13 March, 2015

Book Review: The Bat

From Goodreads: Harry Hole is sent to Sydney to investigate the murder of Inger Holter, a young Norwegian girl, who was working in a bar. Initially sidelined as an outsider, Harry becomes central to the Australian police investigation when they start to notice a number of unsolved rape and murder cases around the country. The victims were usually young blondes. Inger had a number of admirers, each with his own share of secrets, but there is no obvious suspect, and the pattern of the other crimes seems impossible to crack. Then a circus performer is brutally murdered followed by yet another young woman. Harry is in a race against time to stop highly intelligent killer, who is bent on total destruction.

Thoughts: Quite awhile a go, a friend of mine who is a prolific reader suggested Nesbo to me. As we most people who read a lot, a have a huge to read list so filed away the suggestion as something I would get to some day. The other week I was shelving at work (I work in a library) and came across two copies of The Bat on the shelves. The shelves were stuffed full and I needed a space. Obviously the solution was for me to take and borrow one of the copies - so I did.
Here's the thing about me - if it's a series of books, I must read them in order. It is rare and hard for me to break this rule. So despite the fact I have seen many Nesbo books around, I had to start with this one - it's the rules.
I enjoyed it. I found it incredibly interesting that at times Nesbo had a better understanding of Australian indigenous/ non indigenous history than a lot of Australians do. The story moved at a good pace, the solution wasn't too obvious and the character were well formed. I won't promise I'll get to the next one any quicker than I got to this one, but  I will get to it.

The Bat gets 3 stars

 *        Did not like it
**       It was OK
***      Liked it
****    Really liked it
*****   It was amazing





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