The Trip

 Photo from rottentomatoes 

The Trip   it was fun and I did not expect it to be. A mixture of several types of jokes and I was entertained. 

I'm Travelling Alone

 

I'm Travelling Alone   I really liked this one despite its obvious flaws (plot holes and resolution) since I really liked the sentiments in it. Also the reading performance was great and I had a good time with it. Recommended if you are into the genre and can be a bit forgiving if the storytelling and sentiments suit you.

Bloodride

Photo credit: www.imdb.com

Bloodride turned out to be a decent compilation of short horror episodes and I enjoyed all of them more than I expected to. 

Knife

Knife well well after all the Harry Hole novels I still did not see that twist coming. Despite its flaws I'm once again hooked.

Macbeth (Hogarth Project)

Macbeth by Jo Nesbo is the first novel I have read from Hogarth project of Shakespeare adaptations. And it was not very good I'm afraid.

The Thirst

The Thirst made me realise how much I missed Jo Nesbo and his Harry Hole. It is as good as the rest of the novels but it is important to read the other novels before since there are referrals to them. There is a new character and a dramatically impactful event with someone we know. And yes Harry falls of the vagon once again (now a staple of the series).

The only problem with this is that the reader and the novel didn't match. They are good in their own right but did not get. Mr. Lee (an excellent reader, especially fantasy genre) was too theatrical for Mr. Nesbo's edgy angst and Norwegian coolness. I think the ideal reader for this would be Campbell Scott. Anyway I still enjoyed it and finished the novel really quickly. 

Blood on Snow

Blood on Snow well this is more of a novella and it is not Mr. Nesbo's finest hour. 

The Son

The Son yeah I couldn't give up on Jo Nesbo and I'm happy that I didn't. Harry Hole was not in this tale of addiction, murder and revenge with romance and I didn't miss him at all. It was a great ride with the usual twists (I see them coming now and am rarely surprised with Nesbo) and I highly recommend this one. Especially to someone who has never read a Nesbo novel. 

Police

Police I saving since I guessed that I'd be in for a ride. Hole books are good if you space them out and I loved Phantom very very much. But this one turned out to be not as good. It is a twist fest. There are so many twists that after you get tired of them and annoyed to the brink, you start to guess them automatically (and yes, there are enough twist to get you through these stages). This is probably the worst of the series so far for me. 

Phantom

Phantom waited until I had free points in my credit card. And it turned out to be one of the best of Harry Hole books. Poor Harry is put to lots of emotional and physical difficulties.

SPOILER

And the novel end with Harry being shot by Oleg, the son of the love of his life with whom he can now release all the hopes of being together in the future since not only Oleg is the killer but also Harry tried to arrest him. A mother is not going to forgive or forget that. Children usually trumps husbands. As Harry lies at a junkie den with three bullets inside him (one in the head) I felt terribly sorry for the guy. And this one had excellent twists (one I saw coming and the other I didn't see).

Of course I know Harry is going to live (the poor guy has a finger cut off, has a large, nasty scar on his face and now is on the brink of death, this is on top of  being an alcoholic, causing a colleagues death due to drunk driving, having a girl friend getting killed by a serial killer, having the love of his life almost get killed by another serial killer - this is when he lost his finger- and falling on and off the vagon various times (at least once in each book including this one).

I'll wait a bit until reading the one after this (Policeman) but I still like Harry and was saved from dropping him by this good book. 

The Leopard

The Leopard Yes I have been doing nothing but reading this rather long novel these past days (and walking listening to The Shining so far excellently read by Campbell Scot). I can't really say I liked it as much as the other ones though. Maybe I need to space out between the novels since everything seems so familiar now.
Spoilers

Harry is drunk/stoned again in the beginning of the book. And forced to return to Norway from HongKong since a serial killer is on the loose and also his father is dying. He is still hung up about Rakel and Oleg. There is a handsome but corrupt (here in the sense of only being interested to further his career)  police officer making things hard for him. A woman falls in love with him again etc. etc. I still like it enough to prefer reading it to doing something else but not as much as I used to. 

The Cockroaches

The Cockroaches is the second Harry Hole novel. And this time he goes to Thailand. I thought about getting it in Thailand but it was needlessly expensive. So when I saw it on sale in a Turkish book seller web site I didn't hesitate. And I liked it fine but I needn't have bothered except I feel good that I'm now in chronological order of Hole novels (something I was not able to do with John Rebus novels until the final four or something).


This time our drunk detective didn't actually start drinking at one point in the case and later quit again when the resolution came. But in the end he is seen at an opium den trying to smoke everything away (or rather see them as he wish).

The Snowman

The Snowman as I finish each Jo Nesbo novel with Harry Hole, they get better. But sadly as a side effect I begun to recognise his tells and in the end inadvertantly spared the twist. Still, I love them and I really like Harry Hole as a character. 

The Redeemer

The Redeemer this one is probably my favorite of the Harry Hole novels so far. Not only we have a hired killer on the loose but also we have the last dregs of the secret gang within the police force. Harry, once again goes on a drinking binge and once again comes out of the novel with scars but also his integrity intact.

I'm very happy with this detective and his adventures. Thanks Mr.Nesbo.

The Devil's Star

The Devil's Star turned up very entertaining and better than Mr.Nesbo's previous Harry Hole books. And I love it when a detective series goes better with each book (and it doesn't happen as often as one would like). Harry takes on his evil colleague Tom Whaaler on as they both try to catch a killer who is smart and ruthless and a complete and utter perv.

Nemesis

Nemesis is very good. This is the third Harry Hole (and fourth altogether) novel I read and am happy that the series seem to get better with each book. At this one Harry is in a decent relationship and at not a bad place in his career. But he is still worried that he has not solved Ellen's murder. And keeps working on it on the sly. This one has a lot of elements surrounding a revenge theme (no surprise that I liked it), there is bank robbery, murder, criminals escaping abroad, gypsies and I ate it all up. I was hoping that Ellen's murderer will be caught but even though Harry I think has zeroed in on him, he didn't act against him in this one.
Very eager to read the next book in line. Although I think that this author is very inspired by Ian Rankin and Rebus. Well as far as I'm concerned he couldn't choose a better inspiration.