes

JUNE 16,2015

Posted by couchmagpie

‘Do you want to build a snowman?’

After reading Jo Nesbo’s The Snowman I’d rather not if it’s all the same. Snowmen are now up there with clowns and those giants in Attack on Titan in terms of things that freak me out.

Harry Hole our plucky Norwegian police inspector is still flirting dangerously with alcohol and his on-and-off-and-on-again lady friend Rakel while still managing to solve Norway’s first serial killer case. He’s working out a lot more, has lost a lot of weight, feeling a bit older, but manages to keep his dark dog demons at bay and as a result makes a lot less mistakes than he has done in previous books.

Jo Nesbo / Police / Review

 

Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

Police

Posted by couchmagpie

Matthew Haynes

May 23, 2016

Caution – SPOILER ALERT – it’s impossible for me to not talk about what makes this such an entertaining read without giving away some major plot points.

It’s pretty obvious that Harry Hole survives being shot at the end of the last book since the front cover of Police makes it clear this is ‘The New Harry Hole Thriller’. That’s not why I’ve put the spoiler alert on this post. Whether Nesbo was seriously considering killing off his main man I do not know but he certainly seems to want to see how long he can get away without him in this book.

Jo Nesbo / The Bat / Review by Matthew Haynes

Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

The Bat

Posted by couchmagpie

Matthew Haynes
October 1, 2014

The Bat introduced the character of Norwegian detective Harry Hole to the world, or at least it would have had it been published worldwide in 1997. As it happens it took until 2012 for this to make it out in English language in paperback by which point the success of The Snowman and The Leopard had sealed the deal for Harry Hole amongst thriller readers wanting something Scandinavian after The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ‘Millennium’ trilogy was sadly not going to get any sequels (at least by the original author).

Jo Nesbo / The Devil's Star

 

Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

The Devil’s Star

Matthew Haynes

9 April 2015

Posted by couchmagpie

Before you read this I just want give a little warning – there will be spoilers in here – some small but one whopper so please exercise caution depending on how much you hate spoilers if you haven’t already read this book.

Jo Nesbo / Cockroaches / Review by Mattew Haynes

 

Jo Nesbo

BIOGRAPHY

Cockroaches

Posted by couchmagpie

Matthew Haynes
October 19, 2014

15 years after its original publication in Norwegian, Cockroaches was published in the UK in time for fans’ Christmas wish lists in 2013. I was given it by a very friendly chap at my hotel in Skiathos, but put off reading it until I could read The Bat .

Gene Wolfe / Peace / Review

 

Gene Wolfe

Peace

Posted by couchmagpie

Matthew Haynes
March 9, 2020

Why I didn’t write a post about Peace straight after reading it is a mystery to me and now I’m left wondering if I can really do it justice. Despite not enjoying The Fifth Head of Cerberus all that much, I consider myself an enthusiastic fan of the late great Gene Wolfe after enjoying the awesome tetralogy The Book of The New Sun – which Publishers Weekly described as “a masterpiece of science fantasy comparable in importance to the major works of Tolkien and Lewis”.

 

Jo Nesbo

2020 Retrospective – my four favourite books

Posted by couchmagpie

Matthew Haynes

December 14, 2020

This year I read around 40 books – it might have been more if some of them hadn’t been so long! And of course I didn’t get an opportunity to do any reading on holiday, because I had no real holiday this year. Poor me. Anyway, here’s a list of the Top 4 books I’ve read this year with links to longer reviews in some cases (I would’ve done a Top 5 if I’d read fifty – blame Stephen / Owen King and Margaret Atwood):

1. Gene Wolfe – Peace
2. Jo Nesbo – Knife
3. Homer – The Iliad
4. Antony Beevor – D-Day: The Battle for Normandy